Ohio State’s Lathan Ransom (8) punches the ball out of the hands of Marshall quarterback Stone Earle (11) during the opening drive of the game on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. Also pictured for the Buckeyes is Davison Igbinosun (1).
Tyler Flora | Record-Herald
COLUMBUS — The number-three ranked Ohio State Buckeyes (3-0) wrapped up non-conference play on Saturday as they hosted the Marshall Thundering Herd (1-1).
The Buckeyes, behind four scores of more than 40 yards, handled Marshall by a score of 49-14.
Wide receiver Emeka Egbuka started off the scoring affair with a 68-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Will Howard.
Howard then ran in a score from one yard out for the second touchdown of the game.
Running backs Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson broke off 86 and 14-yard touchdown runs, respectively, to help give Ohio State a 28-14 halftime lead.
All three second half touchdowns came from the Buckeye offense. A 40-yard rush from Henderson, 53-yard touchdown pass from Howard to Jeremiah Smith and a six-yard rush from Judkins capped off the scoring and made it 49-14 which was the final.
Statistically, Howard was 16-of-20 for 275 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
Judkins had 173 yards on the ground on 14 carries with two touchdowns.
Henderson carried six times for 76 yards and two touchdowns.
Egbuka led in receiving with 117 yards on five catches and a touchdown.
Smith had three catches for 70 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, Lathan Ransom led in tackles with eight, followed by Sonny Styles with seven and Denzel Burke with six.
OSU head coach Ryan Day spoke following the victory.
“We wanted to play fast today. We felt like that was the right approach and when you do that, you’re creating explosive plays that turn the ball over quick too.
“The things we did well, we will continue to enhance and the things we didn’t do well, we have to grow from. They do some good things, and we aren’t going to take any win for granted; there is a lot of work that gets put into them. The guys are playing hard and we have to keep building on that.”
He touched on the performance of Howard and Judkins.
“Will did some really good things, like the touchdown play to Jeremiah. It was a sight adjustment, where he had to see it, and so the execution on that was very high. The long pass to Carnell [Tate] was well done; he saw the adjustment that was made there and found the next read. I think he’s growing and getting more comfortable with the offense.
“I appreciate how hard he (Judkins) plays; his pad level, he runs, he’s got vulnerability which you can see he gets behind his pads and runs physical. He’s got a great attitude. You can coach Quinshon hard, and he looks at you in the eye and almost appreciates the fact that you coach hard. It says a lot about him as a person and he’s running hard. I think he enjoys being part of this program and he’s been nothing but a great teammate so far.”
Howard spoke about the variety of weapons on the Buckeye offense.
“I think it’s huge. I mean, people respecting everything, and not just the receivers, tight ends too, those guys make the plays too, it’s the run game, me getting my legs going, all these different things present challenges for defenses. The more ways we can attack them, and the more people we can get involved, the harder it’s going to be.”
Ohio State (3-0) will begin Big Ten play next Saturday as they travel to East Lansing to take on the Michigan State Spartans (3-1). The Spartans fell to Boston College on Saturday, 23-19.
Marshall (1-2) will look to regroup as they host Western Michigan (1-2) next Saturday.
