Ohio State Completes First Half of Regular Season with 49-20 Road Win over Michigan State

By Dan Hope on October 8, 2022 at 7:30 pm
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Ohio State remains undefeated halfway through the 2022 regular season.

  Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4  
#3 Ohio State 14 21 14 0 49
MICHIGAN STATE 7 6 0 7 20
OCT. 8, 2022 • Spartan STADIUM • Columbus, Ohio

The Buckeyes picked up their first road win of the season and sixth win of the year overall as they blew out Michigan State, 49-20, at Spartan Stadium on Saturday.

C.J. Stroud became the first Ohio State quarterback ever to throw six touchdown passes in three separate games, Marvin Harrison Jr. became the first Ohio State wide receiver ever to catch three touchdown passes in three separate games and the Buckeyes scored touchdowns on seven of their first eight possessions on their way to blowing out the Spartans in East Lansing.

Lathan Ransom made the first big play of the game for Ohio State when he intercepted a Payton Thorne deep ball over the middle for an interception on Michigan State’s opening possession. Ohio State followed that up with a seven-play, 80-yard touchdown drive, capped by a 19-yard contested catch by Harrison, to take a 7-0 lead four minutes and 10 seconds into the game.

Michigan State tied the game on Ohio State’s next drive when a miscommunication between Stroud and Emeka Egbuka led to the first pick-six of Stroud’s Ohio State career, as the Buckeye quarterback threw the ball right into the hands of Michigan State cornerback Charles Brantley, who returned it 32 yards for a touchdown.

Stroud and Egbuka made up for it on Ohio State’s next possession when Michigan State left Egbuka wide open, leading to a 69-yard touchdown for the sophomore wide receiver on a throw from Stroud.

After going for it on 4th-and-1 from their own 42-yard line on the first play of the second quarter, the Buckeyes extended their lead to 21-7 on the second play of the second quarter when Stroud and Julian Fleming connected for a 51-yard touchdown.

Michigan State cut the lead back down to one score on its next possession with a seven-play, 76-yard drive that was capped by an 18-yard touchdown catch by Jayden Reed against Ohio State cornerback JK Johnson, who replaced Cameron Brown in the lineup after Brown picked up two penalties earlier in the drive. The touchdown was followed by a missed extra point by Michigan State kicker Jack Stone, keeping Ohio State ahead by eight.

Stroud made one of the best throws of his Ohio State career to date on the Buckeyes’ next possession when he delivered a perfectly passed up the right sideline that Harrison hauled in with an over-the-shoulder catch for a 32-yard gain. Ohio State took a 28-13 lead when TreVeyon Henderson finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run.

Harrison extended Ohio State’s lead to 35-13 with 1:20 to play before halftime when he scored a 28-yard touchdown on Stroud’s fourth touchdown pass of the first half.

Harrison made another spectacular catch from 19 yards out on Ohio State’s opening drive of the second half for his third touchdown of the game.

Stroud threw his sixth touchdown pass of the game when he connected with Gee Scott Jr. for the first touchdown of Scott’s career on a 4th-and-goal pass from the 2-yard line.

Ohio State took most of its starters out of the game on both sides of the ball after that touchdown drive.

OHIO STATE METRIC MICHIGAN STATE
614 TOTAL YARDS 202
237 RUSHING YARDS 7
46 RUSHING ATTEMPTS 20
5.2 AVERAGE per RUSH 0.4
1 RUSHING TOUCHDOWNS 0
377 PASSING YARDS 195
23-28 COMPLETIONS–ATTEMPTS 17-28
16.4 AVERAGE per COMPLETION 11.5
6 PASSING TOUCHDOWNS 2
29 1st DOWNS 12
74 TOTAL PLAYS 48
8.3 YARDS PER PLAY 4.2
4-4 RED ZONE 1-1
5-11 third down conv 3-11
4-45 PENALTIES 6-44
37:14 POSSESSION 22:26

The only remaining score of the game came from Michigan State with 5:40 to play in the fourth quarter, when Noah Kim completed a 25-yard touchdown pass to Montorie Foster Jr. for the Spartans’ third score of the day.

Stroud finished the game with 21 completions on 26 passing attempts for 361 yards while Harrison finished with seven catches for 131 yards. Egbuka caught five passes for 143 yards while Henderson had 19 carries for 118 yards. Henderson did not return to the game after limping off the field on Ohio State’s opening drive of the third quarter following a low tackle by Brantley.

Defensively, Tommy Eichenberg led Ohio State with eight total tackles while Mike Hall Jr. had 2.5 sacks.

With the first half of the regular season now complete and bowl eligibility already secured, Ohio State will now have a week off before starting the second half of its regular season at home against Iowa on Oct. 22.

Game Notes

  • C.J. Stroud has now thrown the second-most touchdown passes of any quarterback (68) in Ohio State history, surpassing Justin Fields (63) and now trailing only J.T. Barrett, who threw 104 touchdown passes as a Buckeye.
  • Stroud set a Big Ten record by throwing five touchdown passes for the eighth time in his Ohio State career.
  • Stroud has now thrown at least four touchdown passes 11 times in his Ohio State career, tying him with Barrett for the most four-touchdown passing games in school history.
  • TreVeyon Henderson ran for more than 100 yards for the fifth time in his Ohio State career, crossing the milestone with five minutes still to play in the second quarter against Michigan State.
  • Emeka Egbuka topped 100 receiving yards for the fourth time in Ohio State’s last five games while Marvin Harrison Jr. topped 100 receiving yards for the third time in that same span.
  • Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Miyan Williams were among 11 unavailable players for Saturday’s game.
  • Jerron Cage started the game at defensive tackle in place of Mike Hall, Lathan Ransom started over Josh Proctor at safety, J.T. Tuimoloau made his fourth start of the season at defensive end opposite Jack Sawyer and Cameron Brown returned to the starting lineup at cornerback opposite Denzel Burke after missing the previous two games.
  • Michigan State safety Jaden Mangham was carted off the field on a backboard after a hard collision with Henderson on a run by Henderson in the first quarter. Henderson came over to check on Mangham as he was loaded onto the cart, and Mangham gave a thumbs-up to the crowd as he was wheeled off the field. ESPN’s Holly Rowe reported that Mangham was taken to the hospital to be evaluated for a head/neck injury.
  • Scouts from the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions, New York Giants and Washington Commanders were in attendance for Saturday’s game.
  • Ohio State became the first Big Ten team since Michigan in 1946-47 to score 45+ points in five straight games.

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