Ohio State vs. Notre Dame rating, takeaways: No. 2 Buckeyes combat lower back to conquer No. 5 combating Irish - CBS activities

No. 2 Ohio State overcame lackluster play and an injury to one among their superstar gamers whereas battling back and in the end beating No. 5 Notre Dame 21-10 in an exhilarating season opener. The Buckeyes trailed at halftime and into the third quarter earlier than the Ohio State offense put collectively its top-quality pressure of the nighttime late within the contest as megastar quarterback C.J. Stroud accomplished 24 of 34 passes for 223 yards and two touchdowns

That 10-play, 70-yard pressure that ended with a 24-yard touchdown pass from Stroud to Xavier Johnson that seemed to awaken the Buckeyes and the a hundred,000 in attendance at Ohio Stadium. It become the final moment they needed to cheer, however, as Ohio State followed with an excellent superior drive, going ninety five yards in 14 plays to place the online game out of attain.

After dropping megastar receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba to a leg damage within the first quarter, the Buckeyes struggled to find a rhythm on offense, however Emeka Egbuka and operating backs TreVeyon Henderson and Miyan Williams stepped up to fill the void.

The fighting Irish offense bought off to a promising beginning, picking out up fifty four yards on the primary play of the evening, nonetheless it managed most effective 199 yards for the rest of the video game. Tyler Buchner (177 yards passing, 18 speeding) made some plays, but Notre Dame might certainly not locate consistency towards an Ohio State protection that played with its hair on hearth.

Tommy Eichenberg accomplished with two sacks for Ohio State, whereas Mike corridor had another sack and two tackles for loss. With their second-half comeback, the Buckeyes had been capable of prevent becoming the first top two group to lose its season opener considering the fact that No. 1 Miami fell to BYU to begin the 1990 season.

Let's take a look on the key takeaways from Ohio State's massive Week 1 win over Notre Dame.

Ohio State's defense won the video game

there were questions about how Ohio State would function in Jim Knowles' first video game as protecting coordinator. Early returns are rather promising. whereas the Buckeyes ended up successful a little bit simply, it's simplest because their protection picked up a lackluster offense time and once more. while Notre Dame hit the occasional huge play through the air, the Buckeyes did not enable the Irish to string together significant drives. It looked like a totally distinct unit than the one that too regularly allowed teams to flow the ball down the container in crucial spots remaining season.

essentially the most large change turned into the drive. Knowles threw all types of disguises on the inexperienced Buchner. All of it -- blitzes, stunts, and pass-rushers like Zach Harrison shedding into insurance -- was designed to maintain Buchner guessing and in doubt of where to go along with the ball; it labored, for probably the most part. The Buckeyes comprehensive with six tackles for loss and three sacks as they held Notre Dame to 5.3 yards per play. greater importantly, it allowed the Irish to transform handiest 3 of 13 third downs whereas forcing them into third-and-lengthy cases all evening. That stored the Irish from being capable of maintain drives, and it purchased the Buckeyes offense greater time to figure issues out.

Ohio State's broad receiver depth is a controversy

Who would've notion we'd be announcing that?! Ohio State's receiver corps is supposed to be the best within the nation, but Smith-Njigba suffered an undisclosed leg damage on the crew's first collection and saw handiest a number of more performs the relaxation of the nighttime. Julian Fleming became already banged up. That intended the Buckeyes needed to play with a lot of inexperienced receivers, and it showed. There turned into miscommunication about where they were speculated to be on routes and the timing turned into off with Stroud.

nevertheless, things picked up within the 2nd half with Egbuka rising because the highest quality goal. Egbuka entire with nine receptions for ninety yards and a landing. Marvin Harrison Jr. caught five passes for 56 yards, and while Johnson caught only two passes, his 24-yard touchdown proved the online game-winner. within the conclusion, six receivers other than Smith-Njigba (two catches, three yards) caught passes from Stroud on the night.

Notre Dame need to find a run online game

Coming into the night, i assumed Notre Dame's problem on offense could be an absence of explosive performs within the passing video game, making it difficult to sustain with the excessive-powered Ohio State offense. whereas they weren't constant enough all through the nighttime, Buchner and his receivers connected for four passes of at the least 20 yards, together with a 54-yard reference to Lorenzo patterns on the first play of the game. The issue became the Irish could not do anything else on the floor. The Ohio State defense held Notre Dame to only seventy six yards dashing on 30 consists of. alter for sacks, and that number handiest improves to ninety five yards on 27 contains (3.5 per touch).

With a younger quarterback making his first delivery on the highway in a traumatic atmosphere, the Irish would have ideally gotten more from their ground game to take the load off Buchner. instead, Buchner needed to lift the weight, and it went about as well as you'd expect ultimately.

Stroud can -- and should -- do greater

Frankly, Stroud seemed typical within the first half and shaky to delivery the second half. It wasn't except the middle of the third quarter that he gave the impression to discover a rhythm, and from that element onward, Ohio State took control of the game. Stroud's ultimate stat line is rarely going to turn many heads (no longer for the right factors, anyway), but he made large throws late when he needed to and helped his team decide upon up a crucial win.

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