Now that the appetizers have been served, No. 3 Ohio State can finally focus on the main events ahead.
The Buckeyes finished their three practice games with a strong 49-14 victory over Marshall on Saturday. While the Thundering Herd found some ways to challenge the Ohio State defense early on, they couldn’t keep pace with the Buckeyes’ talented offense.
From now on, it’s all Big Ten teams for Ohio State.
The Buckeyes outscored Akron, Western Michigan, and Marshall 107-20. They’ll get a better sense of their abilities in a key game against Michigan State next Saturday, followed by tougher opponents in the upcoming weeks.
“Right now, I feel like we’re in a decent spot,” said receiver Emeka Egbuka, who led the team on Saturday with five catches for 117 yards and a touchdown. “We’re able to have a successful running game, a successful passing attack. So, a lot of credit to the coaches.”
After playing at Michigan State, Ohio State will host Iowa before making a long trip to face No. 9 Oregon on October 12.
This three-game stretch should reveal more about the Buckeyes.
“You don’t know until you get off the field, but we go against good players every day in practice. So it’s not like we don’t know what we look like against good players,” said coach Ryan Day. “So we’ll just go with what we see and grow from it from there.”
Ohio State’s offensive talent was evident on Saturday. Quinshon Judkins rushed for 173 yards and two touchdowns, TreVeyon Henderson also rushed for two touchdowns, and Emeka Egbuka caught two touchdown passes.
Freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith has 281 receiving yards and four touchdowns in three games, including an impressive 53-yard catch and run against Marshall.
“I think that all of this stuff that we’ve done has presented problems for defenses,” said Will Howard, who completed 16 of 20 passes for 275 yards with two touchdowns and one interception against Marshall. “You know, you got to just continue to adjust and adapt to whatever they’re going to do.”
