The Ohio State Buckeyes found a way to survive a slugfest in the cold, windy confines of Spartan Stadium, outlasting a game Michigan State team 17-16. As a 3-7 team with no postseason on the horizon, Michigan State had nothing to lose Saturday and it showed. The Ohio State defense was gashed a few times by MSU’s do-it-all RB RJ Scott, who almost single-handedly carried the Spartan offense. On the second play of the game, he took a screen pass 64 yards to the house and scored their other TD on a short-yardage situation near the goal line. Other than those two drives, the defense played well and came to the rescue with a pair of interceptions including the game-sealer by Gareon Conley and Malik Hooker’s clutch interception of a two-point conversion attempt. Chris Worley also turned in a pick. The defense did a fine job of keeping the passing attack of Tyler O’Connor and Damion Terry in check, as they managed only eight completions in 21 attempts for a mere 127 yards. The defense did have some rough moments surrendering big plays of 64 and 61 yards to LJ Scott but on Michigan State's other 54 plays the green and white averaged only 3.9 yards per play and went 3/12 on 3rd down conversion attempts. Returning back to his home state, Damon Webb had himself a day with seven stops, a touchdown saving tackle and a PBU while the front four combined for five hurries, three TFL and two sacks.
There was no doubt without LJ Scott, the Spartans, in all probability, would have been shut out. With his 160 yards on the ground and 76 receiving, he was the only consistent spark for Michigan State in the game, accounting for 71% of MSU’s total offensive output.
On the offensive side, redshirt freshman Mike Weber went off for 111 yards on just 14 carries. The power he has shown is impressive, all the more so coming against a tough run defense. His 52-yarder in the third quarter set up his four-yard TD run which turned out to be the winning score. Weber's big day pushed his season rushing total to 1,046 yards, making him just the third Ohio State freshman to rush for over 1,000 yards joining Maurice Clarett and Robert Smith. J.T. Barrett’s day was a mixed bag. No doubt the adverse climate played a part, but Barrett missed some easy throws. A terrible throw in the direction of Curtis Samuel cost them a first down and he also had a couple of throws where he was lucky not to have it picked. On those throws, I noticed he was staring down his target, giving the defense time to react. Of course, he did manage a few nice throws, as evidenced by the touch he put on a beautiful 22-yard touchdown toss to Samuel in the first quarter, and what makes Barrett so special is his ability to overcome the lows and respond in other ways such as rushing for 105 yards on 24 carries including a handful of key 3rd down conversions even as Michigan State knew a quarterback keeper was coming out of Ohio State's repeated empty sets. But Barrett will need a better performance next week when Michigan comes to town.
Ohio State’s struggles in finding a reliable punt returner continued. Dontre Wilson was relieved of those chores after taking too many chances and Demario McCall has evidently not gotten enough opportunities in blowouts to earn trust. Enter Curtis Samuel and his attempt to fill that role, which he has never done at the collegiate level. Samuel dangerously fielded a Jake Hartbarger punt on a line drive bounce and to his credit managed to peel off 12 yards but on his second attempt, Samuel muffed a catch at his own 4 yard line before falling on it to retain possession. Muffing a punt is never good but Samuel should've never even tried to catch it. I'm sure he's been counseled to put his heels on the 10 yard line and let anything behind him go but with his inexperience at this level those are the things that can happen.
Next up is a HUGE showdown with Michigan with playoff berths on the line. While the defense appears to be going into the game in good shape, it is clear Barrett will need to have a better day throwing the ball and Curtis Samuel to get more touches on offense if the Buckeyes are to pull off a win.
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