One of the lightest starts to a season in recent Ohio State memory, at least schedule-difficulty-wise, gallops onward with a primetime kickoff against a non-primetime opponent.
Western Michigan
Broncos
The Buckeyes face the Western Michigan Broncos at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. Ohio State is aiming to start its season 2-0 after demolishing another MAC member, Akron, 52-6 in Week 1. The Buckeyes will get next week off, then return to action against another Group of Five opponent in Marshall, before a road trip to Michigan State rounds out the Scarlet and Gray’s September slate.
The Broncos should provide a slightly stiffer challenge to the Buckeyes than the Zips, but all signs still point toward another Ohio State blowout given its massive talent advantage. Western Michigan gave another Big Ten team a scare last weekend, but this week’s matchup for Ohio State will still be about continuing to build toward the ultimate goals that lie at the end of its schedule.
“We’ve got a long way to go here and we want to keep pushing,” Ryan Day said on Tuesday. “There certainly were some great clips (against Akron), I think you guys saw some of that on Saturday. But we’re nowhere near where we need to be. It’s a long season and so we’ll get back to work.”
The Headlines
Hold your Horses
Oh, how close Western Michigan came to hanging the head of a Big Ten foe on its mantle.
The Broncos took a 14-13 lead in the first minute of the fourth quarter, then forced Wisconsin to go three-and-out on its following drive. That meant a chance for their offense to drain the clock and extend the lead.
Western Michigan would have gotten that chance had the Badgers’ punt not bounced backward and ricocheted off Broncos cornerback DaShon Bussell. Wisconsin’s Austin Brown recovered the ball on the Broncos’ 15-yard line, scored a touchdown to take the lead and won the game 28-14 from there to survive the scare.
So if Ohio State wants the blowout it’s striving for and to get rest for its veteran players to stave off injury, it will need to come out firing and execute Saturday night.
Veteran Group
There’s experience everywhere in Westen Michigan’s starting lineup, even if a lot of that experience comes from a team that had a disappointing 4-8 record in 2023.
| Ohio State | Pos | Western Michigan |
|---|---|---|
| OFFENSE | ||
| WILL HOWARD | QB | HAYDEN WOLFF |
| TREVEYON HENDERSON | RB | JALEN BUCKLEY |
| JEREMIAH SMITH | WR | ANTHONY SAMBUCCI |
| CARNELL TATE | WR | MALIQUE DIEUDONNE |
| EMEKA EGBUKA | WR | KENNETH WOMACK |
| GEE SCOTT JR. | TE | BLAKE BOSMA |
| JOSH SIMMONS | LT | TEDI KUSHI |
| AUSTIN SIEREVELD | LG | QUINN MURPHY |
| SETH MCLAUGHLIN | C | JACOB GIDEON |
| TEGRA TSHABOLA | RG | ADDISON WEST |
| JOSH FRYAR | RT | JACK SHERWIN |
| DEFENSE | ||
| JT TUIMOLOAU | DE | COREY WALKER |
| TYLEIK WILLIAMS | DT | ANTERIO THOMPSON |
| TY HAMILTON | DT | MASON NELSON |
| JACK SAWYER | DE | TYSON LEE |
| ARVELL REESE | WLB | DONALD WILLIS |
| SONNY STYLES | MLB | JAKE WAHLBERG |
| JORDAN HANCOCK | NB/SAM | DAMARI ROBERSON |
| DENZEL BURKE | CB | BILHAL KONE |
| DAVISON IGBINOSUN | CB | NYQUANN WASHINGTON |
| CALEB DOWNS | FS | AARON WOFFORD |
| LATHAN RANSOM | SS | TATE HALLOCK |
Ten of the 11 starters on offense are fourth-year players or further along in their collegiate careers. Redshirt senior Hayden Wolff is back to lead the charge for the Broncos at quarterback, now in his fourth year as a starting signal-caller. He manned the operation under center for Old Dominion for two years before he transferred to Western Michigan last year.
Graduate receiver Kenneth Womack is back after leading the team with 76 receptions for 691 yards in 2023. Jalen Buckley is the youngest starter for the team’s offense as a redshirt sophomore, and he rushed for more than 1,000 yards last year.
Ten upperclassmen filling starting roles on defense. Leading tackler Tate Hallock is back at strong safety, with 75 takedowns to go with two interceptions. Donald Willis, tied for the team lead with 4.5 sacks last year, is back to start at linebacker.
Such a sage group is less likely to lose the turnover battle to Ohio State as Akron did, with the Zips giving the ball away three times including two defensive touchdowns for the Buckeyes.
Establish the Run
Will Howard found a nice rhythm by the end of the Akron game with no incompletions on his second-half ledger and multiple great escapes of pressure to showcase his feet. He didn’t take a sack last Saturday.
Where Ohio State is looking for more development than perhaps any other area against Western Michigan is in its running game. The Buckeyes averaged just 4.8 yards per carry in the first half before picking it up to 5.5 yards per carry in the second.
“I'm not sure how many rushing yards we ended up rushing for, but there's always yards that are left out there,” center Seth McLaughlin said on Wednesday. “There were a lot of plays that were one block away from being huge runs, and we just got to keep working on correcting those one-offs.”
Ohio State could probably beat Western Michigan throwing the ball on every down. But establishing a better rushing attack and developing more chemistry between TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins and the Buckeyes’ offensive line will be important for the future of the team’s season.
Two of OSU’s top three run blockers in Pro Football Focus grades from Saturday were tight ends Gee Scott Jr. (72, which led the team) and Will Kacmarek (67.5, which was third). Those two played just eight and 11 run-blocking snaps respectively, but better perimeter blocking will also help the team’s efforts in this area.
Keep An Eye on These Guys
Ohio State DE Jack Sawyer
There are any number of Ohio State players to name in these sorts of games, but Sawyer is highlighted here for his quietly fantastic performance against Akron last week that should bleed into another nice outing against Western Michigan. Quiet from a statistical perspective, at least.
Sawyer certainly brought plenty of noise to the helmet and shoulder pads of Zips quarterback Ben Finley, seemingly knocking the signal-caller silly every other play. No, Sawyer didn’t get a sack in Week 1, but he did rack up four total pressures with three quarterback hits, per PFF.
Expected to be among the nation’s elite defensive ends alongside Buckeye running mate JT Tuimoloau, Sawyer might not be on the field too long against Western Michigan given how defensive line coach Larry Johnson rotated at the position against Akron, but expect him to continue invading the backfield with ferocity.
Western Michigan RB Jalen Buckley
Buckley was one of just five running backs in the MAC to reach 1,000 yards last year, picking up 1,003 as a redshirt freshman. He did so at a clip of 5.3 yards per carry, collecting 10 rushing touchdowns.
Wisconsin kept him to only four yards per attempt, but he scored both of the Broncos’ touchdowns last week. Stuffing some of Buckley’s runs will go a long way to force Western Michigan into a one-dimensional offense.
Game Week Talk
“I don't think there's an unveiling or not unveiling. I think everything we do is just game plan-specific for who we're playing that week.”– Chip Kelly
There's a lot of talk in the public sphere about saving plays for better opponents down the stretch of the season. Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly pushed back on that notion on Tuesday. So, if his words hold true, expect the Buckeyes to have their full playbook at their disposal both against Western Michigan and all other enemies.
“They are really good. They are really talented on all three levels, in all three phases. Coach (Ryan) Day has done an excellent job, him and his staff, of building a great roster. I was really impressed as I watched these guys on film of how disciplined they play.”– Western Michigan head coach Lance Taylor
Broncos coach Lance Taylor is impressed with the talent Ohio State's accumulated on its roster and how it's been developed. He'll get a first-hand taste of that on Saturday night.
“Yeah, we know they came to play ball. They played a Big Ten team, so we know they're going to come over here and play ball with us.”– Carnell Tate on Western Michigan
Western Michigan’s competitive first game against Wisconsin caught the attention of Ohio State’s players, including Tate, who will be looking to build upon a strong season opener after catching four passes for 58 yards and a touchdown against Akron.
Get Smart
- Ohio State won 38-12 in its only previous game against Western Michigan in 2015.
- Ohio State is 37-1 all-time vs. MAC schools with 34 consecutive wins since an 1894 loss to Akron.
- Ohio State has won its last 68 games against non-power conference teams. Its last loss to a non-Power 4 team was against Air Force in the 1990 Liberty Bowl.
- Western Michigan has seven players from Ohio, including starting linebacker Donald Willis (Cleveland).
- Western Michigan last defeated a power-conference opponent on Sept. 18, 2021, when it defeated Pittsburgh 44-41. The Broncos have since lost five straight games against Power 4 teams, all by at least 14 points.
- Ohio State will release its status report of unavailable players at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. Ryan Day said Donovan Jackson and Cody Simon were both “day-to-day” in the week leading up to the game after missing the season opener due to injuries.
How It Plays Out
Line: OSU -37.5, O/U 54
More Ohio State vs. Western Michigan Coverage
I see this contest finishing with a similarly lopsided margin to Akron, as the Buckeyes should take a step from Week 1 to Week 2 but the Broncos are a slight upgrade in competition from the Zips. While Wisconsin may well be a good team in its second year under Luke Fickell, the Badgers don’t possess nearly the firepower that Ohio State does, plus Western Michigan should be beaten up a bit from its game against UW.
There’s a good chance Ohio State comes out trying to run the ball. If they find success there, the passing game will open up that much more as Jeremiah Smith tries to build off his breakout performance against Akron. Western Michigan is overmatched at the line of scrimmage when facing the Buckeyes’ defense, an advantage that will only increase as the game goes on with OSU showing the depth it can roll against the Zips.
If this one’s close in the first half, it won’t be close in the second. Each member of the Eleven Warriors staff projects at least a 32-point margin of victory in this one.
| Eleven Warriors Staff Prediction | ||||
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48 | 7 |
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