MY THOUGHTS.....Western Michigan

 

The Ohio State Buckeyes thoroughly dominated Western Michigan in the second game of the 2024 season, scoring eight touchdowns while earning their first shutout since 2019.

The offense started slow in their first game versus Akron, but that was not the case this week.  The offense moved the ball from the start, piling up more than 600 yards and getting the ground game going with 273 yards and six out of their eight touchdowns.  Quinshon Judkins recorded the first individual 100-yard rushing game, leading the way with 108 yards on just nine carries and scoring twice.  TreVeyon Henderson also scored twice while racking up 66 yards.  James Peoples again scored a touchdown with the backups and Will Howard was able to take one in to go along with his 70-yard touchdown pass to freshman phenom Jeremiah Smith.  Smith once again led the receivers with five catches for 119 yards, along with Emeka Egbuka, also with five catches for 98 yards.  Carnell Tate and Brandon Innis made catches on third down to move the chains and for the first time I can remember, FOUR QUARTERBACKS played.  After Howard got done with throwing for 292 yards, Devin Brown went 5-for-5 for 55 yards, giving way to freshman Julian Sayin, who completed his first two passes as a Buckeye and throwing his first touchdown pass, a 55 yarder to Christian Bennett.  Lincoln Keinholz came in for the final snaps of the game.

The Ohio State defense got their first shutout five years to the day after they shut out Cincinnati 42-0 on September 7, 2019.  The Broncos were held to a mere 99 total yards, the first time an Ohio State defense held an opponent under 100 total yards since a 56-0 victory at Rutgers September 30, 2017.  Ty Hamilton led the way up front with four tackles and a TFL, cornerback Davison Igbinosun logged four tackles, a PBU, and a TFL while safety Caleb Downs pitched in with four stops, including two for no gain.  Jack Sawyer was a consistent presence in the Western Michigan offensive backfield, making life difficult for WMU QB Hayden Wolff.  After sitting out last week, LB Cody Simon posted three stops and a PBU.  Through the first two games, the Buckeyes have yielded a mere 276 total yards, good for their best two-game start since 2007.

Coming up is the first of two idle weeks before Marshall comes to the ‘Shoe September 21.