Ohio State sprints past Wisconsin to open Big Ten play

After a 3-yard run by TreVeyon Henderson, C.J. Stroud hit Marvin Harrison Jr. along the sideline for 18 yards then found Cade Stover over the middle for 22. Henderson went off left tackle for 10, then Stroud hit Emeka Egbuka on a post route over the middle for 33 yards to the 2-yard line.

Miyan Williams finished the drive with a 2-yard push up the middle for a touchdown.

Soon the Buckeyes were back at it after Tanner McCalister picked off Graham Mertz on what appeared to be a miscommunication between quarterback and receiver, who turned to his left as Mertz threw a pass over his shoulder and right to McCalister.

McCalister returned the ball to the Wisconsin 16, and Ohio State scored two plays later when Stroud faked a handoff and found Stover wide open on a throwback to the other side of the field. The tight end was flipped into the end zone by a defender for his first career touchdown catch.

After forcing a punt, the Buckeyes went right back to work and marched down the field with relative ease again. They capped a seven-play, 75-yard drive with Stroud finding Stover wide open in the end zone on a bootleg rollout to his right.

The 2-yard touchdown catch made it 21-0 with 3:55 left in the first quarter.

The Buckeyes made it 28-0 when Williams scored untouched on a counter from three yards out less than two minutes into the second quarter.

Wisconsin (2-2, 0-1) got on the board with a 1-yard sneak by Mertz with 8:31 left in the second quarter. That capped a 10-play drive on which the Badgers’ QB scrambled for a first down and kept the drive alive with a 26-yard completion to Skyler Bell. A pass interference penalty on Jyaire Brown also gave Wisconsin a first down early in the drive.

The Buckeyes went 13 plays and 68 yards on their next drive, but they settled for a 25-yard field goal by Noah Ruggles with 2:20 on the clock.

In the second half, they picked up where they left off.

After forcing a punt, the Buckeyes went 72 yards in eight plays with hitting Julian Fleming for 31 yards and then a 12-yard touchdown pass.

Stroud’s fourth touchdown pass of the night went to Egbuka when the quarterback rifled a ball between two defenders from eight yards out late in the third quarter.

He found Egbuka again on a post pattern for a 32-yard touchdown with 7:21 left, and Wisconsin finished the scoring one play from scrimmage later when Braelon Allen broke loose for a 75-yard touchdown against the No. 2 defense for Ohio State.

Stroud finished with 281 yards passing and five touchdowns while Egbuka caught six passes for 118 yards.

Henderson had 121 yards rushing, and Williams added 101.