Brett Ludwiczak
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Ohio State v. Marshall: 2024 game preview and prediction
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
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Saturday’s game will be the third meeting between the Buckeyes and Thundering Herd.
After rolling through the first two games of their 2024 regular season schedule, Ohio State had the first of their first two bye weeks last week. The Buckeyes will be back in action on Saturday, hosting the Marshall Thundering Herd in their final non-conference game of the regular season before jumping into Big Ten play next week. Last time Ohio State played they easily took care of business against Western Michigan, shutting out the Broncos 56-0.
Saturday’s contest will be the third time Ohio State and Marshall have met, with the Buckeyes winning the first two meetings, although the record books will only show Ohio State holding a 1-0 edge since the 45-7 Buckeye in 2010 was vacated due to the “Tatgate” scandal. The first time the teams played was back in 2004. Ohio State won that game 24-21 thanks to a game-winning 54-yard field goal from Mike Nugent.
The Buckeyes enter this game averaging 543.5 yards per game, ranking eighth in the country, while also giving up an FBS-low 138 yards per game. Ohio State, Tennessee, and Louisville are the only teams in the country to be ranked in the top-10 in both categories. The Buckeyes can attribute their success on both sides of the football to the tremendous number of veterans they field, as they have 21 players with at least 10 starts.
In their season opener against Akron, Ohio State struggled to run the football, finishing with 170 yards on the ground. The rushing attack from the Buckeyes looked a lot crisper against Western Michigan, as Ohio State found the end zone six times on the ground, tying for the highest total under Ryan Day which came in 2019 against Maryland. The 273 rushing yards were the most by the offense since they rolled up 340 yards on the ground against Indiana in 2022.
Quinshon Judkins was the leading rusher for the Buckeyes against Western Michigan, finishing with 108 yards, notching his first 100-yard rushing game as a Buckeye. Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson each rushed for two touchdowns against the Broncos, while James Peoples found the end zone for the second straight game.
Judkins and Henderson are each nearing 3,000 career yards rushing and 40 rushing touchdowns. Judkins enters this week’s game with 2,888 yards rushing and 37 scores, and Henderson has 2,876 yards and 39 touchdowns. With 124 yards rushing, Henderson will not only hit 3,000 career yards rushing, he will also pass Carlos Snow for 12th-most in school history.
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Photo by Jason Mowry/Getty Images
The running backs weren’t the only ones to have fun against Western Michigan. Jeremiah Smith continued the outstanding start to his Buckeye career with a 70-yard touchdown catch, finishing with 119 yards receiving, which were the fourth-most by an Ohio State true freshman receiver in a game. Smith is the first Buckeye receiver to amass at least 200 total receiving yards in their first two games.
Along with Smith’s historic start to his career, Emeka Egbuka continues to work his way up the school’s receiving record books. Egbuka is now the 13th Buckeye in school history to crack 2,000 career receiving yards, with five of receivers reaching that mark in the last six years.
With two more receptions, Egbuka will tie Ted Ginn Jr. for 12th-most in school history, and he will also move into 12th place in career receiving yardage with 85 more yards, passing Dee Miller’s career total of 2,090 yards.
Will Howard hasn’t had to put up huge numbers through his first two games as a Buckeye, all he has had to do is play smart football, which is exactly what he has done. Howards has completed 35 of his 54 pass attempts for 520 yards with four passing touchdowns. Against Western Michigan, Howard rushed for his first touchdown as a Buckeye.
Since Ohio State had such a big lead against the Broncos, Alabama transfer Julian Sayin was able to toss the first touchdown pass of his college career, finding Bennett Christian for a 55-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
As good as the Ohio State offense has been through two games, the defense has been even better. Along with allowing the fewest yards per game in the country, the Buckeyes haven’t allowed their opponents this year to take a snap inside the red zone. Georgia, Ole Miss, and Ohio State are the only teams in the country who have yet to allow a touchdown so far this season.
The six points the Buckeyes have allowed so far this season are their third-lowest total through two games since 1950. The only seasons where they allowed less points through two games was in 1960 and 1963 when they pitched shutouts in their first two games of the season.
Following the missed field goal attempt from Western Michigan in the first half, Ohio State kept the next 10 drives from the Broncos from crossing midfield. When the game went final, Western Michigan finished with just 99 yards of total offense.
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Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
While the defense had little problem shutting down Akron, the group got even stronger in the second game with the return of linebacker Cody Simon, who registered a sack in the shutout. The linebacker group is looking very impressive to start the season with Simon, Sonny Styles, and C.J. Hicks all making plays. A surprise at the position has been Arvell Reese, with the sophomore from Cleveland impressing when his number has been called so far this year.
Leading the team in tackles through two games is safety Lathan Ransom, who has 11 stops so far. Along with Ransom, lining up at safety is Caleb Downs, who showed last year at Alabama the type of playmaker he can be. About the only negative play from the secondary this year has been Denzel Burke’s targeting penalty in the first half against Western Michigan. Since the penalty happened in the first 30 minutes of the game, Burke won’t miss any time in this week’s game.
The secondary has definitely benefited from the pressure the defensive line has been putting on opposing quarterbacks. J.T. Tuimoloau and Tyleik Williams each have a sack and a half this season, while Jack Sawyer has a sack to go along with what feels like relentless quarterback pressure.
When the defensive line is playing like they have through two games, it makes the jobs of the rest of the defense so much easier, and increases the probability of negative plays and turnovers.
Marshall enters Saturday’s game having split their first two games of the 2024 season, beating Stony Brook 45-3 in their opener before losing at Virginia Tech 31-14 two weeks ago. Like Ohio State, the Thundering Herd had a bye week heading into this week’s matchup.
Marshall is looking for their second win over a top-10 team in the last three years, as back in 2022 the Thundering Herd beat Notre Dame 26-21 in South Bend a week after the Fighting Irish opened the season with a loss to the Buckeyes in Columbus.
Charles Huff is in his fourth year as Marshall head coach, posting a 23-18 record during his time in Huntington. Prior to taking over for Doc Holliday, Huff was associate head coach and running backs coach at Alabama for two seasons. Huff has plenty of familiarity with the Ohio State program since he was running backs coach at Penn State from 2014 to 2017.
The Thundering Herd have made a bowl game in each of the last three seasons under Huff, most recently losing the Frisco Bowl to UTSA 35-17 in December.
After last year’s starting quarterback Cam Fancher transferred to Florida Atlantic, North Texas transfer Stone Earle has started the first two games of the season for Marshall, completing 23 of his 52 pass attempts for 228 yards, tossing three touchdowns and an interception. The redshirt senior has also rushed for 86 yards on 18 carries.
One of Earle’s backups will have a familiar name to football fans, as Cole Pennington is the son of legendary Marshall quarterback Chad Pennington. The redshirt sophomore started the win over Georgia Southern last year. In the win over Stony Brook, not only did Earle and Pennington throw touchdown passes, but so did Braylon Braxton, marking the third time in school history three quarterbacks threw touchdown passes in the same game.
Lining up in the backfield with Earle is running back A.J. Turner, who has 222 yards and a touchdown on just 14 carries this season. Turner not only ripped off an 80-yard touchdown run in the season opener, he had a 69-yard rush against Virginia Tech, making him the third player and school history to have runs of at least 69 yards in back-to-back games. Ethan Payne has Marshall’s other rushing touchdown this year.
The wide receiving corps for the Thundering Herd is filled with transfer, most notably Christian Fitzpatrick, who started his career at Michigan State where he was an opponent of the Buckeyes three times. Fitzpatrick has already hauled in two touchdowns this season. Joining Fitzpatrick in the two touchdown club through two games is Middle Tennessee State transfer Elijah Metcalf, who had 54 catches for over 600 yards and five touchdowns. Also in the group are transfers from Florida State, Ole Miss, North Carolina, and Tulsa.
Much like the wide receivers, the offensive line has a number of transfers that have started in the first two games. Marshall did return center Logan Osburn and Columbus product Jalen Slappy at right guard, with the two combining for 37 starts entering this season. Joining them are Baylor transfer Elijah Ellis and Southern Miss transfer Bryce Ramsey on the left side of the line, and right tackle Jeremy Jones from Tulsa.
Making the most noise on the defensive line so far for the Thundering Herd is defensive end Mike Green, who had two sacks against Virginia Tech. The Virginia transfer leads the team with 3.5 sacks through two games. Deeve Harris is now playing at the fourth school in his college career. Minnesota, Old Dominion, and Colorado were the previous stops for Harris. Dylan Davis has a sack and a half this year, as well as some familiarity with Big Ten football after transferring from Illinois.
Tying for the team lead in tackles this year for Marshall are linebackers Jaden Yates and Landyn Watson, with both making 20 stops this year. Yates played his high school football at Gahanna Lincoln and was first team all-state in 2022. Watson started his college at career at TCU before transferring to Marshall prior to last season. This year Watson is seeing a lot more playing time after being credited with just four tackles last year.
The elder statesman of the secondary is J.J. Roberts, who was honorable mention All-Sun Belt last year after transferring from Wake Forest. So far this season Roberts has 11 tackles, which is most among the team’s defensive backs. Another returning starter is nickelback Jadarius Green-McKnight, who has appeared in 22 games for Marshall since 2022 since transferring from Florida State. Jordan Reagan has the team’s lone interception this year.
This game should play out a lot like what was seen from Ohio State against Akron and Western Michigan. There really is no reason the Buckeyes should struggle with Marshall. Ohio State has superior depth and talent at each position. The only question is will we see the Buckeyes have a bit of a slow start like we saw against Akron since they are coming off a bye and there are times when it takes a couple drives to knock some rust off after a week off.
This is a game where Ryan Day is going to want his team build off what they showed over the first two games. Against Western Michigan, the Buckeyes looked a lot more comfortable running the football. The offensive line will get a boost with the return of Donovan Jackson after the leader of the line missed the first two games. Offensive coordinator Chip Kelly will have a lot of fun blending the run and pass with the offense at full strength.
Even if Ohio State takes a couple drives to get going at least they know they have one of the best defenses in the country backing them up. With top talent at every level of the defense, teams are going to struggle to put points on the board against the Buckeyes. Marshall will have their work cut out for them to even reach double digits in this game. The pressure the defensive line creates will likely fluster quarterback Stone Earle early and often.
While winning is the main goal, managing your starters after building a lead is just as important. With this being the longest season of college football ever, Ohio State has to avoid injuries and keep players fresh. Next week the Buckeyes hit the road for the first time this year as they open up Big Ten play. If they go in healthy, Michigan State is going to have a hard time keeping the game close.
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Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Saturday’s game will be the third meeting between the Buckeyes and Thundering Herd.
After rolling through the first two games of their 2024 regular season schedule, Ohio State had the first of their first two bye weeks last week. The Buckeyes will be back in action on Saturday, hosting the Marshall Thundering Herd in their final non-conference game of the regular season before jumping into Big Ten play next week. Last time Ohio State played they easily took care of business against Western Michigan, shutting out the Broncos 56-0.
Saturday’s contest will be the third time Ohio State and Marshall have met, with the Buckeyes winning the first two meetings, although the record books will only show Ohio State holding a 1-0 edge since the 45-7 Buckeye in 2010 was vacated due to the “Tatgate” scandal. The first time the teams played was back in 2004. Ohio State won that game 24-21 thanks to a game-winning 54-yard field goal from Mike Nugent.
The Buckeyes enter this game averaging 543.5 yards per game, ranking eighth in the country, while also giving up an FBS-low 138 yards per game. Ohio State, Tennessee, and Louisville are the only teams in the country to be ranked in the top-10 in both categories. The Buckeyes can attribute their success on both sides of the football to the tremendous number of veterans they field, as they have 21 players with at least 10 starts.
Coming off a complete performance against Western Michigan
In their season opener against Akron, Ohio State struggled to run the football, finishing with 170 yards on the ground. The rushing attack from the Buckeyes looked a lot crisper against Western Michigan, as Ohio State found the end zone six times on the ground, tying for the highest total under Ryan Day which came in 2019 against Maryland. The 273 rushing yards were the most by the offense since they rolled up 340 yards on the ground against Indiana in 2022.
Quinshon Judkins was the leading rusher for the Buckeyes against Western Michigan, finishing with 108 yards, notching his first 100-yard rushing game as a Buckeye. Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson each rushed for two touchdowns against the Broncos, while James Peoples found the end zone for the second straight game.
Judkins and Henderson are each nearing 3,000 career yards rushing and 40 rushing touchdowns. Judkins enters this week’s game with 2,888 yards rushing and 37 scores, and Henderson has 2,876 yards and 39 touchdowns. With 124 yards rushing, Henderson will not only hit 3,000 career yards rushing, he will also pass Carlos Snow for 12th-most in school history.
The running backs weren’t the only ones to have fun against Western Michigan. Jeremiah Smith continued the outstanding start to his Buckeye career with a 70-yard touchdown catch, finishing with 119 yards receiving, which were the fourth-most by an Ohio State true freshman receiver in a game. Smith is the first Buckeye receiver to amass at least 200 total receiving yards in their first two games.
Along with Smith’s historic start to his career, Emeka Egbuka continues to work his way up the school’s receiving record books. Egbuka is now the 13th Buckeye in school history to crack 2,000 career receiving yards, with five of receivers reaching that mark in the last six years.
With two more receptions, Egbuka will tie Ted Ginn Jr. for 12th-most in school history, and he will also move into 12th place in career receiving yardage with 85 more yards, passing Dee Miller’s career total of 2,090 yards.
Will Howard hasn’t had to put up huge numbers through his first two games as a Buckeye, all he has had to do is play smart football, which is exactly what he has done. Howards has completed 35 of his 54 pass attempts for 520 yards with four passing touchdowns. Against Western Michigan, Howard rushed for his first touchdown as a Buckeye.
Since Ohio State had such a big lead against the Broncos, Alabama transfer Julian Sayin was able to toss the first touchdown pass of his college career, finding Bennett Christian for a 55-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Not giving an inch
As good as the Ohio State offense has been through two games, the defense has been even better. Along with allowing the fewest yards per game in the country, the Buckeyes haven’t allowed their opponents this year to take a snap inside the red zone. Georgia, Ole Miss, and Ohio State are the only teams in the country who have yet to allow a touchdown so far this season.
The six points the Buckeyes have allowed so far this season are their third-lowest total through two games since 1950. The only seasons where they allowed less points through two games was in 1960 and 1963 when they pitched shutouts in their first two games of the season.
Following the missed field goal attempt from Western Michigan in the first half, Ohio State kept the next 10 drives from the Broncos from crossing midfield. When the game went final, Western Michigan finished with just 99 yards of total offense.
While the defense had little problem shutting down Akron, the group got even stronger in the second game with the return of linebacker Cody Simon, who registered a sack in the shutout. The linebacker group is looking very impressive to start the season with Simon, Sonny Styles, and C.J. Hicks all making plays. A surprise at the position has been Arvell Reese, with the sophomore from Cleveland impressing when his number has been called so far this year.
Leading the team in tackles through two games is safety Lathan Ransom, who has 11 stops so far. Along with Ransom, lining up at safety is Caleb Downs, who showed last year at Alabama the type of playmaker he can be. About the only negative play from the secondary this year has been Denzel Burke’s targeting penalty in the first half against Western Michigan. Since the penalty happened in the first 30 minutes of the game, Burke won’t miss any time in this week’s game.
The secondary has definitely benefited from the pressure the defensive line has been putting on opposing quarterbacks. J.T. Tuimoloau and Tyleik Williams each have a sack and a half this season, while Jack Sawyer has a sack to go along with what feels like relentless quarterback pressure.
When the defensive line is playing like they have through two games, it makes the jobs of the rest of the defense so much easier, and increases the probability of negative plays and turnovers.
How Marshall has fared this year
Marshall enters Saturday’s game having split their first two games of the 2024 season, beating Stony Brook 45-3 in their opener before losing at Virginia Tech 31-14 two weeks ago. Like Ohio State, the Thundering Herd had a bye week heading into this week’s matchup.
Marshall is looking for their second win over a top-10 team in the last three years, as back in 2022 the Thundering Herd beat Notre Dame 26-21 in South Bend a week after the Fighting Irish opened the season with a loss to the Buckeyes in Columbus.
Charles Huff is in his fourth year as Marshall head coach, posting a 23-18 record during his time in Huntington. Prior to taking over for Doc Holliday, Huff was associate head coach and running backs coach at Alabama for two seasons. Huff has plenty of familiarity with the Ohio State program since he was running backs coach at Penn State from 2014 to 2017.
The Thundering Herd have made a bowl game in each of the last three seasons under Huff, most recently losing the Frisco Bowl to UTSA 35-17 in December.
Marshall on offense
After last year’s starting quarterback Cam Fancher transferred to Florida Atlantic, North Texas transfer Stone Earle has started the first two games of the season for Marshall, completing 23 of his 52 pass attempts for 228 yards, tossing three touchdowns and an interception. The redshirt senior has also rushed for 86 yards on 18 carries.
One of Earle’s backups will have a familiar name to football fans, as Cole Pennington is the son of legendary Marshall quarterback Chad Pennington. The redshirt sophomore started the win over Georgia Southern last year. In the win over Stony Brook, not only did Earle and Pennington throw touchdown passes, but so did Braylon Braxton, marking the third time in school history three quarterbacks threw touchdown passes in the same game.
Lining up in the backfield with Earle is running back A.J. Turner, who has 222 yards and a touchdown on just 14 carries this season. Turner not only ripped off an 80-yard touchdown run in the season opener, he had a 69-yard rush against Virginia Tech, making him the third player and school history to have runs of at least 69 yards in back-to-back games. Ethan Payne has Marshall’s other rushing touchdown this year.
The wide receiving corps for the Thundering Herd is filled with transfer, most notably Christian Fitzpatrick, who started his career at Michigan State where he was an opponent of the Buckeyes three times. Fitzpatrick has already hauled in two touchdowns this season. Joining Fitzpatrick in the two touchdown club through two games is Middle Tennessee State transfer Elijah Metcalf, who had 54 catches for over 600 yards and five touchdowns. Also in the group are transfers from Florida State, Ole Miss, North Carolina, and Tulsa.
Much like the wide receivers, the offensive line has a number of transfers that have started in the first two games. Marshall did return center Logan Osburn and Columbus product Jalen Slappy at right guard, with the two combining for 37 starts entering this season. Joining them are Baylor transfer Elijah Ellis and Southern Miss transfer Bryce Ramsey on the left side of the line, and right tackle Jeremy Jones from Tulsa.
The defense of the Thundering Herd
Making the most noise on the defensive line so far for the Thundering Herd is defensive end Mike Green, who had two sacks against Virginia Tech. The Virginia transfer leads the team with 3.5 sacks through two games. Deeve Harris is now playing at the fourth school in his college career. Minnesota, Old Dominion, and Colorado were the previous stops for Harris. Dylan Davis has a sack and a half this year, as well as some familiarity with Big Ten football after transferring from Illinois.
Tying for the team lead in tackles this year for Marshall are linebackers Jaden Yates and Landyn Watson, with both making 20 stops this year. Yates played his high school football at Gahanna Lincoln and was first team all-state in 2022. Watson started his college at career at TCU before transferring to Marshall prior to last season. This year Watson is seeing a lot more playing time after being credited with just four tackles last year.
The elder statesman of the secondary is J.J. Roberts, who was honorable mention All-Sun Belt last year after transferring from Wake Forest. So far this season Roberts has 11 tackles, which is most among the team’s defensive backs. Another returning starter is nickelback Jadarius Green-McKnight, who has appeared in 22 games for Marshall since 2022 since transferring from Florida State. Jordan Reagan has the team’s lone interception this year.
Prediction
This game should play out a lot like what was seen from Ohio State against Akron and Western Michigan. There really is no reason the Buckeyes should struggle with Marshall. Ohio State has superior depth and talent at each position. The only question is will we see the Buckeyes have a bit of a slow start like we saw against Akron since they are coming off a bye and there are times when it takes a couple drives to knock some rust off after a week off.
This is a game where Ryan Day is going to want his team build off what they showed over the first two games. Against Western Michigan, the Buckeyes looked a lot more comfortable running the football. The offensive line will get a boost with the return of Donovan Jackson after the leader of the line missed the first two games. Offensive coordinator Chip Kelly will have a lot of fun blending the run and pass with the offense at full strength.
Even if Ohio State takes a couple drives to get going at least they know they have one of the best defenses in the country backing them up. With top talent at every level of the defense, teams are going to struggle to put points on the board against the Buckeyes. Marshall will have their work cut out for them to even reach double digits in this game. The pressure the defensive line creates will likely fluster quarterback Stone Earle early and often.
While winning is the main goal, managing your starters after building a lead is just as important. With this being the longest season of college football ever, Ohio State has to avoid injuries and keep players fresh. Next week the Buckeyes hit the road for the first time this year as they open up Big Ten play. If they go in healthy, Michigan State is going to have a hard time keeping the game close.
LGHL score prediction: Ohio State 45, Marshall 7
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