Ohio State’s cornerbacks did not have any interceptions in 2022. It took them only two games to grab one in 2023.
Denzel Burke hauled in Ohio State’s first interception of the season on Saturday when he blanketed Youngstown State receiver Bryce Oliver in coverage and made a play on a deep ball in the end zone to prevent what would have been a 32-yard touchdown pass and instead come up with a takeaway for the defense on Youngstown State’s opening drive of the second half.
Denzel Burke bringing the D. @King10Burke x @OhioStateFB
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) September 9, 2023
: @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/BVLWtU72uw
Burke’s interception was the first by an Ohio State cornerback since Cameron Brown picked off a pass against Penn State on Oct. 30, 2021.
It was the highlight of a second straight dominant game in coverage to begin the season for Burke, who has re-established himself as the star of Ohio State’s secondary two games into his junior year following a disappointing sophomore season. He thought the interception was indicative of the difference in how he and the rest of Ohio State’s secondary are playing so far this season in contrast with last year.
“It felt good, man,” Burke said after the game. “I’m just happy I got the pick.”
Carter replaces Hartford after one series
Malik Hartford was Ohio State’s starting free safety against Youngstown State on Saturday, but his time in the Buckeyes’ defensive lineup didn’t last long.
With Josh Proctor sidelined for the game with an apparent ankle injury, Ohio State showed its faith in Hartford by starting the true freshman in only his second game as a Buckeye. After Ohio State gave up a touchdown on its opening defensive series, however, Hartford was replaced for the second defensive series by Syracuse transfer Ja’Had Carter, who continued to man the adjuster spot for the remainder of the game.
Carter, who made his Ohio State debut Saturday after playing zero snaps in the season opener against Indiana, recorded two tackles in the Buckeyes’ 35-7 victory over Youngstown State.
While Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles indicated Tuesday that Proctor and Hartford had outperformed Carter in the competition to be Ohio State’s starting free safety in preseason camp, how Saturday’s game played out suggests Carter could be more likely to see significant playing time going forward. That said, Ryan Day said after the game that the injury to Proctor, who Day and Knowles both said Tuesday they expected to continue starting at free safety, will not keep Proctor out long-term.
Hancock, Martinez mix in at nickel
Sonny Styles played nearly all of the defensive snaps at nickel safety for Ohio State against Indiana in Week 1 against what turned out to be a triple-option offense. Such wasn’t the case in Week 2.
Against a spread attack from Youngstown State, Knowles opted to rotate in two other players at the position against the Penguins’ slot receivers. Cam Martinez got the first crack at playing time but surrendered a 36-yard completion on 3rd-and-3 that kept the Penguins’ lone touchdown drive alive.
Following that play it was primarily cornerback Jordan Hancock who spelled Styles at nickel in passing situations, though Martinez still mixed in at times. Ohio State also used a dime package on one play that kept Styles on the field as a nickel while also bringing Hancock on as a slot cornerback.
Styles finished with four tackles, three of them solo, including a monster hit on Youngstown State tight end Jake Benio in the third quarter.
Sonny Styles BIG hit pic.twitter.com/psvxNIb6CH
— Buckeye Realm (@BuckeyeRealm_) September 9, 2023
Abor back sooner than expected
After Omari Abor underwent surgery for an undisclosed injury in August, Ryan Day said he expected the redshirt freshman defensive end to be out “at least a couple of months.” As it turned out, Abor was able to return to action much sooner than expected, as he saw action in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game exactly one month after Day made that comment.
Abor had not been listed on the status report for either of Ohio State’s first two games, though he did not make the trip to Indiana for the season opener. He did not record any statistics in his brief game appearance on Saturday, but his quick return to action is a boost to Ohio State’s defensive end depth behind starters JT Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer and second-stringers Caden Curry and Kenyatta Jackson Jr.
Reese injured in kickoff coverage
Arvell Reese started on Ohio State’s kickoff coverage unit for the second game in a row to start his Buckeye career, showing how highly the Buckeyes think of the true freshman linebacker/defensive end. Unfortunately for Reese, his day came to an early end on Ohio State’s first kickoff of the game after a collision with multiple Youngstown State players kept him down on the field for a couple of minutes.
Reese was able to walk off the field under his own power. While he was ruled out for the remainder of the game, it did not appear as though he suffered any serious injury as he walked off the field with the rest of Ohio State’s players following the game.
Harrison reaches 1,500
With 160 yards and two touchdowns on seven catches against Youngstown State, Harrison became the 24th receiver in Ohio State history with 1,500 receiving yards.
Those 160 yards, all of which came in the first half of Saturday’s game, brought Harrison to 1,580 yards for his Ohio State career. It was the eighth 100-yard game of Harrison’s OSU career, tying him for the fourth-most 100-yard games all-time by an OSU receiver.
His two touchdowns brought him to 19 touchdown catches for his career, bringing him into the top 10 all-time for OSU pass-catchers. Harrison is now just one touchdown away from becoming the ninth receiver in Ohio State history with 20 touchdown catches.
Only nine possessions for Ohio State
Ohio State’s offense didn’t get many chances to spread reps around against Youngstown State.
With new timing rules keeping the clock running after first downs and the Penguins milking said clock as much as possible on their drives – they held the ball 34 minutes to Ohio State’s 26 despite 11 fewer first downs – the Buckeyes only had nine possessions Saturday.
That played a big part in Ohio State scoring only 35 points against Youngstown State, as the Buckeyes scored touchdowns over half of their possessions but simply didn’t have the ball as much as they would have in past seasons.
“It does create a level of anxiety because we’re used to getting about 15 possessions a game and scoring 60 and 70 points, but we had nine possessions,” Day said. “We’re not used to having nine possessions and 60 plays. There’s a lot of guys that we’re trying to get on the field and get touches to and play, and when you only have 60 plays, every single rep you’ve got to be on point.”
Notable quotables
“A healthy TreVeyon Henderson is scary … Any way that we can get the ball in Tre’s hands, it’s a win for the Buckeyes.”– Kyle McCord
After he was plagued by a foot injury last season, Henderson showed he was back to his usual explosive self on Saturday by running for 56 yards and two touchdowns on just five carries (that counted, as he also had three carries for 27 yards and a touchdown on runs that will nullified by penalties).
”It was kind of really a disappointing win. We’ve got a lot of things to clean up. We were supposed to mutt these dudes.”– Denzel Burke on Ohio State’s defensive performance
For the second week in a row, Burke felt as though Ohio State’s defense should have performed better even though it only allowed its opponent to score once.
“To finally see it come all the way from when we first started playing with each other sophomore year of high school to now, it's been a long time coming.”– McCord on throwing his first touchdowns of the year to Marvin Harrison Jr.
After winning three state championships together at St. Joseph’s Prep High School in Philadelphia, Saturday was the first time McCord and Harrison connected for a touchdown – which they did twice – at the collegiate level.
- #5 Ohio State 35, Youngstown State 7
- • Buckeyes Pull Away From Penguins 35-7
- • McCord Strengthens Standing as QB1
- • Have a (Brief) Day, Henderson
- • Tressel Represents OSU and YSU at Game
- • Ohio State Postgame • Youngstown State Postgame • Photos
- • Notebook • Social Reax • Five Things
