Ohio State obliterates Michigan to win Big Ten East, earn spot in championship game

»PHOTOS: Ohio State mauls Michigan

No. 10 Ohio State started fast and finished faster Saturday afternoon, thrilling an Ohio Stadium crowd of 106,588 fans with a stunning display of offense for which the nation’s No. 1 defense had no answer.

Dwayne Haskins threw five touchdown passes and Ohio State hung over 500 yards on a Wolverines stop unit that had not allowed more than 385 in its first 11 games.

»RELATED: 5 things to know about Buckeyes’ rout

The Buckeyes’ 62 points set a record for Ohio State in the rivalry.

Parris Campbell, K.J. Hill and Chris Olave all caught touchdown passes for Ohio State while Chris Olave caught two.

Campbell also had a 78-yard touchdown run.

The win forged a tie atop the Big Ten East standings with Ohio State getting the tiebreaker. The Buckeyes will face Northwestern in the Big Ten championship game next week, potentially with a shot at making the College Football Playoff with a win.

Ohio State matched its longest winning streak in the series at seven games. The Buckeyes also won seven in a row from 2004-10.

The Buckeyes have won 16 of the last 18 against Michigan, which still leads the series 58-51-6.

The Wolverines’ last win in Columbus came in 2000.

**FIRST HALF RECAP**

Ohio State leads Michigan 24-19 at halftime of the 115th meeting between the teams.

Ohio State looked primed to go into the half with a bigger lead, but Michigan scored on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Shea Patterson to Nico Collins with :47 seconds left in the second quarter.

The Buckeyes mishandled the ensuing kickoff, Michigan recovered at the 9-yard line and scored one play later when Patterson found Chris Evans all alone in the end zone.

The Wolverines went for two and the tie, but Patterson was taken down in the backfield when he rolled out to throw.

Ohio State answered by driving to the Michigan 3-yard line but had to settle for a 19-yard field goal by Blake Haubeil as time expired.

Ohio State could not have asked for a better start.

The defense forced a three-and-out, the punt team provided a strong return and the offense marched down the field for a touchdown.

Dwayne Haskins completed three of four passes on the opening drive. All three completions were crossing patterns designed to exploit Michigan’s man coverage scheme. The last went to Chris Olave on a third-and-4. He ran away from coverage and scored from 24 yards out to give Ohio State the early 7-0 lead.

Michigan responded with a methodical scoring drive, but the Wolverines had to settle for a Jake Moody field goal from 39 yards out.

Relying on the run on early downs, the Wolverines moved 44 yards in 10 plays to set up the kick.

Shea Patterson converted a key third down at midfield with a 15-yard pass to Tarik Black.

After an Ohio State three-and-out, Michigan put together another long, methodical drive — and again had to settle for a field goal when Pete Werner broke up a potential touchdown pass.

The Buckeye offense kept coming as Haskins and Olave hooked up again from 24 yards out, this time on a fade down the sideline with 9:08 left in the second quarter.

A little less than six minutes later, Haskins struck again when Johnnie Dixon ran through the Michigan secondary and found himself all alone in the end zone for a 31-yard score.

Michigan wasn’t done, though, as Patterson put together a 79-yard scoring drive in 2:29 then made the Buckeyes pay for their mistake on the kickoff.

Haskins completed 13 of 21 passes for 222 yards and three touchdowns in the first half. He also ran for 20 yards as Ohio State tallied 278 total yards -- 44 more than Michigan’s top-ranked defense allowed on average in its first 11 games.