Buckeyes Win Down in Texas

The Buckeyes and the Horned Frogs squared up at AT&T Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas in a Top 15 match-up in the 3rd week of the college football season. In stand-in Head Coach Ryan Day's post-game press conference, he told reporters that he tried to prepare his players for a fight and to make sure they showed resiliency when they got hit. 

And that's exactly what happened. 

TCU came into the game with a clear game plan; get the ball on the outside and in-space and make Ohio State's linebackers chase and their defensive backs tackle. Get the ball out of quarterback Shawn Robinson's hands quickly to avoid pressure from the Ohio State defensive line.

And that plan worked for 2.5 quarters. TCU hung with the Buckeyes and were up on the scoreboard for much of the 2nd and 3rd quarters. Robinson got the ball effectively to wide receiver Jalen Reagor, who had a nice first half, finishing the game with 7 catches for 98 yards. TCU running back Darius Anderson gashed Ohio State for a 93 yard touchdown. This was not only the longest running play in TCU history, but also the longest running play from scrimmage given up by an Ohio State football team. 

Talk about getting hit. 

But the Buckeyes kept coming. A steady feeding of the football to running backs Mike Weber and J.K. Dobbins, as well as an impressive showing from the offensive line, kept Ohio State in the game. Quarterback Dwayne Haskins continued to spread the ball around to his play-makers and K.J. Hill and Parris Campbell continued to make plays down the field. 

Finally, the game turned as TCU made devastating execution errors in the second half, specifically late in the third quarter.

TCU's Robinson first made a poor decision while attempting a pitch and the ball was intercepted by standout defensive lineman Dre'Mont Jones, who returned the interception for a touchdown to give Ohio State a 26-21 lead. Jones showed, dare I say, tight end type elusiveness and running ability into the endzone and on his way to being named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week. 

Next, on a very well-timed play call, the Horned Frogs kick return team attempted a trick play that asked dangerous return-man KaVontae Turpin to lateral the ball across the field, but he threw the ball forward. The touchdown return was called all the way back to the TCU 4 yard online with the charge of an illegal forward pass. 

Six plays later, Ohio State freshman cornerback Shaun Wade blocked a fumbled punt snap and Ohio State got the ball back at the TCU 25 yard-line. None other than K.J. Hill capped off the two-play drive with a touchdown catch in the endzone, putting the Buckeyes up 33-21, a lead that would be kept for the rest of the game.

Late in the fourth quarter, the Ohio State offense bled the clock with a bludgeoning running game, winding the time down to about 3:30 minutes to play, giving the Horned Frogs almost no time to come back from a two possession deficit.

The Buckeyes pulled out a tough, hard fought 40-28 win in their first road game of the season. TCU came ready to play, with a good game plan and traded blows with Ohio State for roughly 40 minutes.Ohio State was able to take advantage of sloppy execution to go to 3-0. 

Next up - Saturday, September 17th at home against 1-2 Tulane.