Ohio State answers two major questions in win over Notre Dame

Ohio State entered its much-anticipated Week 1 showdown with Notre Dame as a 17-point favorite, in large part because of the Buckeyes’ explosive offensive attack led by Heisman hopeful C.J. Stroud.

The last time Ryan Day’s team took the field, it came in the form of a 48-45 victory over Utah in the Rose Bowl, a game that featured over 1,100 yards of offense. With Stroud, along with the likes of running back TreVeyon Henderson and wideout Jaxon Smith-Njigba returning to the offense, there was an expectation of offensive fireworks in this matchup of fellow top fives.

That was not the case, however, as Ohio State escaped with a scrappy 21-10 victory over Notre Dame.

FOX Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt touched on the game in the debut episode of his new podcast, “The Joel Klatt Show.”

[Check out Joel Klatt’s Top 10 Rankings]

According to Klatt, there were two major question marks for the Buckeyes heading into the game – toughness and defense – and OSU answered both of them.

“This offseason, the entire question for OSU was really about your physicality,” Klatt said. “Are they tough enough? Did they fix the defense that was so porous against Oregon and at times late in the season against Michigan.

“I believe that they answered them very well against Notre Dame.”

Much of the second half illustrated as much. The Buckeyes forced the Fighting Irish to punt on all four of their possessions while surrendering just 72 yards and four first downs. Notre Dame averaged just 3.6 yards per play over the two scoreless quarters after tallying 6.5 in the first half. 

Ohio State also passed an important test against a dangerous dual-threat quarterback, sacking Tyler Buchner three times and holding him to 18 yards rushing. 

“Schematically, I love what they were doing,” Klatt beamed. “The linebackers look much faster, the corners looked really good, I thought the safeties … played really well, and the defense played one of their better games that I’ve seen in the last couple of years.”

The Buckeyes’ defense was the driving force behind the big win, but their offense finished it. The fact they did it on the ground is especially notable, per Klatt. Holding a four-point lead with approximately 12 minutes remaining in the game, Ohio State took over possession and trudged 95 yards while killing seven minutes of clock for the game-sealing score. Henderson and Miyan Williams combined for 10 carries and 64 yards on the fateful drive.

“The mark of a really tough run game is the ability to run the ball when everyone knows that you have to run it,” Klatt opined. “Not that you’re going to run it, that you have to run it. And Ohio State had to run the ball and they were still successful doing so. …

“No questioning your toughness after that, and in particular against a team that’s built pretty physically. Notre Dame is a heck of a football team. I still think they’re going to be one of the better teams in the country.”

As Week 1 demonstrated, so will Ohio State.