Ohio State Starts Big Ten Play with 38-7 Win over Michigan State

By Dan Hope on September 28, 2024 at 10:41 pm
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Ohio State’s first Big Ten game of the season didn’t look much different than its three non-conference games to start the season.

While the Buckeyes’ defense showed some vulnerability early as it allowed Michigan State to score a touchdown and drive deep into Ohio State territory three more times in its first four possessions, Ohio State eventually pulled away by finishing the game with 28 unanswered points en route to a 38-7 win in East Lansing, improving to 4-0 to complete its first month of the season.

Jeremiah Smith was the star of the show for Ohio State, scoring a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter – one on an end-around run and another on a spectacular one-handed catch – to start the Buckeyes’ separation from the Spartans.

  Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4  
#3 Ohio State 3 21 14 0 38
Michigan State 0 7 0 0 7
Sept. 28, 2024 • Spartan Stadium • East Lansing, Michigan

Ohio State drove into the red zone on its opening possession as Will Howard completed all of his seven opening-drive passing attempts for 66 yards, but the Buckeyes settled for a 30-yard Jayden Fielding field goal after losing 15 yards on an unnecessary roughness penalty by Will Kacmarek.

Michigan State threatened to score on its opening drive as it drove to Ohio State’s 20-yard line in just six plays, but Cody Simon got the Buckeyes off the field by stuffing Aidan Chiles’ quarterback sneak attempt on 4th-and-1.

Gee Scott Jr. scored the first touchdown of the game – also his first of the season – on Ohio State’s second possession as he made a 3-yard catch when the Buckeyes opted to go for it on 4th-and-goal to cap off a 14-play, 80-yard drive.

Michigan State drove deep into Ohio State territory again on its second possession, but the Buckeyes got off the field without giving up points again as Jordan Hancock forced a fumble on a 26-yard catch-and-run by Jack Velling that Sonny Styles recovered at the 11-yard line.

Howard threw his second interception of the season on Ohio State’s third possession, forcing a pass in Emeka Egbuka’s direction into double coverage that Jordan Turner picked off and returned to the 12-yard line. Michigan State needed just one play to score from there as Jaron Glover turned a short pass from Chiles into a touchdown, making it a 10-7 game.

Ohio State responded quickly to make it a two-score game again as a 37-yard run by TreVeyon Henderson set up a 19-yard run on an end-around by Smith for the freshman wide receiver’s first rushing touchdown of his Buckeye career.

The Buckeye defense once again got off the field without allowing points after letting Michigan State drive deep into Ohio State territory on the Spartans’ fourth possession as Lathan Ransom forced a fumble on a Chiles run that Jack Sawyer recovered at the 16-yard line.

Both teams exchanged punts on their fifth possession, giving the Buckeyes the ball back with 1:11 left to play in the second quarter. Smith proceeded to make a pair of spectacular one-handed catches – one on a leaping grab along the right sideline on a 27-yard throw from Howard, and another for a 17-yard touchdown catch in the right side of the end zone on a throw from Devin Brown, who replaced Howard for one play after he had to leave the game briefly following a hit to the midsection.

Smith’s second touchdown of the night, bringing him up to six touchdowns in just four games as a Buckeye, gave Ohio State a 24-7 lead at the halftime break.

Ohio State scored its second fourth-down touchdown of the night on its opening drive of the second half as Howard connected with Emeka Egbuka on 4th-and-5 and Egbuka went all the way for a 33-yard touchdown to make it a 24-point game.

Denzel Burke picked off Chiles on Michigan State’s next possession, giving Ohio State the ball back at the 12-yard line. Three plays later, Howard ran for a 6-yard touchdown – his third touchdown run in as many games – to make it 38-7 on what would be the offensive starters’ final series in the game.

After allowing Michigan State to reach Ohio State’s 20-yard line or beyond on its first four drives of the game, the Buckeyes prevented the Spartans from reaching midfield on each of their next seven possessions, only allowing Michigan State to get back into Ohio State territory in the final minute of the game after a 4th-and-1 deep ball from third-string quarterback Julian Sayin fell incomplete.

Ohio State will open its second month of the season with its first Big Ten home game of the year against Iowa next Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at Ohio Stadium with CBS televising.

Team Stats

OHIO STATE     MICHIGAN STATE
483 TOTAL YARDS 246
185 RUSHING YARDS 47
35 RUSHING ATTEMPTS 25
5.3 AVERAGE PER RUSH 1.9
2 RUSHING TOUCHDOWNS 0
298 PASSING YARDS 199
26-40 COMPLETIONS–ATTEMPTS 16-25
11.5 YARDS PER COMPLETION 12.4
3 PASSING TOUCHDOWNS 1
23 1st DOWNS 14
75 TOTAL PLAYS 50
6.4 YARDS PER PLAY 4.9
8-17 3RD DOWNS 2-9
4-40 PENALTIES 2-19
35:14 POSSESSION 24:19
1 TURNOVERS 3

Game Notes

  • Tywone Malone Jr. made his first start as a Buckeye in place of Tyleik Williams, who was considered available for Saturday night’s game but was held out after missing Ohio State’s previous game against Marshall with an injury.
  • Arvell Reese made his first career start at linebacker as the Buckeyes opened the game in a three-linebacker defense.
  • Ohio State had a new kickoff returner for a second straight game as Emeka Egbuka replaced Brandon Inniss in that capacity. Inniss was the kickoff returner for the Marshall game after Jayden Ballard handled kickoff returns for the first two games.
  • Jayden Fielding resumed kickoff duties after being benched for the second half of the Marshall game.
  • Former Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio, the defensive coordinator of Ohio State’s 2002 national championship team, was honored in between the first and second quarters for his upcoming induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. 
  • TreVeyon Henderson reached 3,000 rushing yards for his career with a 37-yard run in the second quarter.
  • Jeremiah Smith became the second Ohio State freshman wide receiver ever to score a rushing and a receiving touchdown in the same game, joining Ted Ginn Jr.
  • With five receiving touchdowns in four games, Smith is already tied with Garrett Wilson for the third-most receiving touchdowns ever by an Ohio State freshman.
  • Ryan Day became the second-fastest coach to win 60 games at Ohio State, reaching the milestone in his 68th game. Only Urban Meyer, who also won his 60th game against Michigan State, reached that milestone faster (65 games).

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