Well, now . . . that was quite a performance, wasn’t it? I’m guessing the Nebraska fans who came to Ohio Stadium won’t soon forget their first visit to the Horseshoe.
After a lackluster first quarter, the Buckeyes roared back and blew out the Cornhuskers, 63-38. Sometimes one play can turn a game around, and in this case it was a long run by Braxton Miller that set up the score that allowed Ohio State to close to 17-14. After that, it was off to the races. Ohio State scored 28 points in the second quarter to go into halftime with a 35-24 lead, and then kept their foot on the accelerator in the second half to score another 28 points and pull away. The Buckeyes are now 6-0 and are likely to move into the top ten.
The Nebraska defense that seemed so stout in the first quarter was eventually beaten to a bloody pulp by the Ohio State offensive line, which came to dominate the line of scrimmage. Somewhere, Woody Hayes is smiling at a box score that showed Ohio State with 368 yards on the ground, six rushing touchdowns, and two 100-yard rushers.
There’s still room for improvement — in particular, I’d love to see better tackling by the Ohio State defense — but there is no doubt this was an impressive win against a pretty good team. It hurt Nebraska when Rex Burkhead was injured and had to leave the game, but the key to the contest was that the Nebraska defense simply could not stop the Buckeyes. Even as the game wound down, and it was obvious that Ohio State would try to run the ball and keep the clock moving, Nebraska could not halt the Buckeye ground game. That single fact tells you a lot about how your offensive line is firing off the ball and knocking the defense off the line of scrimmage.
Nebraska fans, I sincerely hope you enjoyed your visit to Columbus — but I’m glad the Buckeyes dished out a butt-kicking.