C.J. Stroud passed for 361 yards and six touchdowns while directing six scoring drives of 75 or more yards when No. 3 Ohio State routed Michigan State 49-20 on Saturday in East Lansing, Mich.
The Buckeyes (6-0, 3-0 Big Ten) had touchdown drives of 80, 75, 98, 75 and 91 yards for a 35-13 halftime lead.
Marvin Harrison Jr. had seven catches for 131 yards and three touchdowns and Emeka Egbuka caught five passes for 143 yards and a score.
Stroud (21 of 26) had a 19-yard TD pass to Harrison on the Buckeyes’ first possession of the game but Charles Brantley picked him off the next series and returned it 32 yards to make 7-7. That was the only time the Spartans (2-4, 0-3) stopped the Buckeyes in the first half.
Stroud responded with a 69-yard score to Egbuka on the next possession.
Ohio State extended the lead to 21-7 on Julian Fleming’s 51-yard reception on the second play of the second quarter before the Spartans pulled to within 21-13 on a Jayden Reed 18-yard catch followed by a missed extra point.
Back came the Buckeyes to go up 28-13 midway through the quarter on a 1-yard run for TreVeyon Henderson. Harrison then got his second TD, a 28-yarder for a 35-13 lead.
Stroud in the first half was 15 of 18 for 285 yards as the Buckeyes had 429 total yards.
The onslaught continued when the Buckeyes took the second half kickoff and went 96 yards in nine plays, capped by Harrison’s catch of 19 yards for a 42-13 score.
Stroud’s final TD was for 2-yards to Gee Scott with 3:04 left in the third quarter to make to make it 49-13.
Henderson, playing for the injured Miyan Williams, ran for 117 yards and a TD on 18 carries in the first half but had a run for a yard to start the third quarter before leaving with an injury.
Michigan State quarterback Payton Thorne was 11 for 118 for 113 yards, a TD and an interception.
–Field Level Media