Miyan Williams was the offensive standout with two rushing touchdowns and 111 yards on the green.
Ohio State improves to 9-0 overall and 6-0 in the Big Ten and will host Indiana in Columbus next Saturday.
Olentangy Offerings
1) This was one of those crazy days of weather that occasionally show up in autumn and with winds of a consistent thirty miles per hour with gusts every few seconds of up to fifty MPH, it was next to impossible to score moving into the wind.
2) Of the 28 points scored, only seven were scored into the wind- the final touchdown of the day in the fourth quarter by Ohio State, and that was set up not by a pass but by...
3) A run by C.J. Stroud of forty-four yards to take the ball down to the Northwestern five.
Stroud is noted for not running, which Ryan Day says is due to Day, not Stroud.
On a day that Stroud threw for only seventy-six yards and without a touchdown pass, it was his running that slammed the door on the Wildcat's upset bid.
4) Miyan Williams took a while to get started on a day that the Buckeyes leaned on Williams in the absence of TreVeyon Henderson but he finished strongly.
Williams rushed for only twenty-eight yards on his first thirteen carries and eighty-three yards on his final thirteen rushes.
5) Ohio State did finish with 207 rushing yards and they were wearing Northwestern down but in the third quarter with Williams starting to get rolling, Ryan Day suddenly decided to start throwing the ball including a long incomplete pass on a third and two.
The running game has been erratic this year to a degree but often just as it gets the kinks out, Ohio State decides to throw more often.
Confusing.
6) Northwestern finished with 206 rushing yards and Ohio State allowed the Wildcats to run on them without a throwing threat at all.
The Wildcats finished with only one fewer yard than Ohio State and it does concern me considering the Michigan offense is very similar in scheme to Northwestern with improved talent.
7) Jim Knowles has been receiving criticism after the game with the Wildcat's running success.
I say otherwise.
Ohio State stopped Northwestern on multiple fourth-down tries throughout the game and allowed just seven points in awful conditions.
8) While I understand the concern about the run defense, I can't pass that concern onto Jim Knowles considering the job that he has done this season.
Ohio State had every chance to allow Northwestern to pull an upset with just one big play and the defense wouldn't allow it.
Tough to be mad about that.
9) The late touchdown that Ohio State scored allowed them to continue a string of scoring twenty or more for seventy games in a row and breaking the NCAA record of sixty-nine held by Oklahoma from 2016-21.
Whoopee.
10) This should be the final time for the Buckeyes to visit Ryan Field and it's not soon enough for me.
I like old stadiums with their quirks and charms even more than the next guy but as I used to say about Hagerstown Municipal Stadium, there is a difference between old and charming and a dump.
Ryan Field is an embarrassment to the conference and its schools and the sooner Northwestern's new facility is ready to open will be better for the university and the conference.
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