Leading just 7-3 at intermission, Ohio State outscored Michigan State 19-3 in the second half thanks to a slew of Spartan gifts, a solid defensive effort and the legwork of punter Drue Chrisman on the way to a 26-6 victory in East Lansing.
The win was far from pretty as the Buckeyes managed 2.7 yards per carry despite a rugged 22-for-104 performance from Mike Weber, fumbled once via a bad snap and missed a field goal but the defense easily handled the nation's 106th-best total offense.
There were certainly moments to build on as Ohio State sits at 9-1 with two regular season games left to play though it's hard to imagine this one blew away the College Football Playoff committee especially from an offensive standpoint.
That said, Ohio State still controls its destiny in the Big Ten race with a matchup against Maryland in College Park set for next Saturday. But before we get into the Terps, here are Five Things from yesterday's defeat of the Spartans.
BEST GUNNER I'VE EVER BEEN AROUND
In Urban Meyer's world, every one is the best he's ever been around at something. Yesterday, Terry McLaurin was handed the crown as the best gunner Meyer's ever been around.
“It’s with great reverence I say that, because you go back all the way to Brad Roby to Devin Smith to Denzel Ward, Gareon Conley (other gunners that Meyer has had at Ohio State) … Terry’s as good as there is,” Meyer said. “Terry’s taken over the title as the best as I’ve ever had.”
Indeed, McLaurin showed awesome awareness and hand-eye coordination downing a handful of Drue Chrisman punts inside the 6-yard line during Ohio State's big second half.
What might get lost in those heady, athletic plays are the contributions he made on offense as part of a 5-catch, 63-yard outing.
McLaurin's toughness and strength turned three receptions into first downs as he fought for yards after the catch including a really impressive 3rd-and-6 haul in which he spun over and through a defender, outstretching the ball to move the chains on Ohio State's final scoring drive of the day.
I just love the way the dude goes about his business, always willing to do the dirty work and he's a great leader by example. The icing on today's win came as McLaurin's efforts pushed him over the 1,000 yard receiving mark for his career.
He now stands at 1,011 receiving yards on 66 catches with 16 touchdowns in his Buckeye career.
Terry McLaurin now has 1,011 career receiving yards after a 5-catch, 63-yard day against the Spartans.
ON GUARD
Ever since Meyer's arrival he has noted this is an offensive line driven program. And over the years he's had some damn good ones. This year, he has his worst. Michael Jordan has been serviceable as a blocker but his snaps as a first-year center are still unpredictable and a pair of seniors in right tackle Isaiah Prince and left guard Malcolm Pridgeon continue to struggle.
Yesterday, even with a Jordan snap causing a turnover near the goal line and Prince getting worked by Michigan State's Kenny Willekes, Pridgeon really struggled.
Beyond issues in executing his blocking assignments, Pridgeon committed two costly penalties, vaulting into a tie for the team lead with seven through 10 games.
On 3rd-and-7 from the Spartan 17 after having already given up a sack on the drive, Dwayne Haskins appeared to pick up the conversion with a 12-yard run to the 5-yard line but Pridgeon was whistled for a 15-yard hands to face penalty wiping out 1st-and-Goal, instead putting Ohio State in a 3rd-and-22 at the 27-yard line. Two plays later, Blake Haubeil pushed his field goal try right to keep the game scoreless.
Early in the third quarter, after Ohio State had moved the ball from its own 35 to Michigan State's 35, Meyer decided to go for it on 4th-and-1 but Pridgeon committed a false start forcing the Buckeyes to instead punt the ball away.
Like it or lump it, left guard has been a problem against virtually every legit opponent and coupled with Prince's struggles in particular, the Buckeyes are running out of time to shore things up in the trenches if they don't want to get exposed in a few weeks.
CHRISMAN PUTS HIS FOOT IN SPARTY'S...
It didn't look like it would be Drue Chrisman's day after his first punt of the day traveled all of four yards, setting a new Buckeye record.
Chrisman would settle down after the shank, going on to drop six of nine punts inside the 20 with all five of his second-half efforts downed inside Michigan State's own 6-yard line including efforts to the 5, 6, 3, 1 and 2-yard line, respectively.
Two of those final five were also key field-flippers traveling 53 and 44 yards.
Forcing Sparty to start with awful field position the entire second half was huge as it only further exposed the tragedy that is Jim Bollman's offense.
Backed up against its own goal line and rotating between a quarterback with a bum shoulder and another with a bum haircut, Michigan State gained a total of 27 yards on four of those five possessions, fumbling for an OSU touchdown to end one possession and taking a safety to end another.
On the season, Chrisman has dropped 26 of his 44 punts inside the opponent's 20-yard line.
Drue Chrisman turned in a legendary performance with five punts downed inside the 6-yard line.
TATE COMES IN LATE
Talked about for weeks as Ohio State continued its struggles in the red zone, Tate Martell made his first appearance since the Tulane game back in September, helping loosen up a rushing attack that's been gasping for air for large stretches of the season, particularly in the red zone.
Meyer would often pay lip service to reporters' questions about Martell being an option in the red zone but he didn't see the field as the Buckeyes scored three touchdowns in 12 red zone trips over the last three games.
Yesterday, however, Meyer changed things up and inserted Martell as Ohio State faced 1st-and-Goal at the Spartan 6-yard line in the first half. Martell kept for five yards on the play and Parris Campbell would score on a jet sweep – from Dwayne Haskins – two plays later.
Martell also saw action as Ohio State faced a 3rd-and-3 up 19-6 in the fourth quarter. With Mark Dantonio's defense respecting the quarterback run, Martell guided the Buckeyes from the MSU 27 to the 4 where a 3rd-and-Goal play fell victim to a horrible snap from Michael Jordan resulting in a turnover.
Even with the turnover, there's no denying Martell helped create some alleys for the running game and it wasn't lost on Meyer who offered postgame, “I think we’re going to do more of that.”
I'm still astonished at the inability of the braintrust to install straight up running plays with a non-running quarterback that can consistently get some yards but here we are. On one hand, it feels like admitting defeat to install Martell. On the other, maybe that's a good thing because through nine games, they'd really only remotely cracked the code on that approach a couple times.
SIGNS OF LIFE
Keeping in mind Michigan State's offense is a steaming pile, Ohio State's defense still showed some signs of improvement in an effort that limited the Spartans to just two drives of 33+ yards and two field goals.
I can't give the defense too much credit for two of the three turnovers considering two came on self-inflicted fumbles though Shaun Wade did record Ohio State's first interception since October 13th against Minnesota.
The defense did hold the Spartans to 274 total yards (86 below season avg) including just 54 on the ground (71 below season avg), 47 of which came on one play, but some of that was due to the green and white falling behind and throwing it 48 times compared to just 18 rushing attempts.
And while the quarterback situation in East Lansing is dreadful, the coverage was largely solid except for a nice day from Cody White (8 for 115) as the combo of Lewerke and Lombardi completed 18 throws, or 37.5%.
With the passing attack on ice, Sparty converted just two of 16 third down tries.
It's probably not a coincidence the linebackers seemed to play a little better knowing the back line is in much better shape with Brendon White opposite Jordan Fuller instead of Isaiah Pryor who had missed 36.4% of his tackle attempts through eight games.
The defense still allowed eight chunk plays but that's a decrease from 10 last week and 16 the game before that so we'll take it.
In all honesty, I'm still not sure what percent of the defense's statistical improvement is the result of positive changes versus what percent is the result of playing against a terrible offense void of a functioning quarterback.
