The Ohio State Buckeyes win on opening night, defeating the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 21-10 at Ohio Stadium. The Bucks struggled early but were able to find their rhythm when it mattered, scoring key second half touchdowns to come away with the victory.
Early Struggles
The night opened with the Irish starting their first drive on their own 15 yard line. On the first play from scrimmage, Irish QB Tyler Buchner connected with WR Lorenzo Styles who took it down to the Buckeye 31 yard line. An unfortunate personal foul penalty on the same play moved the ball into the red zone. The Buckeyes then dug in and held the Irish to a field goal.
The first drive for OSU stalled quickly, ending in a sack of Buckeye QB C.J. Stroud. The second drive for OSU fared better. On 3rd and 6 from the Irish 31 yard line, Stroud connected with WR Emeka Egbuka who took it all the way to the endzone. The first quarter ended with the score OSU 7, Notre Dame 3.
The start of the second found the Irish driving down the field. In spite of the Buckeye defensive efforts Buchner and company were able to chip away into the red zone, ending up with a 1st and goal at the one. The next play ended with an Irish touchdown, bring the score to OSU 7, Notre Dame 10.
This would be the score at the half.
Throughout the first half, the OSU offense, led by Stroud, struggled. Outside of the scoring drive they appeared to be out of sync. Midway through the first quarter star WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba went down due to a questionable hit. As the offense was trying to find its rhythm it suddenly found itself without its number one receiver. This enabled the Irish to cover more effectively and the Bucks offense had trouble adjusting to establish itself.
The Buckeye defense on the other hand only got better. Although they gave up the touchdown early in the second, they did so while refusing to back down. But then they locked it down and shut out the Irish offense the rest of the game.
Buckeyes Win The Second Half
The second half found the Buckeye offense continuing to struggle. In spite of this RB Miyan Williams almost had a big play that may have been a game changer.
On the Bucks second drive, Williams broke through on the right side and was knocked off balance just enough to force him out of bounds. If not for this Williams would have been off to the races, as there were no Irishmen between him and the endzone.
As the defense continued to shut down the Notre Dame offense, C.J. Stroud’s group finally began to find their game.
A chop block penalty on RB TreVeyon Henderson threatened to derail a drive that took them deep into Irish territory. The Bucks found themselves facing 2nd and 21. Two plays later however, Stroud found WR Xavier Johnson on a post pattern for a 24 yard score. From this point on the Buckeyes offense was clicking.
After holding off the Irish on their next drive, the Buckeyes took over and proceeded to run the ball heavily down the field. Stroud connected confidently when necessary to keep the Irish off balance and the Bucks offense pushed the Irish right down the field. Williams ran for a bulk of the drive. He then capped it off with a 2 yard run, giving Ohio State a 21-10 lead with 4:51 left to play.
The next drive finds the Irish desperately needing a score. Starting at their own 25, they instead went three and out, with third down ending in a huge sack of Buchner by DT Mike Hall near the 15 yard line. The Buckeyes took over after the punt and ran the ball effectively to run out the clock.
Though the offense struggled over all, the running game blossomed. Henderson and Williams combined for 175 yards and dominated the Irish defense in the second half. In spite of his struggles, C.J Stroud finished with a respectable 24/34 attempts for 223 yards and 2 TDs.
The OSU defense showed itself to be much improved, shutting down the Irish and holding them to only 10 points on the night.
The Buckeyes win in spite of their slow start. While the game could have gone better for the Bucks, they showed resilience and character. They showed that in spite of what could be considered an off night, they had the mettle to fight through it.
And they showed why they’re the No 2 ranked team in the nation.
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