There are few things in life quite like the first Ohio State football Saturday of the year.
You wake up earlier than you need to. You put on an Ohio State shirt that you’ve convinced yourself is somehow luckier than your other Ohio State shirts. You turn on College GameDay. You start thinking about the College Football Playoff before the Buckeyes have even played a snap.
And then Ohio State goes three-and-out on its opening possession against a team like Ball State and you immediately start questioning everything.
Fortunately, the panic lasted approximately five minutes.
Ohio State shook off a slow opening drive and proceeded to absolutely dismantle Ball State, 56-3, in a season opener that went pretty much exactly how you’d hope a game against a MAC opponent would go. (Can’t say that for every team this weekend)
Let’s start with Jeremiah Smith because…well…how could we possibly start anywhere else?
Apparently, Smith decided it had been far too long since he did something ridiculous on a football field.
What followed was your annual reminder that Jeremiah Smith was created in a lab specifically to make defensive backs miserable.
By halftime, Smith already had eight catches for 151 yards and two touchdowns. He didn’t even need to catch another pass in the second half.
At this point, I’m running out of ways to describe this guy.
He’s bigger than you.
He’s faster than you.
He can apparently catch a football with whichever hand he feels like using that particular afternoon.
And somewhere, a defensive coordinator watching film of Ohio State just quietly closed his laptop.
Jeremiah Smith is going to get the headlines, and rightfully so, but Devin McCuin deserves some attention too.
McCuin finished with six catches for 97 yards and a touchdown, giving Ohio State another legitimate weapon on the outside.
Because apparently the Ohio State wide receiver room wasn’t unfair enough already.
Watching Ohio State continuously produce wide receivers feels like watching someone discover an infinite-money glitch in a video game.
Chris Olave.
Garrett Wilson.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
Marvin Harrison Jr.
Emeka Egbuka.
Jeremiah Smith.
And the factory just keeps running.
The Defense Did Exactly What It Was Supposed To Do
Lost a bunch of talent to the NFL?
No problem.
New faces all over the field?
Apparently also no problem.
Ball State finished with just 165 total yards, averaged 2.8 yards per play and managed only three points.
Those three points came on a 54-yard field goal late in the second quarter.
Otherwise, the Buckeyes’ defense basically spent the afternoon telling Ball State:
“No.”
Want to run?
No.
Want to throw?
Also no.
Want to score a touchdown?
Absolutely not.
You know you’ve had a good afternoon when you’re deep enough into the depth chart that you’re watching the future of the program get meaningful snaps.
Freshman Legend Bey caught a 25-yard touchdown from Luke Fahey early in the fourth quarter.
Then, because Ohio State fans apparently needed one more reason to get way too excited about the future, Tavien St. Clair connected with Chris Henry Jr. for a 15-yard touchdown to make it 56-3.
That’s the fun part of games like this.
The stars dominate.
The starters get out healthy.
And eventually you get to start saying things like:
“Remember that name.”
So…What Did We Actually Learn?
Look, Ohio State was supposed to beat Ball State.
They were supposed to beat Ball State badly.
And they did.
The Buckeyes piled up 671 yards of offense, scored exactly 14 points in every quarter and held Ball State to 165 yards.
That’s a successful Saturday.
But I’m also an Ohio State fan, which means I’m contractually obligated to find something to worry about after a 53-point victory.
The slow start running the football wasn’t great.
Nine penalties for 81 yards definitely need cleaned up.
There were some missed tackles.
And the Buckeyes aren’t going to have the luxury of ironing those things out against another massive underdog next week.
Because now things get serious.
