MADISON, Wisconsin (WCMH) — For the third time in the span of four weeks, No. 1 Ohio State put on a convincing performance on the road in Big Ten play. And not only did the Buckeyes prevent a Big Ten opponent from finding the endzone for the third time in a month, they shut Wisconsin out completely with a 34-0 victory.
Thanks to career-high numbers from quarterback Julian Sayin and a defense that continues to show that its the best in the country, OSU remains unbeaten this season, heading into their second bye week with an 11-game win streak that dates back to last year’s College Football Playoff title run.
“One of my favorite parts of the game was the way that we ended,” coach Ryan Day said. “When guys are on the sideline and they want to hold on to the shutout. And some of the depth guys are in there and everyone screaming and yelling because it isn’t about the score. It’s not about the results, about the process. And that’s it. Guys are playing for each other and that’s another good sign.”
Here are three things we learned from Saturday.
Carnell Tate’s highlight worthy grab
The play that almost everyone will be talking about from Saturday’s win was the grab in the endzone by Carnell Tate. The star wide receiver leapt into the air with two defenders surrounding him to catch Sayin’s 33-yard pass for the first touchdown of the contest. Tate would end up leading the receiving efforts with 111 yards on six catches for two touchdowns.
But Tate gives much of the credit to his quarterback, who had a career-high 393 yards, completing 36 of his 42 throws to tie his career-best of four touchdowns.
“He’s the Heisman winner. There’s no question,” Tate said. “Each and every week, he goes out there to prove to us why he’s the Heisman winner.”
Sayin’s 86 percent completion rate on Saturday is nearly unheard of in college football. And his performance shows how much he’s stepped up since his debut as a starter against Texas in Week 1.
“Trying to do my best to execute the offense and and keep improving,” Sayin said. “You know, I think our offense is all about just keep improving week by week. We’re not where we want to be yet. We want to be playing our best football in December.”
Run game goes West
There were plenty of young players that contributed to Ohio State’s offensive efforts. Among the ten different receivers that earned a place on the box score were underclassmen Quincy Porter, a freshman, and Mylan Graham, a sophomore. Together, they had three catches for 40 yards.
Those two stepped up as Ohio State’s run game was limited to just 98 yards. But even as the ground game had a smaller output, Day was still able to build depth and find another option in the backfield in the form of Isaiah West. The freshman out of Philadelphia led the Buckeyes with 55 rushing yards on nine carries.
“Good sign for a young back. We’ll kind of see what it looks like and see where we’re going from here. Those are good runs,” Day said. “We’re going to look at everything and do everything we can to make sure we’re efficient and we’re balanced.”
Balancing the offense remains Day’s priority over making sure his star players get the touches they deserve.
“We have to stay disciplined and that’s what goes back to being unselfish,” Day said. “Guys have to understand, the number one goal is to win the game but we’re going to do everything we can to make sure guys get touches the best we possibly can, staying within the system and not putting our offense at risk of sputtering on a drive and not scoring a touchdown.”
Shutting out the Badgers
The score line was significant for a multitude of reasons. The 34-0 win marked the eighth time that the Buckeyes have shut out an opponent under the direction of Ryan Day, but its first on the road since a 56-0 win at Rutgers in 2017.
Meanwhile for the Badgers, they were shut out by an opponent for the second straight week, which hasn’t happened to the program since 1977 when they fell to Ohio State 42-0 and to Purdue 22-0 in consecutive weeks. It was also the first time since 1968 that Wisconsin was blanked two weeks in a row at home.
Day said don’t take these shutouts for granted.
“I hope nobody’s getting used to that, because that doesn’t just happen. There’s a lot of hard work that gets put in,” Day said. “Give the defense a ton of credit. Give the staff a bunch of credit. Obviously our guys on defense played their tails off.”
