No. 2 Ohio State suffered a stunning, season-altering loss Saturday afternoon at Ohio Stadium, falling to unranked Michigan 13-10 to drop its fourth straight game to its rivals and drop out of Big Ten title game contention. Here are our choices for Buckeye Leaves in the loss.
Patrick Engels:
Ohio State did not have many standouts in The Game this year, but among the few bright spots was sophomore safety Caleb Downs. Downs continued his sensational season by thriving all over the field again for Jim Knowles’ defense, recording 11 tackles (four solo) and an interception.
His interception appeared to put the Buckeyes in sound position to score if it weren’t for some poor OSU offense and some kicking struggles from Jayden Fielding, but even if it didn’t lead to points it was still sensational play and a shoestring catch.
Downs helped keep the game in reach for the Buckeyes when they were down, making him one of the biggest impact players on Saturday.
Bobby Gorbett:
My Buckeye Leaf is going to freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith. Smith may not have had the gaudy receiving yard numbers he’s been accustomed to in previous games, but he gave the offense life in the first half. Smith drew multiple passs interference penalties on Michigan defenders in the first half to give his team much needed yardage.
Smith’s solid first half was marked by the Buckeyes’ only touchdown of the first half when he came wide open in the end zone after the defender covering him fell down.
Smith made the easy catch on the throw from fifth-year quarterback Will Howard and helped tie the game up at 10 right before halftime.
Smith finished the game with 35 receiving yards and the score on five catches.
Greg Wilson:
Jack Sawyer gets my Buckeye Leaf for nearly saving the game for Ohio State midway through the fourth quarter. Michigan had a long drive to get all the way down to the OSU 3-yard line, and with four downs to play with, it seemed inevitable that the Wolverines were at the very least going to be able to put three points on the board.
Sawyer wasn’t able to get any push on the Michigan offensive line and dropped back into coverage when Davis Warren dropped back to pass looking for a wide open receiver in the end zone. It would have been an easy score to take the lead with about eight minutes remaining in the game, putting the Buckeyes in a terrible situation, but Sawyer was able to get in between the play and pick the ball off.
He finished the game with four tackles, one quarterback hurry and the interception.
