Three Key Stats: Near Perfection in the Air, Mistake Free Football and Run Stuffing Defense

A ruthless rout.

The Buckeyes went onto the field with something to prove on Saturday against Michigan State. This was a piece-by-piece dismantling of the Spartans, as there was never any doubt who the better team was in Ohio State’s 56-7 win.

In Today's Three Key Stats, we look at C.J. Stroud's near perfect game, a nearly penalty-free game and the rush defense’s dominance over Kenneth Walker.

3 Incompletions

C.J. Stroud had an absolutely spectacular performance, the best of his young Buckeye career. He threw for 432 yards with six touchdowns as he completed 32 of his 35 passing attempts. He threw twice as many touchdown passes as incompletions.

This was Stroud's Heisman moment that everyone has been anticipating. He was able to hit his talented receivers in stride and pick apart the Spartan defense. With this type of play, the ceiling is incredibly high for the Buckeyes.

5 Penalty Yards

The Buckeyes played extremely clean football against Michigan State, with only one false start on the first play of the game. They didn’t have another penalty the rest of the day.

Penalties have been a subtle problem for Ohio State this season, but they were no problem against the Spartans.

25 Rushing Yards

The most surprising stat of the day: Kenneth Walker was held to 25 rushing yards on only six carries with no scores. Ohio State held the Heisman candidate to his worst game of the season.

Many of us expected Walker to give the defense some trouble, but the Buckeyes never gave him that change. Once Ohio State’s offense built a large lead, Michigan State had to abandon the run game to keep up.

Bottling up Walker highlighted the most impressive performance of the season for the defense.