Ohio State shakes off slow start in second half

Ohio State shakes off slow start in second half By Jim Naveau jnaveau@limanews.com COLUMBUS – What looked like a turning point for Ohio University in its match-up with Ohio State on Saturday night might actually have been the moment when OSU took the first step toward dominating the game the way it was expected to. On the surface, Ohio State's 37-9 win had the appearance of a blowout. But it wasn't always that way. No. 1-ranked OSU scored a touchdown on only one of its four trips to the red zone (inside the 20-yard line) in the first half, settled for field goals on two of those trips, and finished the first half with a turnover on a Julian Sayin interception. OSU had a massive 278 yards to 28 yards total offense advantage at halftime but only had a 13-3 lead to show for it. Then Ohio got a 67-yard touchdown pass from Parker Navarro to Chase Hendricks to make it a 13-9 game in the first minute of the second half. But that was the beginning of a turnaround which saw the Buckeyes dominate offensively and defensively the rest of the way and end OU's dreams of an upset. "You come out at halftime and they score a touchdown and it's like, 'What's going on?' It would have been easy to tense up in that moment but everyone kept playing," Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. "I was excited about the way we didn't panic. "We were moving the ball but just not finishing the drives. We learned a lot of lessons tonight," he said. Ohio State got a 22-yard field goal from Jayden Fielding, his third of the game, to go up 16-9 on its next possession after Ohio cut its lead to four points. It was back-to-back deep throws from Sayin to Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate for touchdowns that put OSU in control of the game. Sayin connected with Smith on a 47-yard play for a touchdown in the third quarter, then hit Tate for a 49-yard touchdown play in the first minute of the fourth quarter. Smith ran 17 yards for Ohio State's final touchdown in the fourth quarter. "We had to finish our drives and that's what we did in the second half," Smith said. Smith matched his career high with nine catches and had 153 receiving yards. He said Day had a message for him on the sideline before his touchdown catch. "Before we got on the field Coach Day said, 'We're gonna call this play and you've got to go get it,' " he said. Sayin was 25 of 32 for 347 yards and three touchdowns. Freshman running back Bo Jackson gained 109 yards on nine carries. "Great plays by Carnell and Jeremiah," Sayin said. "We work on those throws a lot in practice. Coach Day and Coach Fessler (OSU quarterbacks coach Billy Fessler) always are telling our quarterbacks to throw it high so they can adjust. They made two great catches and I was excited to see them come down." Ohio State rolled up 572 yards of total offense and held Ohio to 181 total yards. Navarro, the centerpiece of Ohio's offense, finished the game 6 of 13 for 94 yards passing and rushed for a net of three yards. He suffered an apparent wrist injury late in the first quarter, did not play in the second quarter and returned after halftime.