It was another beautiful autumn day on the banks of the Olentangy River Saturday at Ohio Stadium. Fourth ranked Ohio State returned to action after a much needed bye week. Just two weeks removed from the tough 32-31 loss at Oregon. The Buckeyes wanted Saturday to go smooth and pick up where they left off before the trip to Eugene. That didn’t happen unfortunately as Nebraska also came into Saturday’s game with a giant chip on their shoulder having lost to Indiana the week prior 56-7. Led by second year head coach Matt Ruhle, the message this week to his Huskers team was toughness, “Last week was tough, we knew us as coaches had to teach and help the guys learn from their mistakes. When times get tough you have to push through it.”
Nebraska accepted the challenge by going toe to toe with the Ohio State Buckeyes. The first quarter was a defensive battle between both teams that had given up 88 points combined the game prior to this matchup. With 45 seconds remaining in the 1st quarter Will Howard would break the scoreless tie with a 40 yard touchdown pass to Carnell Tate, making the score 7-0 after one quarter. The Cornhuskers would respond with a solid drive of their own and were able to get on the board with a 39 yard field goal by kicker John Hohl, cutting into the Buckeye lead at 7-3. It then looked like Ohio State would finally turn things up a bit and start to put their foot on the gas. Will Howard threw his second touchdown pass of the game to freshman star wide receiver Jeremiah Smith. The freshman has now scored in every game game this season and is now tied with Chris Carter for the freshman receiving touchdown record at Ohio State. Increasing their lead to 14-3 the Buckeyes were hoping to take a double digit lead into the locker room but Nebraska would have other plans. Redshirt freshman and former Ohio State commit quarterback Dylan Raiola would use his athleticism and his feet to march the Cornhuskers down the field to set up a 54 yard field goal by John Hohl making the score 14-6 at halftime.
Historically Ohio State has primarily been a second half team under Ryan Day. Not Saturday however as the Cornhuskers shut out the Buckeyes in the third and neutralized the Buckeye offense. Ohio State would run for just 64 yards in the game which was a season low. The offense seemed out of sorts and quarterback Will Howard just couldn’t get into a rhythm in the second half. With Nebraska’s defense stepping up it created opportunities for Raiola and the offense to carve into the Buckeye lead. John Hohl would deliver his third field goal of the game in the third quarter making it just a five point advantage for Ohio State.
All the momentum shifted to the Cornhuskers as Dylan Raiola led his team to a 4th quarter touchdown drive that would give Nebraska the lead for the first time at 17-14. Dante Dowdell ran for a one yard touchdown run followed up by a Riaola two point conversion pass with 10:52 to go in the game. Now with all the pressure on the Buckeyes and the first time Ohio State has faced a deficit in the second half at home all season they need they had to respond and step up.
Ryan Day talked about his team facing adversity for the second game in a row and having to comeback. Day said after the game, “At the end of the day you have to win the game in the 4th quarter that’s it. We are down by three and the offense puts a drive together and the defense gets stops like that, we are gonna look back and see we should not be in games like this. Give Nebraska credit but I kept saying all week how are we gonna win the game?”
Ohio State came out on top of a close one by adjusting the play calling and finding some running lanes to drive down the field late in the game. Will Howard's nine yard touchdown pass to Quinshon Judkins gave the Buckeyes the lead back 21-17. Ohio State’s top ten defense would then deliver courtesy of a Jordan Hancock interception at mid field. The biggest difference on the final Nebraska drive that stood out was the Buckeyes were able to get pressure from their pass rush and forcing a bad throw from Dylan Raiola. Definitely a satisfying feeling for Ohio State’s defense after giving up 30 plus points to Oregon two weeks ago. Will Howard and the offense will have to overcome adversity moving forward after losing yet another lineman for the second game in a row. It’ll be interesting to see how they respond next game.
Up next the Buckeyes head to Happy Valley to battle the undefeated Penn State Nittany Lions at Beaver Stadium on Saturday at Noon.