Stroud completed twenty-four of thirty-four passes but finished with a surprisingly low 223 passing yards.
Emeka Egbuka caught a thirty-one-yard touchdown pass among his nine catches for ninety yards while Treveyon Henderson and Miyan Williams combined for 175 rushing yards with Williams contributing a touchdown to lead the Buckeyes in the victory.
Notre Dame led 10-7 at halftime but never threatened to score in the second half and punted on all four of their second-half possessions.
Ohio State will next host the Arkansas State Red Wolves, who won their opener yesterday over Grambling State (and Grambling's new head coach Hue Jackson) 58-3.
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1) The big news was the injury to standout wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who was injured early in the first half and attempted to return a few times later in the half before sitting out the entire second half.
Smith-Njigba caught two short passes for a total of three yards before suffering the injury to his knee or lower leg.
Ryan Day spoke after the game and stated that he thinks Smith-Njigba could return to the field as soon as next Saturday's game against Arkansas State.
2) While the injury doesn't appear to be a long-term issue, it was a shot to the Heisman hopes of the junior wide receiver.
Notre Dame is the crown jewel of the Buckeyes non-conference schedule and easily the glamour game for the first Saturday of the season and the injury took the skills of Smith-Njigba away from the large national audience.
3) With Smith-Njigba out and Julian Fleming unable to start, the Ohio State passing game flowed through Emeka Egbuka, who grabbed a thirty-one-yard touchdown pass among his nine catches.
4) However, the feel-good story was another wideout in former walk-on Xavier Johnson, who caught the go-ahead score in the waning minutes of the third quarter and his two catches in the game were the first of his career for the fifth-year senior, who is better known for his manic play on the special teams' coverage units.
5) Johnson wasn't above his coverage assignments even after his touchdown catch as on the resulting kickoff, Johnson blew down the field and crunched Notre Dame's fastest player in Chris Tyree with a tackle in the open field at the Notre Dame thirteen-yard line.
Notre Dame would move the ball forward on that drive, crossing midfield for the only time in the second half before punting but the Johnson kickoff kept the crowd roaring and kept the momentum rolling toward Ohio State.
6) C.J. Stroud was pretty average until those final few drives but he did avoid making a big mistake (zero interceptions) that could have handed the Irish good field position or an easy score.
7) Give Notre Dame and their defensive coordinator, former Miami and Temple head coach Al Golden, plenty of credit as they came up with a game plan that rarely allowed Stroud to hit his receivers in stride and kept the yards after catch numbers low by keeping everything in front of the linebackers and defensive backs as C.J. Stroud's longest completion was the thirty-one score to Emeka Egbuka in the first half.
8) Jim Knowles is being paid lots of money to upgrade the defense from a poor season in 2022.
Knowles did his job as his defense didn't allow a point in the second half and other than on the first offensive play by Notre Dame when Tyler Buchner beat a blitzing Denzel Burke by just a second with his release and hit Lorenzo Styles for a fifty-four yard gain.
Styles is the son of former Buckeye Lorenzo Styles and the older brother of OSU freshman Sonny Styles.
9) The two players that clearly have benefited from the Jim Knowles system are linebacker Tommy Eichenberg and defensive tackle Michael Hall.
Eichenberg was a target of many barbs that were critical of the 2021 defense but he was all over the field on this night as Knowles used him in several manners, finishing with two sacks and three tackles for loss along with a total of nine tackles on the evening.
Hall, a redshirt freshman, has been the one player that has been mentioned in camp to Buckeye media members as the player that was going to surprise people this season.
Hall was regularly able to apply pressure up the middle to the pocket and his sack on the final drive of Notre Dame, deep in their territory forced a punt at a time that the Irish needed to go for it.
Notre Dame would never touch the football again.
10) The offensive line allowed only one sack of C.J. Stroud and the question dating back to last season about the line's physicality is shoved aside for now after the line wore Notre Dame down in the second half.
11) The line opened holes on the final scoring drive for the more physical Miyan Williams, who had more success in the second half than the more spectacular Treveyon Henderson, that pushed Notre Dame aside in crunch time.
Williams may not be the home run hitter that Henderson is but in move the chains situation, Williams's ability is equally as valuable.
12) This wasn't the offensive explosion that many expected and the Notre Dame defensive alignment will be one that will be copied for future opponents to try against Ohio State but this is the type of game that Ohio State lost twice last season and they grabbed a win.
I'll take it.
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