Photos: Ohio State makes offensive statement in annihilation of Toledo
COLUMBUS — If there were somehow any doubters about the Ohio State offense, they were silenced Saturday night.
No. 3 Ohio State scored in droves and racked up almost 800 yards of offense in its 77-21 win over Toledo in Ohio Stadium.
The Buckeyes (3-0) started early and scored often against the Rockets. Quarterback C.J. Stroud led the Buckeyes’ offense to touchdowns on their opening seven drives. Yes, their opening seven drives.
Second-year running back TreVeyon Henderson, before he left the game with an injury, rumbled into the endzone with 11:11 left in the first quarter. Toledo quarterback Dequan Finn found Thomas Zsiros for a 50-yard touchdown strike, but the Buckeyes responded in a dominant fashion.
Stroud tossed an 8-yard touchdown to Marvin Harrison Jr. who made another highlight reel catch as he dragged his feet and stayed in bounds. On the next Ohio State drive, wide receiver Emeka Egbuka scored on a jet sweep with the ball tagging the pylon before he was shoved out of bounds.
Wide receiver Julian Fleming made his presence known in his first game of the season. The third-year talent extended his route and Stroud found him in the back of the endzone to give Ohio State a 28-7 lead.
Finn scored a second touchdown for the Rockets to open the second quarter, but Ohio State again rattled off an appropriate response.
The Stroud-Harrison connection struck again, this time from seven yards out. Stroud-Fleming on the next drive. Even fullback/tight end Mitch Rossi found the endzone — through the I-formation on the goal line.
The final drive for the Buckeyes starters ended in, that’s right, a touchdown. Stroud capped off his 22-27, 367 yards with his fifth touchdown, a 7-yard strike to Egbuka.
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While the aerial assault was impressive, Ohio State running back Dallan Hayden became the feature back for a night. Henderson was sidelined by injury and limiting Miyan Williams’ touches, Hayden took a majority of the snaps and it showed. He finished with 108 yards on 17 carries and one touchdown.
Both backup quarterbacks Kyle McCord and Devin Brown took snaps Saturday night as well. McCord finished his night 5-7, 115 yards and a touchdown. Brown did not throw a pass, but he picked up a situationally-important first down that allowed the clock to run down for the game to end.
Wide receiver Jayden Ballard scored his first touchdown as a Buckeye as the recipient of McCord’s touchdown pass. First-year running back TC Caffey scored his first touchdown in his Ohio State career as well.
Ohio State defensively was effective enough to keep Toledo in check. The Rockets entered the game with one of the most explosive offenses in the country, but the Buckeyes kept them mostly grounded.
Big plays happened against the Buckeyes defense, but they held Toledo to 307 yards of offense. Ohio State recorded three sacks, and Ronnie Hickman intercepted a Finn pass in the third quarter for the first turnover of the season.
Ohio State quickly put Saturday’s game behind it and now prepares for its Big Ten schedule. The Buckeyes open conference play with a home game against Wisconsin.
