Three Key Stats: Ohio State's Defense Racks Up 13 Tackles For Loss, Carnell Tate Has a Career Day and the Buckeyes Convert Just One of Their 10 Third-Down Attempts

Well, that was a close one.

In a back-and-forth, low-scoring game in Ohio Stadium, the Buckeyes came out on top, retaking the lead in the fourth quarter to eventually hold on to beat Nebraska 21-17 Saturday afternoon.

While it was a defensive game for both teams, the offenses played key roles at certain times as Will Howard was solid even with limited opportunities while the running game struggled and Ohio State's defense stepped up when it needed to.

We dig into three key stats in the Buckeyes' sixth win of the season.

102 Receiving Yards for Carnell Tate

While Jeremiah Smith (three catches for 70 yards and a touchdown) and Emeka Egbuka (three receptions for 20 yards) were tied atop the team lead with four targets along with Tate, the latter made the most of his opportunities against the Cornhuskers.

Tate caught all four of the passes thrown his way for a career-high 102 yards and a touchdown, highlighted by a 40-yard score for Ohio State's first points of the game late in the first quarter.

Will Howard Carnell Tate. pic.twitter.com/iuHHJsbjy1
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) October 26, 2024

While Tate has shown his playmaking ability when he gets the ball, with so much talent on Ohio State's offense, including at wide receiver, the sophomore totaled 15 catches for 232 yards in five games this season before Saturday. Tate's previous career-high was 79 receiving yards on three receptions against Purdue in 2023.

13 Tackles For Loss

After Ohio State's defense had just two tackles for loss against Oregon, the type of result by that side of the ball that led to plenty of questions over the past two weeks, the Silver Bullets certainly made a name for themselves and stepped up in a big way against Nebraska.

The Buckeye defense had 13 tackles for loss Saturday afternoon, their most since Oct. 23, 2021, when OSU had 15 tackles for loss in a 54-7 win at Indiana.

Cody Simon led the charge with a career-high three tackles for loss, followed by Tyleik Williams, JT Tuimoloau and Denzel Burke, who each had two.

Whether it was Jim Knowles and co. drawing up different schemes, doing twists along the defensive line or simulating pressure, the latter two of which fans and reporters alike were calling for, Ohio State was putting pressure on Dylan Raiola and Nebraska's running backs time and time again, even if it only led to three sacks at the end of the day.

Converted just One of 10 Third-Down Attempts

On what was quite a frustrating day for Ohio State's offense, especially in the second half, its struggles can be blamed on quite a few things but the biggest is likely the fact that the Buckeyes converted just one of 10 third-down opportunities against the Cornhuskers, including missing on all six of their third-down conversions in the second half. Will Howard's six-yard run on third-and-1 in the middle of the second quarter was OSU's lone conversion of the game.

Ohio State converted just 1-of-4 third-and-down opportunities (within four yards) and was unsuccessful on both of its third-and-longs (nine-plus yards), while the Buckeyes' average distance to go on third down was 5.9 yards compared to Nebraska's 9.1.

Prior to the Nebraska game, Ohio State converted 48.6% of its third downs (35 of 72) this season, the 15th-best mark in the FBS. Whether it was the offensive line struggles that made it tough to get the run game going or something else, the Buckeyes just weren't able to do much all game on third down.