Ohio State dominates Nebraska to improve to 5-0

Justin Fields connected with Garrett Wilson on a 6-yard fade pass with 3:51 left in the third quarter to make it 48-0.

Dedrick Mills got the Huskers on the board with a 9-yard touchdown run with 2:07 on the clock.

That capped a 75-yard drive that nearly matched the team’s yardage total for the game to that point, and it was a drive that was mostly thanks to quarterback Adrian Martinez scrambling 56 yards on a broken play.

FIRST HALF RECAP

Ohio State traveled to Nebraska expecting its first test of the season.

Through one half, the Buckeyes were still waiting.

Justin Fields threw two touchdown passes and ran for another as the fifth-ranked Buckeyes ran up a 38-0 lead to make a statement in front of a prime-time national television audience.

Ohio State struck first when Fields scrambled 15 yards for a touchdown with 10:35 on the clock to start the scoring. The Buckeyes lined up in trips to the wide side of the field, and the Cornhuskers matched them all over the field, leaving Fields one on one with linebacker Mohamed Barry. He was not up to the task, and Fields eluded him and dove into the end zone.

After the Buckeye defense forced a three-and-out, Ohio State marched 60 yards in 10 plays for another touchdown, this one a 2-yard touchdown pass from Fields to K.J. Hill, who was wide open when the Nebraska defensive back wasn’t able to avoid interference by Jeremy Ruckert at the goal line.

Ohio State took 2:02 off the clock on its first scoring drive and 4:41 on the second.

The Buckeyes converted a pair of third downs on the second drive, the first when Fields found Chris Olave open shot a 6-yard gain on third-and-4 and the second when the quarterback ran around end for 14 yards on third-and-10.

Nebraska followed that up with its best drive of the night, using some old-school I-formation football to drive to the Ohio State 26 before Taylor Martinez threw a tipped pass that was intercepted by Jeffrey Okudah, his second of the night.

The Buckeyes did not reach the end zone on the ensuing possession, but they did go 90 yards for a field goal and take more than seven minutes off the clock.

Then everything really caved in on the hosts.

Martinez was picked off again on the second play of the next drive as Jordan Fuller dove to pull in an errant throw, and Ohio State tacked on three touchdowns with relative ease.

Master Teague scored on touchdown runs of 8 and 1 yard before Fields hooked up with Austin Mack from 18 yards out to give the Buckeyes a 38-0 lead with 1:34 left in the half.