Ohio State’s 59-3 win over Kent State looked like the perfect response to the Texas loss. The Buckeyes looked cleaner. Julian Sayin completed 18 of 22 passes for 241 yards and two touchdowns. Jeremiah Smith became the program’s career receiving-yardage leader. The offense scored touchdowns on its first four possessions. But former OSU stars Bobby Carpenter and Steele Chambers saw a problem hiding underneath the blowout.
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On The Bobby Carpenter Show, the two former Ohio State LBs kept coming back to the same issue. The Buckeyes were still having trouble finishing short-yardage plays. Steele Chambers did not let the final score change his evaluation as he gave them a C-minus grade.
“Like that is going to be the difference between winning and losing,” he said. “So that’s why, even though we won 59-3, whatever it was, you got to be able to address these issues because you don’t want them showing up again.”
Bobby Carpenter, who starred for Ohio State from 2002-05 and helped win a national championship, was only slightly more generous with his grade.
“I would give them probably more of a C-ish,” he said. “I did do some good things. Maybe a C plus, a little nicer than Steele. But there’s some things that the one of eight on third down is highly concerning. That’s bad. Like you should be seven of eight on third down against a team like Kent State.”
Carpenter’s biggest issue was third down. Ohio State went just 1-for-8 against Kent State, and that one conversion came on the final play. The short-yardage stuff was even more frustrating. The Buckeyes had four third downs with three yards or less to go and didn’t convert any of them.
Bo Jackson gained two yards on third-and-3 before a fourth-down touchdown. Isaiah West lost a yard on third-and-1, and Ohio State later failed on fourth-and-2. Ja’Kobi Jackson gained one yard on third-and-2 before converting the next play on fourth down. West later lost two yards on third-and-3, ending another possession.
Kent State is a MAC team playing at Ohio Stadium, so early empty drives do not cost you much. But in tight Big Ten games, third-down conversion rates directly decide who controls the clock and who wins. When you fail on third down against elite teams like Oregon or Penn State, you do not just give up the ball; you hand over field position and burn out your defense.
Converting those short plays keeps your defense rested and star weapons like Jeremiah Smith on the field, which is usually the difference between a close win and a late-game breakdown.
“Yeah, I think the plan on third downs that our defensive staff puts together, I don’t know how many Ohio State faced,” he said. “It certainly wasn’t a ton. They were pretty efficient on first and second down, but a lot that we could take away from a positive note.”
Ohio State did plenty right. The passing game looked more comfortable, the red-zone offense improved, and young players made plays. Julian Sayin operated efficiently, and Jeremiah Smith continued to break records. While Julian Sayin made the passing game look effortless, the ground attack managed just 145 total yards. The short-yardage headache was not just about the stats. It was a bad mix of predictable play-calling and poor offensive line push.
Instead of using Sayin’s hot hand to keep defenses guessing, the offense repeatedly ran straight up the middle into stacked boxes. The line failed to get leverage off the snap, leaving young backs like Isaiah West and Bo Jackson with nowhere to go the second they got the handoff.
Now comes the part where those edges get tested. Illinois visits Ohio Stadium Saturday for a noon kickoff, with both teams sitting at 2-1. The game will be televised by FOX, and it opens Big Ten play for the Buckeyes. Ryan Day has already made clear that the standard cannot depend on the opponent or the score.
“It doesn’t matter what the score is, it doesn’t matter what the game is, or who the opponent is,” he said. “We just have to make sure that everybody re-bites, re-focuses, and finishes in the fourth quarter.”
That is the strange thing about a 59-3 win. Ohio State got the reset it needed after Texas. But the Kent State game also left Day with a checklist. And short yardage is sitting near the top of it.