OSU wins big but wants improvement

COLUMBUS – Ohio State scored lots of points in its 45-16 win over Maryland on Saturday but also gave Ryan Day quite few talking points going into its game at defending national champion Indiana next Saturday. The No. 1 ranked Buckeyes (5-1, 3-0 Big Ten) out-gained Maryland (2-4, 0-3 Big Ten) 449 yards to 146 yards. Julian Sayin threw four touchdown passes in the first half on what wasn't one of his better days. Jeremiah Smith had two more touchdown catches. Bo Jackson ran for 107 yards and scored two touchdowns. And the win was accomplished without five starters who were held out because of injuries, including two offensive linemen and two receivers. All that was good. But it's guaranteed the Buckeyes will hear from Day about eight penalties and two turnovers – an interception and a fumble, both by Sayin -- they had on Saturday. "When you have eight penalties that's not the sign of a good team so we have to make sure we're getting that fixed. And obvious the turnovers can't happen," Day said. "We know it's not going to be perfect but that's what we're always working for. "You can't accept that as a coach. We've got to get this stuff addressed," he said. Sayin said, "Ball security was not what we wanted today. It could have been three (turnovers)" a reference to a second fumble of his that he was able to recover. OSU knew days before Saturday's game that some starters would not be available but not having right tackle Austin Siereveld was something that came up only a few hours before kickoff. When Siereveld was unavailable, Gabe VanSickle was moved from right guard to right tackle and Jake Cook started at right guard. "There were some things that popped up late in the week and then some things where we decided today to hold some guys. It was an opportunity some guys to step up. There was a lot of energy. I thought the physicality was really good. There were a lot of good things there," Day said. Ohio State led 31-10 at halftime mainly on the strength of its passing game and its defense. All four of its touchdowns in the first half and 203 yards of its 282 yards of total offense came from the passing game. Julian Sayin was 9 of 14 for 203 yards and four touchdown passes of 40 yards and 33 yards to Jeremiah Smith, 68 yards to tight end Nate Roberts and a 1-yard touchdown pass to Mason Williams, another tight end. Sayin's 33-yard touchdown pass on OSU's second possession put the Buckeyes up 7-0 with 8:40 left in the first quarter. After a 39-yard field goal by Maryland's Sean O'Haire cut the lead to 7-3, Sayin connected with a wide open Roberts in the middle of the field and he ran untouched for a touchdown and a 14-3 OSU lead with 3:03 left in the first quarter. "It doesn't matter if I get the ball or not, I'm going to go hard every play. There's always the chance we (OSU's tight ends) are going to get the ball and when we do we're going to execute and try to get to the end zone," Roberts said. Maryland narrowed the lead to 14-10 with 11:23 left in the first half on a 5-yard touchdown run by quarterback Malik Washington. Ohio State scored three times in the last 8:32 of the first half for its 31-10 halftime lead. Sayin's 40-yard TD pass to Smith started that 17-0 run and was followed by a 40-yard field goal Connor Hawkins and Williams' 1-yard touchdown catch. Maryland scored first in the second half when Daniel Wingate intercepted a pass and returned it 52 yards for a touchdown. Bo Jackson scored on a 25-yard run in the third quarter and on a two-yard run in the fourth quarter for the 45-16 final score.