Three Key Stats: Jeremiah Smith Scores Through the Air and On the Ground, Ohio State Defense Totals Four Sacks and Allows Only 65 Yards to Michigan State in the Second Half

Despite a sluggish first quarter for a second straight week, Ohio State ultimately pulled away in emphatic fashion to win its conference opener.

Then again, "sluggish" may not serve as the correct word considering the game's opening period ended at roughly 7:57 p.m. ET after a kickoff scheduled at 7:30 p.m. ET. Even so, unlike the Marshall game last week, OSU never allowed Michigan State to lead at any point Saturday night en route to a 38-7 victory.

We offer three key stats from the Buckeyes' opening win in conference play for the 2024 season.

One Rushing and Receiving Touchdown Each for Jeremiah Smith

Some folks believe variety serves as the spice of life. While the start of Jeremiah Smith's time at Ohio State has already offered many delicious highlights, his most eye-opening performance to date arrived this weekend after scoring multiple touchdowns for the second time in just four career games.

Smith put the Buckeyes back ahead by multiple scores in the second quarter after galloping into the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown on his first rushing attempt in college.

Four games, four touchdowns for freshman Jeremiah Smith!

Peacock | @OhioStateFB pic.twitter.com/CZdxlfgDWl
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) September 29, 2024

Incredibly, this resulted in the second straight game in which Michigan State has allowed a 19-yard rushing touchdown to an Ohio State wide receiver on an end-around handoff. The Buckeye offense dialed up this same exact play in the same exact area of the field for Marvin Harrison Jr. last season to open the scoring in the previous campaign's 38-3 victory over the Spartans.

Marvin Harrison Jr. with the 19-yard touchdown run! @OhioStateFB

: NBC & Peacock pic.twitter.com/4EWFxJZnVn
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) November 12, 2023

Further mimicking Maserati Marv, Smith added a receiving touchdown prior to the end of the half to become the first Buckeye since Harrison Jr. to score touchdowns on the ground and through the air in the same game. However, while Marv had a relatively easy waltz into paydirt last year, Smith did so on a second consecutive one-handed catch from a pass delivered by his backup quarterback.

OH MY.

Jeremiah Smith is HIM.

Peacock | @OhioStateFB pic.twitter.com/qA9KvH9WI4
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) September 29, 2024

Smith became the third active member of the Ohio State roster to score rushing and receiving touchdowns for the Buckeyes in the same game. Emeka Egbuka did so in 2022 in a 77-21 win over Toledo by way of a three-yard score on the ground and seven-yard reception through the air. TreVeyon Henderson last did so in the 2021 loss to Michigan that saw the Ohio State running back score on a one-yard rush and a 10-yard pass.

Four Sacks Match Last Season's High in Conference Play

If searching for areas to criticize in the Buckeye defense last season, the performance of the pass rush probably stands out the most. One year ago, the front under Jim Knowles only managed to record three or more sacks twice in the regular season. Tonight, Ohio State secured a minimum of four for a second time merely four games into the 2024 schedule.

J.T. Tuimoloau brought his sack total to 12.5 across his career at Ohio State, while Mitchell Melton recorded his first sack since the 2023 season's win over Western Kentucky while also splitting credit with C.J. Hicks for another half-sack. Sonny Styles added another of his own for his second career sack against MSU and first since the previous victory over the Spartans last November.

The Buckeyes managed to record four sacks only once last season in a win over Penn State after doing so four different times in conference play across each of the 2022 and 2021 seasons. Ohio State will have eight opportunities to match or exceed that mark the rest of this regular season as the Silver Bullet pass rush continues to make a case of imminent resurgence.

65 Second Half Offensive Yards for MSU

While slow starts have somewhat plagued the Buckeyes in two straight games, halftime adjustments have become a much more welcome recurring theme. Tonight, after conceding 181 offensive yards in the first half, Ohio State's defense shut down Michigan State for just 65 total yards in the final 30 minutes of the game. The Spartans managed only 33 yards of offense prior to their last drive in the final minute after already down more than four touchdowns and replacing starting quarterback Aidan Chiles for backup Tommy Schuster.

Against Akron, the Buckeyes allowed just 89 yards of offense to the Zips in the second half out of their 177 total yards for the game. A week later facing Western Michigan, Ohio State conceded just five yards of offense in the final two quarters out of the Broncos' 99 total on the day. Last week versus Marshall, the Buckeyes conceded just 61 offensive yards to the Thundering Herd in the final 30 minutes of play after giving up over 200 in the first half.

However Knowles implements changes in mind midway through a game seems to work seamlessly with the current iteration of the Silver Bullets. Michigan State found itself shut out at home in the second half and Chiles finished the night with a nearly double-digit negative total of rushing yards after running for touchdowns in three of MSU's first four contests. He threw an interception on the Spartans' only drive of the second half that did not result in a punt or time expiring.