COLUMBUS — No. 3 Ohio State showed up looking for a fight on Saturday evening, but the Wisconsin Badgers threw in the towel early as the Buckeyes delivered an emphatic 52-21 beatdown in front of a jampacked, blacked-out Ohio Stadium crowd.
C.J. Stroud threw for 281 yards and five touchdowns, and Ohio State’s two-headed running back tandem of TreVeyon Henderson and Miyan Williams each surpassed the 100-yard mark on the ground in a prolific performance from the Ohio State offense.
Ohio State tight end Cade Stover turned in the best performance of his offensive career, hauling in four catches for 54 yards and his first two college touchdowns, and Emeka Egbuka added two scoring grabs of his own as part of a game-high 118-yard receiving effort.
While the Ohio State offense may have stolen the show, defensive coordinator Jim Knowles and his Silver Bullets suffocated Wisconsin early and often in their best showing of the season to this point.
Star Wisconsin running back Braelon Allen was largely bottled up by the Ohio State defense, although he finished with 165 yards and a touchdown thanks to a handful of big gains in garbage time. Quarterback Graham Mertz was held to just 94 passing yards on the evening as the inept Badger passing attack never got off the ground despite Ohio State being without both its starting cornerbacks due to injuries.
Ohio State scored touchdowns on its first four drives of the game to open a 28-0 lead less than two minutes into the second quarter, and the hapless Wisconsin offense managed just 96 first-half yards in a game that was never competitive after the opening kick.
The scoring avalanche was underway early after Ohio State received the opening kickoff to begin the game. Williams’ 2-yard touchdown run capped off a six-play, 88-yard drive to give the Buckeyes a quick 7-0 lead.
The nightmarish start was just beginning for Wisconsin as Mertz was picked off by Ohio State safety Tanner McCalister on the ensuing drive to turn the ball right back over to Stroud and company.
Stroud needed just two plays following the turnover to make Wisconsin pay, finding Stover for a 13-yard touchdown to increase Ohio State’s lead just six minutes into the game. Noah Ruggle’s extra point was good and the rout was officially on in Columbus as the game continued to spiral quickly on the opposing sideline.
Ohio State’s offense repeatedly bullied Wisconsin defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard and his typically-stout defense on seemingly every snap. Stroud and Stover again connected for a scoring strike on their next drive, and Williams added his second touchdown run of the half early in the second quarter as Ohio State opened up a massive 28-point lead.
Wisconsin (2-2) showed a glimmer of life midway through the second quarter when Mertz scored from a yard out to cut the Ohio State lead to 28-7, but it proved to be, in fact, just a glimmer as they trailed 31-7 heading to the locker room.
It was more of the same for the Wisconsin offense to begin the second half. Allen appeared to have the Badgers on the move with an 18-yard scamper for a first down, but a holding penalty on receiver Chimere Dike nullified the big gain and stalled the drive.
The quick three-and-out led to yet another Wisconsin punt, and Stroud and the Ohio State took over at their own 28 looking to add to their lead.
Eight plays later, Stroud did just that with his third touchdown pass of the game, this time to Julian Fleming from 12 yards out. Ruggles’ extra point made it 38-7 in favor of Ohio State with still more than nine minutes remaining in the third as the festive atmosphere inside Ohio Stadium continued to grow.
Stroud went on to toss his fourth and fifth touchdowns of the game to Egbuka to round out his big evening before head coach Ryan Day mercifully pulled his starters for the final eight minutes of play.
Ohio State finished with 539 total yards offensively, the third consecutive game in which it has surpassed the 500-yard mark. The output included the always-coveted balanced effort with 281 passing yards and 258 rushing yards.
Day said of his balanced offense following the game, “I thought the balance was solid. We’re a no-huddle team and Wisconsin huddles a lot, so for us to kind of control the time of possession the way that we did (was solid) … I thought the tempo and the mix of run and pass today is what we’re looking for.”
Day said of Stroud’s play, ”I thought he was really good in a lot of spots. That’s a very good (Wisconsin) defense, and to throw five touchdowns, he was really good … I thought his energy was really good, and to throw five touchdown passes against Wisconsin, that’s a hell of a night.”
With the win, Ohio State improves to 4-0 on the season. The Buckeyes will return to action on Saturday when they host Rutgers (3-1) in the final of a five-game stretch of home contests to begin the season. Kickoff for the game is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
