Marvin Harrison Jr.’s Three Touchdowns Lead Ohio State to Blowout Win over Michigan State, 38-3

By Dan Hope on November 11, 2023 at 10:40 pm
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Ohio State cruised to victory in its only home night game of the season.

Wearing brand-new gray alternate uniforms under the lights, Ohio State gave its home crowd plenty to cheer about as the Buckeyes rolled to a 38-3 victory over Michigan State to improve to 10-0 on the season.

  Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4  
#1 Ohio State 14 21 3 0 38
MICHIGAN STATE 0 3 0 0 3
NOV. 11, 2023 • Ohio STADIUM • Columbus, Ohio

As he often is, Marvin Harrison Jr. was the star of the night for Ohio State, scoring touchdowns on all of the Buckeyes’ first three possessions to propel the home team to a 21-0 lead two seconds into the second quarter. Ohio State entered halftime with a 35-3 lead before an uneventful second half in which its backups saw extended playing time on both sides of the ball.

Harrison started the scoring with the first rushing touchdown of his OSU career on a play from the 19-yard line.

Michigan State attempted a 56-yard field goal on its opening drive, which Jonathan Kim missed to give the ball back to the Buckeyes at their own 39-yard line. The Buckeyes took advantage of the short field with a four-play, 61-yard drive capped by a 26-yard touchdown pass from Kyle McCord to Harrison.

Harrison’s third touchdown came on a 9-yard catch on the first play of the second quarter.

The Spartans scored their only points of the night on their fourth possession of the game with a 53-yard field goal by Kim.

TreVeyon Henderson became the first Buckeye other than Harrison to score a touchdown on the night when he ran for a 9-yard score on Ohio State’s fifth possession.

Ohio State tacked on a fifth touchdown with 15 seconds to play before halftime when McCord threaded the ball between two defenders to Cade Stover, who made an excellent adjustment to the ball for an 18-yard catch in the end zone.

OHIO STATE   METRIC   MICHIGAN STATE
530 TOTAL YARDS 182
177 RUSHING YARDS 94
32 RUSHING ATTEMPTS 29
5.5 AVERAGE per RUSH 3.2
2 RUSHING TOUCHDOWNS 0
353 PASSING YARDS 88
26-34 COMPLETIONS–ATTEMPTS 13-25
13.6 AVERAGE per COMPLETION 6.8
3 PASSING TOUCHDOWNS 0
25 1st DOWNS 11
66 TOTAL PLAYS 54
8.0 YARDS PER PLAY 3.4
5-11 third down conv 2-14
3-25 PENALTIES 5-36
31:12 POSSESSION 28:48

Harrison built upon his spectacular first half with a 57-yard reception on Ohio State’s first offensive play of the second half.

That led to a 36-yard Jayden Fielding field goal on what would be the final drive of the game for several Ohio State starters including Harrison, Henderson, Stover and Emeka Egbuka.

A missed 41-yard field goal attempt by Fielding was the closest either team came to scoring in the fourth quarter.

With just two regular-season games to go, Ohio State will look to improve to 11-0 in its final home game of the season when it hosts Minnesota at Ohio Stadium next Saturday.

Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. with Big Ten Network televising.

Game Notes

  • Three Ohio State defensive starters were unavailable for the game: linebacker Tommy Eichenberg and safeties Josh Proctor and Lathan Ransom.
  • Cody Simon made his first start of the season in place of Eichenberg at linebacker while Sonny Styles and Malik Hartford started at safety.
  • Houston Texans general manager Nick Caserio was among the NFL representatives at Ohio Stadium for the game.
  • Marvin Harrison Jr. became the first receiver in Ohio State history to top 1,000 receiving yards in two different seasons.
  • Harrison topped 100 receiving yards for the fourth time in his Ohio State career, tying the school record of 14 career 100-yard games held by David Boston. 
  • With his two touchdown catches, Harrison moved past Cris Carter into fourth all-time in Ohio State history with 28 receiving touchdowns.
  • Harrison became the first Buckeye since Ezekiel Elliott in 2015 to score the first three touchdowns of a game for Ohio State.
  • Harrison also became the first player since Emeka Egbuka vs. Toledo in 2022 to score a rushing and receiving touchdown for Ohio State in the same game.
  • Cade Stover tied his career-high with seven catches, gaining 79 yards on those seven receptions.
  • Kyle McCord’s 335 passing yards were a career-high for the Ohio State quarterback.
  • 105,137 people were in attendance for Saturday’s game.
  • With Devin Brown still recovering from an ankle injury, freshman quarterback Lincoln Kienholz made his Ohio State debut in the fourth quarter. Redshirt freshman nickelback Ryan Turner also played his first snaps of the season.
  • Former Ohio State punter Michael O’Shaughnessy punted twice for 71 combined yards in the fourth quarter. He punted only once in his Buckeye career.

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