Justin Fields threw four touchdowns, two of those to Chris Olave and J.K Dobbins ran for 121 yards including a 68-yard score.
Master Teague added a 73 yard run for a touchdown in garbage time for Ohio State, who moved to 7-0 overall and 4-0 in the Big Ten with the victory.
Ohio State should finally receive a test next week against fellow unbeaten Wisconsin, who also has crushed all opposition without response.
Next week's game in the Horseshoe should be a good one.
Olentangy Offerings
1) Northwestern had often given the Buckeyes all they wanted through the years under Pat Fitzgerald, but it was clear from the first possession that this Wildcat team wasn't doing that.
Ohio State marched down the field and scored a touchdown to start the game and after the teams exchanged punts, Northwestern made their only sustained drive of the night and moved to the Buckeye fifteen-yard line.
On fourth down and three, Northwestern had a choice and took the three points.
It would be their only points of the game, but it essentially ended the game- If you want to beat this Buckeye team, you better be ready to throw caution to the wind and gamble on every scoring situation.
Touchdowns and lots of them are going to be the way of beating them because there won't be defensive struggles.
2) My high point was the 55-yard thump by Blake Haubeil at the end of the first half to place an exclamation point on a 24 point second quarter.
It made little impact on the result, but the fact that if the Buckeyes ever need a long field goal, Haubeil has established that at least he has the leg for it.
3) J.K. Dobbins continues to pass players on the all-time rushing list with his 121 yards against Northwestern moving him two rungs up the ladder.
Dobbins passed Braxton Miller and Beanie Wells and enters the top five runners at Ohio State.
Dobbins needs 151 yards to pass Tim Spencer for 4th and 365 yards to move by Eddie George for 3rd.
I would imagine that 151 yards against the tough Badger defense next week would be a tough go, but with Rutgers and Maryland after the Badgers, I would be surprised if Dobbins isn't sitting in third before the final two games against Penn State and Michigan.
4) That Wisconsin game might have Heisman ramifications as three candidates are playing in the game.
Ohio State's Dobbins and Justin Fields combined with Wisconsin's Jonathan Taylor are the Big Ten's top hopes and even though all three will have a rough time winning the Heisman, a huge game could vault one into contention.
In any event, whoever has the better game between Taylor and Dobbins is likely to be the favorite for the Doak Walker award for the nation's top running back.
5) Is it just me or is Ryan Field little more than a larger high school field?
Between the long grass and the setting, the place really comes across as a facility not befitting the Big Ten and has to be the worst in the conference.
I suppose this is coming to mind because of the ridiculous idea of Major League Baseball to revamp the minor leagues, which I'll write about on another day, but still not a great place to visit.
6) The Ohio State defense held Northwestern to under 200 yards in offense and kept their string of keeping offenses under 300 yards intact at seven or every game that they have.
Wisconsin will likely break that string and if they don't, then the Buckeyes have had a terrific game against the Badgers.
7) The play of the game was Justin Fields dodging Wildcat pass rushers, stumbling around the field, but managing to keep himself upright before finding K.J. Hill for a first down on a third and fifteen.
Fields may not have the speed of a Braxton Miller, but Fields is the type of athlete that combines size and speed that Ohio State hasn't seen at quarterback since Terrelle Pryor and I like Fields arm better than Pryor.
8) With the victory, Ohio State officially avoids the upset road loss to a Western division team that bit them the last two seasons.
Northwestern is the final road game against the West and even though Wisconsin visits the Buckeyes, I would not call that an upset and if so only a mild one since the game is in Columbus.
Finishing a little early on this one as I need to work on the Beterbiev-Gvozdyk unification tilt, which was as good as I had hoped for!
Editor's Note: What the hell was with Northwestern's uniforms?
They don't have gold in their colors at all, so I'm guessing this was an attempted psych out attempt since black and gold are the colors of both Purdue and Iowa for their past upsets.
Looked really bad to me.
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