More than once in a 41-20 victory on Sept. 18 against Tulsa, Ohio State’s football team was met with boos.
For a program that has dominated its corner of the college football world for the better part of a decade, it was a jarring scene. Debates over the morality of jeering unpaid amateur athletes aside, it was a vocal reflection of the frustration Buckeyes fans had been feeling up to that point. A program accustomed to such overwhelming success was no longer experiencing it.
Five weeks later, Ohio State finds itself in a drastically different yet comfortably familiar spot. To the dismay of the rest of the Big Ten, the Buckeyes are back to their usual ways.
Entering its home game Saturday against Penn State, No. 5 Ohio State looks every bit the domineering force it has been for years, with five Big Ten championships and four College Football Playoff appearances since 2014. Since that underwhelming victory against Tulsa, a game in which it only led by seven with four minutes remaining, it has won four consecutive games, three of which have come against Big Ten opponents. In that trio of conference games, the Buckeyes have won by an average of 45 points, scoring 57.3 points per game and allowing just 12.3.
The competition hasn’t exactly been stiff — those three Big Ten foes (Rutgers, Indiana and Maryland) have a combined conference record of 1-11 — but Ohio State has been overpowering in those games. It’s not just that it has won, but that it has had several key players look so impressive while doing so.
That improving outlook begins with quarterback C.J. Stroud, whose trajectory this season has been emblematic of his team’s.
In the freshman’s first three games, he didn’t necessarily struggle, but under his direction, the offense didn’t hum in the way it has over the past month. Whatever shortcomings he encountered were amplified, too, by his team’s results — a home loss against Oregon and closer-than-expected wins against Minnesota and Tulsa.
Starting with a 52-13 victory Oct. 2 against Rutgers, however, Stroud’s play and production shifted drastically.
First three starts: 63 of 101 (62.4%), 963 yards, 9.5 yards per attempts, eight touchdowns, three interceptions.
Past three starts: 62 of 84 (73.8%), 1,002 yards, 11.9 yards per attempt, 14 touchdowns, zero interceptions.
In that time, Stroud has gone from the subject of boos to a player who has the third-best betting odds of winning the Heisman Trophy.
He has hardly done it alone.
Stroud has the benefit of arguably the best group of receivers in the sport, a trio of Garrett Wilson, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Chris Olave who each have at least 500 receiving yards this season. Even Penn State, with its own formidable collection of wideouts, only has one such player. Running back TreVeyon Henderson, a fellow freshman, is averaging an absurd 8.8 yards per carry and has 693 rushing yards this season, ranking him 24th among Football Bowl Subdivision players. Every player ahead of Henderson has at least 105 carries, compared to just 79 for Henderson.
Perhaps more important than any offensive metric has been the vastly improved play of the Ohio State defense. Since allowing 6.1 yards per play in their first three games, the Buckeyes are giving up just 3.8 yards per play in their past four games. That progress largely coincides with secondary coach Matt Barnes taking over defensive play-calling duties from defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs in mid-September.
Now, that unit will face off against a weakened and languishing Penn State offense.
“This isn’t something I’m stating here that everybody isn’t already aware of — Ohio State’s done a tremendous job of recruiting,” Penn State coach James Franklin said Tuesday. “They’re as talented as any team in the country, year in and year out, especially up front with what they’ve been able to do with the defensive line and throughout. I think what they’re doing a really good job of is getting back to playing base defense and keeping it sound. I don’t want to use the term ‘simple’ because I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily simple, but they’re sound. They’re not trying to do too much. They’re not trying to overscheme you. They’re letting their players line up and be safe.”
Numbers game
104: Maryland’s combined margin of defeat in its three-game losing streak, with losses to Iowa (51-14), Ohio State (66-17) and Minnesota (34-16). The Terrapins started the season 4-0 and, at the time, had the second-most points of teams receiving votes outside of the Associated Press top 25.
Keep an eye on
Braelon Allen: A Wisconsin program that churns out productive running backs year after year may have its next great one. Allen, a freshman, rushed for 140 yards and two touchdowns in a 30-13 victory last Saturday against then-No. 25 Purdue. In the Badgers’ past three games, Allen has rushed for 379 yards and four touchdowns while averaging 8.2 yards per carry.
Game of the week
No. 6 Michigan at No. 8 Michigan State: The longtime rivals haven’t faced off as top-10 teams since 1964. Though the Wolverines have won two of the past three meetings, the Spartans have largely controlled the recent series, capturing nine of the past 13 matchups. The winner of this game will emerge as the primary threat against Ohio State in the Big Ten East division.
Craig Meyer: cmeyer@post-gazette.com and Twitter @CraigMeyerPG
First Published: October 28, 2021, 11:00 a.m.
