Ohio State Football: Buckeye Leafs for Nebraska game
Ohio State dominated Nebraska from start to finish, cruising to a 48-7 Saturday night in Lincoln, proving that they can win night games on the road.
Ryan Day has Ohio State (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) at the forefront of College Football Playoff discussions after a complete victory over Nebraska (3-2, 1-1 Big Ten) in front of a sold-out crowd of Cornhusker faithful.
On Nebraska’s first drive, Jeffrey Okudah intercepted a tipped Adrian Martinez pass. The Buckeyes first drive led to a 15-yard touchdown run by Justin Fields, with excellent blocking by the line leading the way.
After a Nebraska punt, a designed run by Fields midway through the first quarter caught Nebraska on their heels, as everyone but him went left, while he had a red carpet path to the endzone to give the Buckeyes a 14-0 lead.
Nebraska got a good drive moving down the field before Martinez made another mistake, throwing his second pick to Okudah, who made a fantastic catch with his back on the ground.
The Buckeyes next drive only led to a field goal after a Nebraska sack, but another poor throw by Martinez resulted in a Jordan Fuller INT around midfield.
Fields found a crease for a 40-yard run, before Master Teague punched it in from 8 yards out for a 24-0 Buckeye lead.
Nebraska’s next drive was abysmal, with Malik Harrison sacking Martinez, leading to a punt. Teague was the main attraction on a pass-and-catch and a couple of runs, one of which was a 1-yard TD run.
The Buckeyes continued to avoid last year’s mistake with Baron Browning and Robert Landers going right to the ball on an attempted screen for Nebraska.
After another punt, good blocking by receivers and the offensive line led the way for J.K. Dobbins. Then a surgical pass from Fields to Austin Mack was in the perfect place for Mack to high point the ball for an 18-yard TD for a 38-0 lead which Ohio State carried into the half.
The dominance continued into the second half for the Buckeyes, who left the starters in and extended their lead to 48-0 late in the third quarter after a perfect pass from Fields to Garrett Wilson for Fields’ third TD pass.
Martinez finally showed some semblance of his pre-season Heisman potential with a 56-yard run that gave flashbacks of last year’s misery for the Silver Bullets. Dedrick Mills punched the ball in from 9 yards out to finally put Nebraska on the board about the end of the third quarter.
With the starters still on the field, Ohio State finished the third quarter with a 48-7 lead.
In the fourth quarter, Nebraska exploited a few holes against the Silver Bullet back-ups late in the game but failed to score again as Ohio State ran away with a commanding 48-7 victory.
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Offensive co-MVPs: Justin Fields and J.K. Dobbins; Fields continued his dominating season, improving to a 22-0 TD-INT ratio. He threw for over 200 yards and 3 TDs and ran for another 72. Dobbins ran for 177 yards, slashing through the Black Shirts for an impressive performance.
Defensive MVP: Jeffrey Okudah; Okudah was mainly in the right place at the right time for his second INT, but his first INT was a great example of his impressive performance, as he continually left no room for Martinez’s throws and stepped in front of a pass that would have gained good yardage early in the game.
Special Teams MVP: Kick coverage team, my first MVP this season that isn’t a single player. Nobody stood out on special teams but the kick coverage team gave no opportunities for Nebraska to create a big play, showing the overall dominance by the Buckeyes on Saturday night.
Next. Silver Bullets could be ranked among the best. dark
The Buckeyes benefited from a sub-par game from Adrian Martinez, but dominated on offense and limited the Husker offense to minimal scoring on the way to a complete 48-7 win.