OHIO STATE OVERCOMES ITS FIRST ON-FIELD ADVERSITY OF THE SEASON IN 40-28 WIN VS. TCU
Ohio State’s third game of the season against TCU at AT&T Stadium was fully expected to be a tougher challenge than its 77-31 win over Oregon State and 52-3 win over Rutgers.
Yet it perhaps proved to be an even tougher challenge than most people expected.
While the Buckeyes ultimately earned a 40-28 win over the Horned Frogs on Saturday night, it took a second-half comeback after struggles on both sides of the ball for them to ultimately prevail and improve to 3-0.
Ohio State didn’t score an offensive touchdown for the first 38 minutes of Saturday’s game. The defense gave up four touchdowns in the first three quarters of the game. Until a stretch in the third quarter where the Buckeyes scored 20 points in four minutes and one second on a 63-yard catch-and-run touchdown by Parris Campbell, a 28-yard interception return touchdown by Dre’Mont Jones and a 24-yard touchdown pass from Dwayne Haskins to K.J. Hill, the Buckeyes trailed 21-13 in the game – and appeared to be in serious jeopardy of losing their marquee non-conference game against a Big 12 opponent for the second year in a row.
Ultimately, though, the Buckeyes prevailed, and now, they have their first big-game win under their belt and a game that should serve as a valuable learning experience for the rest of the season to come.
“We got punched in the mouth,” Haskins said after the game. “You got to remember it’s a fight. You’re going to get punched. So you got to be able to rebound, and we did that second half.”
Even with a defensive touchdown in the first quarter scored when Davon Hamilton recovered a Shawn Robinson fumble forced by Nick Bosa in the end zone, Ohio State trailed 14-13 at halftime after failing to score a single touchdown on any of its six first-half offensive possessions, only coming away with six first-half points created by the offense – two field goals by Sean Nuernberger, who missed a third attempt.
The defense, of course, also gave up two touchdowns – including a 93-yard run to TCU’s Darius Anderson, the longest play from scrimmage allowed by Ohio State’s defense in school history.
Yet even though they were trailing at halftime after never trailing in their first two games of the year, the Buckeyes said they felt confident at the break that they would come back and win the game.
“We all looked each other in the eye, and said, ‘Look, this game’s not over. We’re only down by a point,’” Jones said. “And that’s the worst half of football we’ve probably played this season. We have so much room to grow, we knew we can come out with a W, because we trust in each other and we trust in our unit and we trust in our acting head coach that he can lead us to the victory.”
Entire article:
https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio...d-adversity-of-the-season-in-40-28-win-vs-tcu
