Scarlet Sunrise: Will Howard, Jeremiah Smith earn weekly Big Ten awards

COLUMBUS — Ohio State is halfway through its two-week stretch of games against lesser-than Big Ten teams. The Buckeyes shut Purdue out for a 45-0 win, one of the most thorough wins of the year for this team.

Sunday after the game, the program released its players of the game from the dominant performance.

But the Big Ten had its own awards to release, and they’re different from Ohio State’s (see below).

Buckeyes quarterback Will Howard was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week for his effort in the blowout win over Purdue. He was 21 of 26 through the air for 260 yards passing and three touchdowns. He added another score on the ground to lead Ohio State.

Then there was Jeremiah Smith, who became a two-time winner of the Big Ten Freshman of the Week Award. Smith had six catches for 87 yards and a touchdown reception. In doing so, he broke the Ohio State record for most touchdown grabs and overall receptions for a freshman receiver, passing legendary Buckeyes receiver and NFL Hall of Famer Cris Carter.

Both players earned Big Ten weekly honors without even earning Player of the Game honors from the Buckeyes’ own program.

ICYMI: Buckeyes release their own Players of the Game…

As for Ohio State, the program named its own players of the game after it beat Purdue.

On offense, the program named running back TreVeyon Henderson as the Offensive Player of the Game. Henderson had 85 yards rushing and a touchdown on just six carries. He also caught three passes for 43 yards — including a 32-yard catch and run.

Defensively, the players of the game were senior defensive ends Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau. They had one of their most dominant collective outings of their career on Saturday. Sawyer had five tackles, 0.5 sacks and a scoop-and-score touchdown on a fumble that was forced by Tuimoloau, who had four tackles, 0.5 sacks, 1.5 tackles for loss, the forced fumble and a pass breakup. It was a remarkable game for the pair of defensive stars.

Then on special teams, the program named defensive end Caden Curry as the Special Teams Player of the Game because of his blocked punt, which occurred in the first quarter and set up the Buckeyes’ first touchdown. Curry’s blocked punt gave Ohio State the ball at the Purdue 8-yard line, setting up an easy field to work with.

Buckeyes, Indiana officially set for Big Noon Kickoff matchup

The final unclaimed kickoff time and TV network of the regular season for Ohio State has officially been claimed.

The Buckeyes will face undefeated Indiana next week in a battle of top-five teams, and they’ll do so in the early slate. FOX will broadcast a Big Noon matchup between the Buckeyes and Hoosiers.

In doing so, Ohio State will be playing its fifth straight game in the early block of a college football Saturday. Yes, Ohio State and Northwestern will meet for a Noon (11 a.m. local) kickoff game on Nov. 16 this week — with Big Ten Network broadcasting — and the season finale against Michigan in the rivalry game will, of course, also be at Noon on FOX.

Each of the last six games of the season are Noon games for the Buckeyes. They faced Oregon in the 7:30 p.m. slot on NBC on Oct. 12. Since then, every game has been at Noon. Every game moving forward will be as well. They beat Nebraska, Penn State and Purdue in the early window and will face Northwestern in that early block as well.

Now with Indiana set for a Noon kickoff, the entire back half of the year will be played from Noon to 4 p.m.

Counting down

Ohio State at Northwestern: 4 days
Ohio State vs. Indiana: 11 days
Buckeyes vs. Michigan: 18 days

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