COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ryan Day wanted more from Ohio State’s offense.
More consistency. More balance. More plays that turn into something instead of something that gets left on the field. There was plenty of that Saturday.
The Buckeyes scored 42 points, gained 518 yards and went 8-for-12 on third down in their 42-19 win over Illinois. They scored touchdowns on all four of their trips to the red zone and didn’t turn the ball over.
And somewhere in the middle of all that, Julian Sayin added something Ohio State hasn’t always gotten from its quarterback.
His legs.
Sayin carried the ball seven times for 29 yards and a touchdown, but the yardage doesn’t tell the whole story.
The important part was when he ran.
Early in the second quarter, Sayin escaped pressure and scrambled for a first down to keep a drive alive. Later in the half, with his receivers covered, he left the pocket and ran toward the pylon for a 7-yard touchdown.
Those weren’t simply extra yards. They were plays that made the offense work.
“We challenged Julian [Sayin] this past week, and I thought he responded,” Day said. “I thought that scramble to get the first down during (the drive early in the second quarter)…that was big. And to keep the play alive on the touchdown, that was big as well. You could see the reaction from the sideline and from the offense, and that’s the X-factor. He has the quickness to do that, and I thought he competed well today.”
That X-factor becomes even more interesting when the quarterback is throwing the ball to Jeremiah Smith.
Sayin and Smith already have plenty of history together. On Saturday, they added another chapter.
Smith caught 12 passes for 217 yards and four touchdowns, giving him career highs in all three categories. His 217 yards made him just the sixth Buckeye to reach 200 receiving yards in a game.
Three of his touchdowns came before halftime. The first was a 7-yard score. The second was a 72-yard explosion that showed exactly what happens when Smith gets the ball in space. The third was a 9-yard touchdown on Ohio State’s 19-play, 96-yard drive.
Then, after Illinois had made a push in the second half, Sayin and Smith connected again. This time it was a 26-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
Illinois had just spent nearly eight minutes driving 74 yards before the Buckeyes stopped the Illini on downs at the Ohio State 20-yard line. Four plays later, Sayin found Smith for the touchdown.
Game, essentially, back under control.
And while Smith’s historic afternoon understandably dominated the offensive conversation, the Buckeyes got contributions elsewhere, too.
Tight end Nate Roberts caught four passes for 36 yards. Wideout Devin McCuin caught four passes for 34 yards. Phillip Bell got involved and had a 23-yard reception, while freshman Brock Boyd added a 22-yard catch.
The running backs weren’t spectacular, but they did enough to keep the offense from becoming one-dimensional.
Bo Jackson rushed 11 times for 53 yards. Ja’Kobi Jackson had 56 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries, giving him a rushing touchdown in four consecutive games.
Ohio State also converted both of its fourth-down attempts.
It wasn’t perfect. The Buckeyes averaged 4.7 yards per carry after accounting for five yards lost, but this was a different kind of offensive performance than some of the ones Ohio State had produced earlier this season.
There were explosive plays. There were conversions. There were touchdowns in the red zone. There was production from the running backs. And there was a quarterback willing to make the defense account for him as a runner. That last part could matter.
Sayin said the opportunity to run is something he and the quarterback room talk about regularly.
“We talk about it a lot in the quarterback room,” Sayin said. “Coach [Billy] Fessler and Coach Day, we know that sometimes there’s nobody left for the quarterback if they’re playing a zone coverage or something like that, there’s opportunities to scramble.”
Against Illinois, he took them.
That doesn’t mean Sayin suddenly needs to become a running quarterback. He doesn’t. But if defenses have to account for him when a play breaks down, that changes the picture for everyone else.
Especially when the guy on the other end of the pass is Smith. Smith finished the day with 3,175 career receiving yards, moving past Michael Jenkins for the most in Ohio State history. His 34 career receiving touchdowns are now two shy of Chris Olave’s school record. And his connection with Sayin continues to give Ohio State an answer when it needs one.
The Buckeyes still have plenty to clean up. Sayin knows that.
“We did some good things today,” Sayin said. “There’s still stuff to clean up, still stuff we can grow on, and improve on, and get ready next week for Iowa.”
But there were plenty of good things to take with them, too. And maybe the most important one was that Ohio State’s offense found another way to make defenses uncomfortable.
If Sayin can make them pay with his legs when they take away his receivers, and if Smith keeps doing what he did Saturday when they don’t, the Buckeyes have another layer to an offense that already has plenty of firepower.
Photo via Ohio State Dept. of Athletics.
