SATURDAY’S GAME
Ohio State at Maryland, 3:30 p.m., ESPN, 1410
Urban Meyer summed up the night with his first comment in his postgame press conference.
“Wow,” Meyer said. “Didn’t see that one coming.”
No one did. The No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes, plagued with inconsistency and lacking explosiveness on both sides of the ball in the last four games, regained the form that made them a national championship contender in September. They recorded their most lopsided victory over a top-10 team, routing No. 10 Nebraska 62-3 Saturday night at Ohio Stadium.
PHOTOS: Ohio State vs. Nebraska
A team that appeared capable of losing to anyone — maybe even Maryland and Michigan State in the next two weeks — once again looks like a team that could win it all. That’s how dominant the Buckeyes were in their first game in November. They might want to keep the 1916 throwback jerseys they wore Saturday for another day.
“We’re starting to put it all together,” Meyer said, “and I’m glad it’s happening now.”
Here are seven things to know about a game played in front of the second-largest crowd in Ohio Stadium history (108,750):
1. Barrett's back: After throwing three touchdown passes in the previous four games and none in the previous game against Northwestern, Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett threw four touchdown passes. He completed 26 of 38 passes for 290 yards and didn't throw an interception for the third straight game.
“The main thing was the offensive line,” Barrett said. “The offensive line let me distribute the ball in the passing game, and in the running game, they were driving guys off the ball. When the offensive line plays like that, that’s when you have games like that.”
2. Big-play defense: Safety Damon Webb set the tone for the game by picking off a pass on the third play and returning it 36 yards for a touchdown. Raekwon McMillan tipped the pass.
Ohio State had four interception return touchdowns in the first three games, but this was the first since the Oklahoma game.
“That was a great start to the game,” defensive end Sam Hubbard said. “I don’t think we could ask for a better start defensively. Our leader on defense, Raekwon, made a play and we rallied around it.”
Malik Hooker got the defense in the end zone again with 34 seconds left in the third quarter, picking off a tipped pass and weaving his way 48 yards for a score to give the Buckeyes a 55-3 lead.
3. Samuel's success: Curtis Samuel, who has been labeled Ohio State's best playmaker by Meyer, touched the ball on Ohio State's first two plays. He finished with eight catches for 137 yards and five carries for 41 yards.
Samuel caught a 1-yard touchdown pass with 3 seconds left in the first half and a 75-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the second half.
“We played a good game today,” Samuel said. “Everything was clicking. We didn’t really do anything different; it’s about execution. In previous weeks, we didn’t execute at the highest-level, whereas today we did.”
4. Scary moment: Nebraska lost senior quarterback Tommy Armstrong for the game midway through the second quarter. He was knocked unconscious and taken off the field strapped to a backboard. He was taken away from the stadium in an ambulance but returned to the sideline later in the game.
The game was delayed for close to 15 minutes as trainers attended to Armstrong.
“At first I didn’t know what was wrong,” Nebraska wide receiver Jordan Westerkamp said. “I saw that he wasn’t moving anything, and its always worse when you see they aren’t moving anything. But it was great to have him come back to the game, walking around and seeing him be vocal. It was good for us to see, and hopefully he’ll be healthy going forward.”
5. Poor performance: Nebraska punted six times, turned it over twice on downs and twice on interceptions. After kicking a field goal on its second drive, it had only one more drive of more than 40 yards.
Ohio State, on the other hand, never punted and scored on all but two drives. It set a school record for most points scored against a top-10 team. Its previous biggest win against a top 10 team came in 1968 when it beat No. 4 Michigan 50-14.
“I didn’t feel like we played very loose,” Nebraska coach Mike Riley said. “I thought we were tight early, but the fact of the matter is that we really couldn’t do a lot offensively and we couldn’t get them off the field defensively.”
6. Standout stats: Freshman running back Demario McCall took over for Mike Weber with the game out of hand in the second half and gained 73 yards on 16 carries. Weber rushed 11 times for 72 yards and scored on a 23-yard run in the second quarter.
Eleven players caught passes. In addition to Samuel, K.J. Hill had a productive day with five receptions for 66 yards. Noah Brown and Terry McLaurin caught touchdown passes.
“I saw some explosiveness that we kind of have been lacking in some positions,” Meyer said, “and I think relief is probably the correct word. We’ve all been waiting for that to happen. No better time than the month of November to get that thing going.”
Hubbard and safety Jordan Fuller led the defense with five tackles.
“We had a great week of practice,” Hubbard said. “We had our best week of practice and our best week of coaching. It showed on the field today, the focus we had as a team and the attitude we had as a team preparing for a big game. College football is there for the taking, and we really had to step up tonight and make a statement.”
7. Big picture: Ohio State improved to 8-1 and 5-1 in the Big Ten. It remains a game behind No. 4 Michigan (9-0, 6-0) in the Big Ten East Division with three games to play.
The Buckeyes could move up in the College Football Playoff rankings. No. 4 Texas A&M suffered its second loss, falling 35-28 to Mississippi State.
Nebraska (7-2, 4-2) will fall in the rankings. The Cornhuskers fall into a tie for first with Minnesota and Wisconsin in the Big Ten West.
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