Some of that had died down just a bit after the dominant start by the Buckeyes and Nebraska's loss to Colorado and escape from lowly Illinois last week.
That was about as close as Nebraska's hopes for victory would come as Ohio State scored the first 48 points of the game until Nebraska scored a touchdown in garbage time to avoid the shutout as the Buckeyes took a 48-7 win in Lincoln.
Justin Fields threw for three touchdowns, Master Teague ran for two scores and J.K, Dobbins ran for 177 yards to lead the Ohio State attack.
Ohio State (5-0 2-0 Big Ten) will play another night game next Saturday night in Columbus against 25th ranked Michigan State (4-1 2-0 Big Ten).
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1) The most impressive item in the win has to be the offensive line.
I know Justin Fields was sacked three times, but in all three cases, Fields held the football too long as he tried to make a play and on the ground, Ohio State looked more like the famous road graders from Wisconsin or Nebraska in the Huskers glory days as they just pushed the Nebraska defense aside with little opposition.
2) Justin Fields still has his occasional moments where he should just flick the ball aside, which as explained above can result in sacks.
That's a minor thing in blowouts, but it could be a problem when the inevitable game arrives that the opponent battles back.
3) The offensive line may have made the holes, but the backs still need to find them and J.K. Dobbins and Master Teague certainly found them to the tune of 254 yards between them.
Dobbins definitely added strength in the offseason as he is breaking tackles as never before and Teague powers through smaller holes and keeps driving upfield.
These two backs might be the best help that Justin Fields could have wished for in his first season as a starter.
4) The play that essentially ended the game showed up on Nebraska's third drive as the Huskers drove down the field already down 14-0, but moving the football Taylor Martinez's pass was high and the receiver tipped it- directly to a prone Jeffrey Okudah, who intercepted it with virtually one hand before securing the ball.
Replays showed a wincing Martinez as he saw the interception and the deflating of the Cornhuskers and their sellout crowd was complete.
Nebraska wouldn't threaten to score again until their only touchdown against the Buckeyes second unit in the fourth quarter.
5) J.K Dobbins reached two milestones in his career in this walkover in Lincoln.
Dobbins moved over the three thousand rushing yard mark for his career and moved into the Buckeyes top ten rushers of all-time passing Pepe Pearson for the tenth spot.
Should Dobbins rush for over 100 yards against Michigan State, Dobbins would move into 8th place by passing Carlos Hyde and Keith Byars and should he run for 150 plus yards, he would move into 7th past J.T. Barrett.
Looking at the career numbers and games left to play (at least seven regular-season games, a bowl game and possible Big Ten title game), It is likely that Dobbins could finish the season second only to Archie Griffin in career rushing yards and should Dobbins decide to return to Columbus for a senior season, which I would think is unlikely, but one never knows, Griffin's reign at the top could be shaky.
6) Ohio State may have only outsacked Nebraska 4-3 in this game, but the defensive line was seemingly in on Taylor Martinez on every play and Martinez had little time to throw along with being punished like an overmatched boxer all night.
Martinez's stats look less than strong, but you have to give the young man a break as the Buckeye defense simply overwhelmed the Huskers and he had next to no chance to succeed.
7) Jeffrey Okudah is going to be a top ten draft pick.
Okudah hadn't intercepted a pass in his career until last week against Miami, Ohio, but added two more against Nebraska and his most impressive pick was not the one that he grabbed lying on his back.
Okudah's interception of Taylor Martinez on Nebraska's first drive was perfect coverage as he stepped in front of his man and made the diving grab.
At the college level, that's a tough play to make and usually winds up being called for pass interference, but Okudah's instincts and body control made a hard play look easy and he'll be the first cornerback taken in next year's draft.
If Okudah isn't? Someone made a huge mistake.
8) I might have taken Justin Fields out of this one earlier than Ryan Day did, mainly because Fields was still taking hits like one big one as he faked a keeper while giving the ball to J.K. Dobbins.
Fields wasn't hurt after being blasted (it was a legal hit because of the fake), but being up 48-7 at the time, I would have taken him out far earlier.
Nebraska's only touchdown late in the third quarter against the second-team defense seemed to make Day decide to keep Fields in the game longer.
Against a good Michigan State defense next week, Fields will likely face a stern test that may see him play the entire game.
9) Ohio State scored on every possession of the first half except the final one, where they allowed time to expire to head to the locker room and outgained Nebraska 378-76.
To put that number in perspective, no opponent has come close to gaining 378 yards against Ohio State this season for an entire game.
The Buckeyes would punt once in the second half.
10) Baron Browning and Malik Harrison seemed to be all over the field in this game, which in Browning's case was very encouraging.
Pete Werner has been the apple of the defensive coaches eye in early season play, but the senior Harrison and the redshirt sophomore Browning have been the standouts in my opinion at linebacker.
Browning, in particular, seemed to be a player that needed to be on the field more often and his seven tackles and half-sack will hopefully give him the additional playing time that he seems to deserve.
11) Finally, this game was the media-hyped game during the offseason.
Nebraska looked to be improved, possessed a good young quarterback and with the Buckeyes laying eggs in road games in each of the previous two seasons against inferior opponents (2017 Iowa and 2018 Purdue), I could see how others may look at it that way.
I really didn't see it that way.
With so many unanswered questions entering the season with a new coach and quarterback, the games that I saw as possible trip-ups (other than the usual tough games) were Cincinnati (if the transition took a little bit to become smooth), Northwestern (Ryan Field on one of those cash grab Friday games) and maybe even Maryland (scored a ton of points on them last season and returned a lot on the offensive side), but I didn't think Nebraska because they would be the first road test and Ryan Day would make sure all the I's were dotted and T's were crossed on that trip to take care of business.
12) Now the schedule begins to get somewhat interesting.
Michigan State brings a very good defense to the Horseshoe but does struggle to score points when they have the ball.
Sparty does have a history of ruining great seasons for the Buckeyes, so they need to be taken seriously.
After an off week, it's Northwestern on the road on Cash Grab Friday and despite a slow start (Northwestern lost to Michigan State Saturday), Pat Fitzgerald will have the Wildcats prepped and ready for Ohio State's visit.
Ohio State will have an extra day of rest/preparation before the biggest home game of the season with Wisconsin and their tremendous running back Jonathan Taylor to conclude October's slate.
All three have their reasons to trouble a Buckeye team that hasn't face adversity to date, don't take any of them lightly as October should be far more competitive than September.
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