Ohio’s State: Breaking down Ohio State’s win over Toledo using in-state landmarks

Since last night’s Toledo-Ohio State game was an all-Ohio battle, what better way to wrap up 77-21 win by the Buckeyes than by using some cities, places, attractions to describe what transpired in Columbus. Some of these may be places you are familiar with, others may be new to you. No matter your knowledge on what we reference today, GO BUCKS!

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I-77

I was wishing that Ohio State had only scored 75 points last night instead of 77 points. Had the Buckeyes scored two less points, I could have said that I-75 wasn’t the only thing that ran right through Toledo. I-77 is a little more fitting though, because the interstate running north-south on the eastern side of Ohio is a lot rockier than the flat wasteland that is on the west side of the state.

Even though 77 points is A LOT of points to score, it doesn’t even rank in the top-five of all-time points scored in a game by the Buckeyes. Toledo didn’t even close to allowing Ohio State to score the most points in school history in a game, as the Buckeyes scored 128 points against Oberlin back in 1916. Ohio State has scored at least 80 points on five ocassions.

The 77 points the Buckeyes scored on Saturday may not have been a school record, but it is the most Ohio State has scored while Ryan Day has been full-time head coach. The Buckeyes also scored 77 points in the season opener against Oregon State in 2018 while Day was interim head coach during Urban Meyer’s suspension to start the season.

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Hayden Run

Who had money on Dallan Hayden being the first Ohio State running back to rush for 100 yards this year? If you say you did, you’re a liar. The freshman running back finished Saturday’s game with 108 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries. Hayden is a great talent out of Memphis, it was just hard to see him getting enough carries to hit a century in a game in a game before TreVeyon Henderson and Miyan Williams.

Photo by Ben Jackson/Getty Images

Hayden was on the field a little earlier than anticipated last night when Henderson left the game after scoring a touchdown. The foot injury that Henderson aggravated and kept him out of action the rest of the night was apparently something he has been dealing with, and Ryan Day decided it was best to hold Henderson out the rest of the game with the Big Ten schedule starting up next week.

Now that the Ohio State fanbase has been properly introduced to Hayden, hopefully it’s only a matter of time before we see the running back posing in front of Hayden Run Road signs and taking a trip to Hayden Run Falls Park on the northwest side of Columbus.

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Fin(n)dlay

Toledo did have a couple highlights in this game thanks to their quarterback, DeQuan Finn. The sophomore didn’t put up huge numbers, but you can tell he is going to be a problem the rest of the year for teams around the MAC. Not only can Finn throw the football, he can also cause problems for opposing defenses with his ability to run.

Although it would be nice to see Toledo reap the rewards for recruiting Finn and trusting him to take snaps as an underclassman, it feels like only a matter of time before a Power 5 school lures the quarterback to their program via the transfer portal. Finn showed he can ball, and it would be fun to see what he could do with a little more talent around him.

Aside from shoehorning Finn into Findlay, “Flag City” is also home to Marathon Petroleum and Cooper Tire, which is fitting for the Toledo quarterback since he was all gassed up with some shoes on him last night. The Rockets are just hoping that Finn doesn’t pass through Findlay on his way out of state to another program.

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Woodville

Until last night I didn’t know there was a Woodville, Ohio. The tiny hamlet lies in Sandusky County, with just over 2,000 residents. The mayor of Woodville is now Sonny Styles. This joke is even more fitting because the National Arbor Day Foundation named Woodville as Tree City USA. Naming Styles the mayor is even more fitting because he was laying the lumber late in the game last night.

It’s crazy to think that right now Styles should be a senior in high school, but the Pickerington Central product reclassified this year to be able to don the scarlet and gray. When the move was first announced there was a bit of trepidation since the Buckeyes had Quinn Ewers do the same a year before and now Ewers is at Texas.

Obviously there was plenty of differences in Ewers situation compared to Styles, and it looks like the hard-hitting safety is going to be a fixture in the Ohio State secondary over the next few years. Even though the Buckeyes have plenty of depth at safety when healthy, Styles is going to make it tough for the coaches to keep him off the field if he keeps making plays like he did last night.

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Mount Healthy

Some of the Buckeyes need to make a trip down to the small city near Cincinnati. Originally named Mount Pleasant, the village was renamed Mount Healthy in 1850 after most of its residents were spared from the cholera epidemic, while the same can’t be said for residents in surrounding areas.

Ohio State heads into Saturday night’s battle against Wisconsin with a number of injuries they will have to try and heal. Earlier we talked about TreVeyon Henderson leaving the game after aggravating a foot injury. Before the game, it was announced that safeties Josh Proctor and Tanner McAllister wouldn’t play in the game, which gave Ransom Latham and Cameron Martinez more time on the field. Also missing on the defensive side of the football during the game was defensive tackle Michael Hall Jr.

It’s not all bad news on the injury front for Ohio State, though. Jaxon Smith-Njigba returned to the field after missing last week’s game with a hamstring injury. Even though Smith-Njigba only caught two passes for 33 yards, it was good to see the star wide receiver back on the field ahead of the start of Big Ten play.

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Fleming

Fleming, Ohio is described as a small unincorporated town in between Barlow and Marietta that is farmland dotted by occasional trees. In a way that is the perfect way to describe Julian Fleming’s Ohio State career until last night. The five-star wide receiver had a bunch of hype when he arrived in Columbus, but his first two years with the Buckeyes saw him do very little, catching 19 passes for 160 yards and a touchdown.

Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

While the stats weren’t huge, last night felt a bit like a coming-out party for Fleming, who caught two touchdowns in his return to the field after missing the first two games of the season due to injury. If Fleming is able to stay healthy, it gives Ohio State an embarrassment of riches at wide receiver. It’s hard to imagine any team in the country having the resources to stop Smith-Njigba, Marvin Harrison Jr., Emeka Egbuka, and Fleming.

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Jungle Jim’s

The Cincinnati staple is referred to as the “theme park of food”. Jim Knowles certainly has the Ohio State defense serving up meals to opposing offenses. It is night-and-day just how well the Buckeye defense is playing this year compared to what we saw out of the unit the last couple years. There obviously is still work to do, especially at cornerback, but the pressure that is being put on opposing quarterbacks is encouraging.

Ohio State’s defense had even more reason to celebrate last night, since there were able to record the first two turnovers under Knowles. Ronnie Hickman intercepted a DeQuan Finn pass to secure the first turnover of the year, and Palaie Gatotete IV scooped up a fumble later in the game. As the games go on this season, Knowles is likely giving his defense a variety of tools to stymie their opponents, much like Jungle Jim’s gives you a variety of delicious products.

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Pro Football Hall of Fame

One Ohio State player’s father is already a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and if Marvin Harrison Jr. keeps making plays like he has so far this season, it’s not unreasonable to think that could be where he ends up in a couple decades. Route Man Marv scored two more touchdowns on Saturday night, finishing the game with six catches for 102 yards.

Not only did Harrison reach the end zone, his touchdowns were beautiful to watch. On his first score it originally looked like Harrison wasn’t able to even get one foot in bounds, but he end up tapping both his feet in the field of play. The second touchdown saw Harrison tap both feet in the back of the end zone to secure the six points for Ohio State. It will be great to see what type of damage Harrison is able to do when Smith-Njigba and Fleming are fully healthy, since he has been outstanding with Egbuka in the first three games of the 2022 season.