Ohio State Wins Situational Battle Over Michigan State With Fourth-Down Execution, Turnover Margin

Even in blowouts, a small sample of plays can swing the entire outlook of a football game.

That’s why situational excellence is vital to teams at the top of the sport. And while Ohio State probably could have beaten Michigan State in Spartan Stadium without winning some of the key situational categories it did, the Buckeyes bore more of a resemblance to a title contender because of the success they saw in the turnover battle, in the red zone and on third and fourth down.

“The turnover battle was huge in this game,” Day said. “If we don't get those turnovers, maybe it's a different game for sure, but that's the game and we’ve gotta make sure we’re winning the situations.”

Turnovers put an abrupt stop to two otherwise productive Michigan State drives in the first half, helping Ohio State pull ahead early in its 38-7 win.

The Spartans marched 64 yards in five plays after the Buckeyes extended their first-half lead to 10-0, the final play being a 26-yard strike to tight end Jack Velling against Sonny Styles in coverage. Velling gobbled up more than 15 yards after the catch before nickel Jordan Hancock tracked him down.

Hancock punched and then stripped the football out, which Sonny Styles scooped up and returned 8 yards to keep Michigan State off the scoreboard.

“We work on that all week, stripping the ball and making plays,” Hancock said. “Whenever your number is called, you’ve gotta make that play. And we just work that all the time.”

Later in the quarter Michigan State pieced together a nine-play, 59-yard drive only to have it thwarted by a Lathan Ransom strip of quarterback Aidan Chiles, this time with defensive end Jack Sawyer diving on the loose change. Denzel Burke capped Ohio State’s takeaway day with a third-quarter interception, his second of the season.

Ill take THAT!

- Denzel Burke, probably pic.twitter.com/MnSNXRvzHy
— CFB Tradition (@CFB_Tradition) September 29, 2024

Quarterback Will Howard did toss one awful-looking pick on Ohio State’s end, but he still finished his day 21-of-31 for 244 yards and two touchdowns as the Buckeyes had a +2 turnover margin at 3-1.

“Just a bad decision,” Howard said of his interception. “They went cover two there. We wanted them to go some sort of man (coverage) on that play. The play clock was running down, ended up just kind of rushing the decision and forced it into there. Really should have just gone back side and worked my spread concept back to the field.”

Fourth downs were the next-biggest example of situational excellence for the Buckeyes in East Lansing. Ohio State prevented Michigan State from converting its lone fourth-down attempt of the game and moved the chains on three fourth-downs of its own before coming up short on a 4th-and-1 with less than two minutes to play and the game well in hand.

OSU's fourth-down stop was an emphatic one, too. Linebacker Cody Simon gave his best bloodhound impression in sniffing out a quarterback sneak, timing his rush and meeting Chiles at the line of scrimmage for a 4th-and-1 stand.

“We saw a little bit of how they were trying to sneak some quarterback sneaks in this week in 3rd-and-short, 4th-and-short,” Simon said. “We had a quick adjustment for it and everyone did their job. It was a great play, so I'm just proud of my guys for stepping up and making plays, allowing me to make plays, too.”

Cody Simon pic.twitter.com/HbQefbAVbD
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) September 28, 2024

Ohio State’s three fourth-down conversions all came in unique ways. The first kept the offense on the field for a 4th-and-goal at the 3-yard line, and tight end Gee Scott Jr. came over the middle on a drag route for his first touchdown of the season to put the Buckeyes up 10-0.

The other two conversions came on Ohio State’s dagger-plunging drive to go up 31-7 in the third quarter. The Buckeyes converted 4th-and-1 at their own 45-yard line, then Howard connected with Emeka Egbuka for a 33-yard touchdown on a perfectly placed ball to the numbers, converting 4th-and-5 with style.

“The trust that our coaching staff has in us to be able to go for it on fourth down and not kick the field goal says a lot about this team,” Egbuka said. “So we were happy to be able to go out there as an offense and execute on fourth down. But you guys can watch the replay, Will put an amazing ball out there, really easy for me to catch and turn up the sideline.”

Buckeyes add 6 more!

Emeka Egbuka for @OhioStateFB pic.twitter.com/zZYRbpuXhE
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 29, 2024

Confidence is key to situational football. That comes from the trust Egbuka mentioned, not just coach-to-player trust but player-to-player, too.

“I think it's just belief, man,” Howard said. “It really isn't anything else. We just go out there and execute. We don't look at it like, ‘Hey, it's fourth down.’ It's just another play. We just go out there and execute and do our thing. Emeka made a great catch on that one over route. Gee made a great catch on the other one. All you've got to do is just put it in their hand, let them do the rest.”

The Buckeyes went 5-for-5 in the red zone to Michigan State’s 1-of-3. They went 8-of-17 on third down to Michigan State’s 2-of-9 and held a time of possession edge of more than 11 minutes.

Ohio State won the situations it needed to for a comfortable road victory on Saturday. More situations in less comfortable games wait on the horizon, however.

“I think where we are right now is we're making progress, but we've got a long way to go,” Day said. “I think that our guys have that mindset. It was good to get this win on the road, first road win, good environment. But we know that the challenges are bigger ahead, so we've got to get on this film and stay hungry and keep the journey going.”