The Thundering Herd (1-2) drew first blood with a 75-yard drive off the opening kickoff.
Quarterback Earle Stone did much of the work, competing 5 of 6 passes for 43 yards and running for 13 more, but Ethan Payne capped the drive with a 1-yard dive across the goal line on third down.
That was the 13th play of a drive that included three third down conversions.
Third-ranked Ohio State needed only two plays to respond, though, as Emeka Egbuka caught a pass behind the line of scrimmage to the right of the formation, picked up a pair of blocks then sprinted toward the opposite corner for a 68-yard touchdown.
The Buckeyes (3-0) took the lead early in the second quarter when Howard bulled in from the 1-yard, though perhaps more notable was the Full House “T” backfield lined up behind him.
They took the lead not long after when Judkins took a handoff up the middle, cut to his right then outran the Marshall defense for an 86-yard touchdown.
Next it was TreVeyon Henderson’s turn as he took an inside handoff from Howard, cut inside a block from Austin Siereveld, picked up two more blocks from pulling tight ends and then juked a would-be tackler near the 5-yard line on his way to a 140-yard touchdown with 3:30 left in the second quarter.
Marshall put together nine-play, 65-yard touchdown drive in the last three minutes to pull within 14 points at the half.
Stone finished it by finding Elijah Metcalf in the back of the end zone with six seconds left. That came one play after Marshall converted a fourth-and-4 from the Ohio State 37 with a 10-yard pass from Stone to Metcalf that also included a personal foul on Cade Curry for roughing the passer.
Curry, who shoved Stone after he delivered the ball and made facemask to facemask contact, was also ejected for targeting.
The big play barrage continued for Ohio State in the second half as TreVeyon Henderson broke a tackle then tight-roped the sideline on a 40-yard touchdown run then Jeremiah Smith caught a slant pass from the slot and raced 53 yards for another.
Judkins added six more early in the fourth quarter when he stiff-armed a defender at the line of scrimmage and went six yards.
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