Ohio State Football: Three big takeaways from win over WKU
By Ryan Stano
![Sep 16, 2023; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes wide receiver Emeka Egbuka (2) celebrates scoring a 15-yard touchdown during the first half of the NCAA football game against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers at Ohio Stadium. Sep 16, 2023; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes wide receiver Emeka Egbuka (2) celebrates scoring a 15-yard touchdown during the first half of the NCAA football game against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers at Ohio Stadium.](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/3d7574106252c7f2d536890e53b8980b0fedc8f613903eb34b6d2efa2daf3488.jpg)
The Ohio State football team had looked a little lackluster in their first two games of the season against Indiana and Youngstown State. In both of those games, the offense didn’t look in sync or as efficient as we are used to seeing the Buckeye offense be.
That changed against Western Kentucky on Saturday. The Buckeyes blew out the Hilltoppers 63-10 in a game that wasn’t close once the midway point of the second quarter hit. It was aa dominating effort on both sides of the ball, which is something we hadn’t seen yet this year.
There are three big takeaways that we can take from this game, as well as the two previous ones. Ohio State is now a quarter of the way through the regular season, so I think we can start to make some claims about what this team is and what this team isn’t.
One of the things this team is is a great defensive team.
1. The Ohio State football team can lean on its defense
The defense was the weak point last year. We saw even during the early non-conference games that the Buckeyes struggled to keep big plays from happening, even against bad teams. Through three games this year, that has not been the case at all.
In fact, this defense is something the Buckeyes can lean on. The defense scored more points than the Hilltoppers did, scoring 14 points by themselves. They were fast to the ball and made sure that any potential big play was negated pretty darn fast.
Denzel Burke has shown that last year was a fluke that may have been a product of injuries. He’s better than he was in 2021 when was a Freshman All-American. He is someone that teams are going to have to stop throwing towards because he locks up whatever receiver he’s covering.
While the competition hasn’t been strong for the Buckeyes, the defense held a team that had scored 93 points combined in their first two games to just 10. That’s definitely something to be proud of. Next week’s competition will ratchet up in South Bend though.
One thing to keep an eye on is the lack of sacks. Ohio State managed just two in this game. Neither J.T. Tuimoloau nor Jack Sawyer has a sack yet this year. That can’t continue against some of the better teams in the country. Even so, this defense is for real.
Our next takeaway has to deal with the offense.