COLUMBUS — Thirteen receivers caught passes, seven of them touchdowns. Six runners registered a carry. Three quarterbacks attempted an aerial.
When it was done, 10th-ranked Ohio State netted 664 yards of offense and a 54-21 win over UNLV. It was over way before that. The Buckeyes had a 37-0 bulge in the second quarter when quarterback J.T. Barrett went to the bench with five TD passes.
“I was very pleased with the first team. Just no nonsense, went out and played as hard as they possibly could,” coach Urban Meyer said.
What can be learned in such a rout?
“Let’s go do it against a team that’s equally matched,” Meyer said, echoing a fanbase that already considers last year’s win over third-ranked Michigan ancient news. “That’s my challenge every day for myself, for our coaches, more importantly and obviously, our players.”
The rebuilding of confidence continues after the Buckeyes started the season ranked No. 2, bombed Indiana 49-21 on the road, and suffered a dud of a performance in falling 31-16 to Oklahoma. Last week the reboot began with a 38-7 beating of Army.
Barrett, an incredibly maligned Big Ten MVP, has received most of the wrath after back-to-back big-game losses to Clemson and Oklahoma. For the second straight game he hit over 70 percent of his passes and crept within 14 yards of 10,000 yards in total offense during his Ohio State career.
Yet his plethora of records and stats have drawn a blase response as the Buckeyes search for a signature win. Such an opportunity won’t arrive until undefeated Penn State visits on Oct. 28. In the meantime, there are plenty of things to hone on both sides of the ball.
Barrett is working with his third offensive coordinator in four years. Assistant coach Kevin Wilson is emphasizing playing faster, and his quarterback saw improvement in that area Saturday.
“I think it was tempo. That was something we talked about last week,” Barrett said. “We had good tempo at some times, but we are still addressing that and pushing that because that is a weapon we can use.”
Defensively, the OSU secondary staggered out of the gate by yielding 800 yards passing the first two weeks. Saturday the Buckeyes were flagged repeatedly for pass interference and defensive holding, but allowed just 88 yards in the air. It’s hard to tell what if any progress has been made.
“Very concerned, terrible,” Meyer said of the penalties, three of them on cornerback Kendall Sheffield. “It’s awful.”
Yet Meyer’s team showed it’s still a force to be reckoned with heading into Saturday’s trip to Rutgers. Beyond that, little could be gleaned by overwhelming a vastly inferior foe.
“Our fast start,” Meyer responded when asked what he liked. “(We) got some young players the necessity to play in front of 110,000 people. And I take a lot of positives out of it as you get ready for conference play.”
The offense should shine again next week. The defense has room for improvement, and the march continues in an all-or-nothing mindset.
Make no mistake, Meyer has created this atmosphere. Two trips to the playoffs in the past three years, a 64-7 record in his five-plus seasons in Columbus and elite recruiting classes all spark daunting expectations.
UNLV coach Tony Sanchez said the Buckeyes are still poised to realize such dreams.
“We won’t play a faster team (than Ohio State), especially in all three phases,” Sanchez said. “This is the fastest team you’ll see. No team we play is going to run on all three phases the way these guys run. And nobody is going to have the depth these guys have.”
