Whew. It wasn’t easy, but Ohio State remains undefeated with a closer-than-expected 43-30 victory Saturday in College Park, Maryland.
Apparently, every one of the top teams in the College Football Playoff rankings felt like giving their fans heart attacks on Saturday. Michigan and TCU needed last-minute field goals to win, Georgia looked strained against Kentucky, and Ohio State had to outlast a Maryland team that played with nothing to lose on the road.
But that’s OK. Despite what the national media and fanbases of other teams might say, winning a championship isn’t easy, and sometimes you have to go through the mud to get the chance at playing for some pretty special things on dry land.
The Buckeyes found themselves in that precarious spot on Saturday when the offense sputtered a bit in the first half, and Terrapins quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa played hot and gave OSU everything it could handle.
Deeeeep breaths.
Final from College Park. #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/bgjgdnvss4
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) November 20, 2022
Ohio State started out with a 77-yard drive to start the game to go up 7-0, and it looked like the machine was running. After that though, the Buckeye ground game ran into more issues and the passing game was off just enough to throw a wrench into the mechanics of everything. The Buckeyes went into the half down 13-10 with only 28 yards of rushing and looking for answers.
Then Dallan Hayden happened.
With running back TreVeyon Henderson hobbled and taken out of the game with a foot injury again, Hayden made the most of it. With him hitting the holes quicker and running downhill, the OSU offense started to click. The freshman running back finished the game with 27 carries for 146 yards and three touchdowns — the large majority of it in the second half. It led to Ohio State scoring 34 points after coming out of the locker room.
The big momentum changer in the second half came on the defensive end, however, when Lathan Ransome came around the end of the line and laid out for a punt block that led to one of Hayden’s scores to put OSU up early in the second half.
But it almost wasn’t enough thanks to the exploits of Tagovailoa. He finished the game 26-of-36 for 293 yards and two touchdowns, keeping plays alive and putting the team on his back throughout a wildly entertaining game. And after OSU milked the clock and kicked a field goal to go up by six points, Tagovailoa had one more shot with under a minute left, but the OSU defense came up big again.
Zach Harrison beat his man and got to Tagovailoa and forced the ball up in the air for Steele Chambers who grabbed it out of the air and took it into the endzone for the game-sealing touchdown.
CHAMBERS TO THE 🏠, BUCKEYES MAKE IT A TWO POSSESSION GAME.@steeleC22 #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/FnLsjqoAYW
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) November 20, 2022
With the win, we can now talk about it. Ohio State and Michigan will enter The Game both undefeated and likely both in the top three of the CFP rankings. There are a lot of things on the line and we’ll have plenty of coverage for you leading up to, during, and after the titanic clash in Columbus.
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