The No. 3 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes faced the Marshall Thundering Herd while trying to continue their dominance on the gridiron and notch another blowout victory as heavy favorites in Week 4 of the 2024 college football season. This game kicked off at 9 a.m. PT/12 p.m. ET (11 a.m. CT) on Saturday, September 21 with a live broadcast on FOX, and streaming live on demand.
The Buckeyes' offense came out of the gate hot in the first half, putting up 28 points against a Marshall team that was surprisingly able to keep up with the Buckeyes for most of the first quarter. While the first quarter saw the Thundering Herd go toe-to-toe with the Buckeyes, the second quarter was all Ohio State. The Buckeyes ended the first half on a 21-0 scoring run that saw the Buckeyes enter halftime with a comfortable 28-7 lead.
Here are the five key observations from the first half:
Chip Kelly's Offensive Genius
Chip Kelly is an offensive genius and we are slowly seeing breadcrumbs of what the man has in store for this Ohio State offense. Obviously, Kelly is holding something back for some larger opponents, but what we do get to see has been extremely fun.
The Pace Of The Offense
This point and the last point go together, but the pace of this offense deserves its own slide. Kelly is clearly using Marshall as a test run for how fast this offense can move and how quickly he can get a play off.
Quinshon Judkins Is A Menace
Quinshon Judkins didn’t have the most electric debut at Ohio Stadium, but the man has found his groove and is a straight menace. Judkins is currently the leading rusher for Ohio State with four carries for 114 yards and a touchdown.
Special Teams Struggles
The above tweet summarizes the day that Ohio State is having on special teams. Not one, not two, but three kickoffs have sailed out of bounds. A punt was also muffed by Brandon Inniss, but was called back due to an illegal formation by Marshall. This situation needs to be addressed.
A Grain Of Salt
As I type this, Marshall just scored right before halftime, but it should be noted that the Thundering Herd are ready to go home. For as good as Ohio State looks, please take this game with a grain of salt as the Buckeyes have not yet entered the dangerous portion of its schedule yet.
