Ohio State’s Offense Dominates in 77-21 Win over Toledo

By Dan Hope on September 17, 2022 at 10:37 pm
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Ohio State’s offense reached the end zone 11 times in its final non-conference game of the season.

C.J. Stroud threw for 367 yards and five touchdowns, eight total Buckeyes scored touchdowns and Marvin Harrison Jr., Julian Fleming and Emeka Egbuka all scored twice as the Buckeyes scored on their first seven straight possessions en route to a 77-21 win over the Rockets in their final non-conference game of the regular season.

  Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4  
#3 Ohio State 28 14 14 21 77
tOLEDO 7 7 7 0 21
SEPT. 17, 2022 • Ohio STADIUM • Columbus, Ohio

Ohio State’s offensive assault started right away after the Buckeyes won the opening coin toss and opted to take the ball first. The Buckeyes went 82 yards on eight plays on their opening drive, with TreVeyon Henderson running for a 7-yard touchdown – one play after a 38-yard catch by Cade Stover – to put the Buckeyes on the board less than four minutes into the game.

Toledo answered with a game-tying touchdown on its opening drive as Thomas Zsiros burned Cameron Brown to catch a 50-yard touchdown pass from Dequan Finn.

Stover made another big play through the air on the Buckeyes’ next possession, this time for 34 yards, to set up a spectacular 8-yard touchdown catch by Harrison on which Harrison somehow managed to get two feet down in the corner of the end zone.

Following a three-and-out forced by the Ohio State defense, Egbuka made it 21-7 with a 3-yard touchdown run, which was set up by a 42-yard pass from Stroud to Harrison.

Fleming extended the lead to 28-7 before the end of the first quarter when he scored a 5-yard touchdown on his first catch of the season.

Ohio State finished the fourth quarter with 287 yards of offense, including 211 passing yards from Stroud, who went 12-for-14 in the first 15 minutes.

Toledo scored its second touchdown of the night on its opening possession of the second quarter when Finn gashed the Buckeyes’ defense for a 23-yard touchdown run.

The Buckeyes scored on their fifth straight possession to start the game when Harrison made another toe-tapping catch in the end zone for a 7-yard touchdown.

Ohio State would score on all six of its possessions before halftime as Fleming caught his second touchdown pass of the night from 11 yards out with 47 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

The Buckeyes finished the first half with 441 yards of offense with Stroud accounting for 297 of those yards through the air (as well as nine rushing yards on two attempts).

Ohio State’s defense finally recorded its first takeaway of the season on Toledo’s opening drive of the second half when Ronnie Hickman intercepted Finn.

The Buckeye offense took advantage of the short field to score its seventh straight touchdown. A 45-yard run by true freshman Dallan Hayden set up a 1-yard touchdown by Mitch Rossi on the first rushing attempt of the Ohio State fullback’s career.

Finn made his third big play for a touchdown on Toledo’s second possession of the third quarter, completing a 40-yard touchdown pass on the run to Jerjuan Newton, who beat Denzel Burke on the play.

The Buckeyes finally punted for the first time on their eighth possession of the game, but got back to their touchdown-scoring ways on their ninth possession – the final drive of the night for the first-team offense – with Egbuka getting wide open for a 7-yard touchdown catch.

Hayden scored the first touchdown of his Ohio State career on a 1-yard run for the Buckeyes’ ninth score of the night less than two minutes into the fourth quarter.

Jayden Ballard joined the party by getting wide open and taking a pass from Kyle McCord 72 yards to the house for Ohio State’s 10th touchdown of the night and the first touchdown of his career.

OHIO STATE METRIC TOLEDO
763 TOTAL YARDS 307
281 RUSHING YARDS 124
44 RUSHING ATTEMPTS 33
6.4 AVERAGE per RUSH 3.8
5 RUSHING TOUCHDOWNS 1
482 PASSING YARDS 183
27-34 COMPLETIONS–ATTEMPTS 12-23
17.9 AVERAGE per COMPLETION 15.3
6 PASSING TOUCHDOWNS 2
36 1st DOWNS 13
78 TOTAL PLAYS 56
9.8 YARDS PER PLAY 5.5
9-9 RED ZONE 0-0
11-13 third down conv 4-13
1-5 PENALTIES 4-23
35:26 POSSESSION 24:34

The Buckeyes recorded their second takeaway of the season on Toledo’s next possession when Javontae Jean-Baptiste got a strip sack against Rockets backup quarterback Tucker Gleason, with Palaie Gaoteote recovering the fumble.

Freshman walk-on running back TC Caffey followed that up with a spectacular 49-yard touchdown run to become the eighth Buckeye of the night to reach the end zone.

The Buckeyes finished the night with 763 yards of offense, the second-most in school history behind only their 776-yard game against Bowling Green in 2016. Their 77 points were tied for the fifth-most in school history.

Ohio State, which finishes non-conference play with a 3-0 record, will begin conference play with another Saturday night game at Ohio Stadium next weekend against Wisconsin. The game is set for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff on ABC.

Game Notes

  • 12 Ohio State players were unavailable for Saturday’s game, including Josh Proctor and Tanner McCalister, who were both held out of the game despite not being listed on the initial status report. Mike Hall also did not play, though he was available, after leaving the Arkansas State game with an apparent shoulder injury.
  • Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Julian Fleming both returned to action against Toledo despite being listed as game-time decisions.
  • Jerron Cage, Lathan Ransom and Cameron Martinez made their first starts of the season in place of Mike Hall, Proctor and McCalister.
  • TreVeyon Henderson left the game with an apparent leg injury in the first quarter and did not return.
  • Cameron Brown left the game with an apparent injury and went back to the locker room in the second quarter. JK Johnson took his place in the lineup at cornerback.
  • Scouts from the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Rams, Minnesota Vikings and New York Jets attended Saturday’s game.
  • C.J. Stroud, Tommy Eichenberg, Tyler Friday and Kamryn Babb were the game captains for the pregame coin toss.
  • Reid Carrico, Bennett Christian, Kojo Antwi, TC Caffey, Reis Stocksdale, Kyion Grayes, Devin Brown, Kaleb Brown, Jackson Kuwatch, Cayden Saunders and Sam Hart were among the Buckeyes who saw their first playing time of the season against Toledo.
  • Ohio State’s 28-point first quarter was its first since it scored 28 points in the first quarter of its 2019 season opener against Florida Atlantic. 
  • Saturday’s game was the first time the Buckeyes scored touchdowns on every one of their first-half possessions since the 2021 Maryland game, when they scored five touchdowns on five possessions.
  • Harrison and Egbuka both topped 100 receiving yards for the second game in a row.
  • Hayden topped 100 rushing yards in just the second game of his Ohio State career.
  • Fleming had the first two-touchdown game of his Ohio State career.
  • 105,398 people were in attendance at Ohio Stadium for Saturday night’s game.

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