Ohio State sophomore quarterback Dwayne Haskins made his first career start in the season opener this year. In a 77-31 win over Oregon State, he became the first player in Buckeye history to throw for more than 300 yards, and the first to throw five touchdowns, in their starting debut.
Two weeks later, on Sept. 15, Haskins made his first start against a ranked opponent. He shined once again, leading Ohio State to a 40-28 win over then-No. 15 TCU. He finished the game 24 of 38 (63.2 percent) for 344 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions, while also running for a score. He averaged 9.1 yards per attempt and had a quarterback rating of 156.6.
As good as Haskins was, though, his numbers weren’t quite the best for a quarterback making their first start against a ranked opponent in recent Ohio State history. But he was certainly in the top three.
BSB compiled the numbers of the last nine Ohio State quarterbacks to make at least one start against a ranked opponent, which includes all but two signal callers from the Jim Tressel (2001-10), Luke Fickell (2011) and Urban Meyer (2012-present) eras. (Joe Bauserman and Kenny Guiton were the other two quarterbacks to make starts in that span, but neither started against ranked opponents.)
From a numbers standpoint, Haskins’ performance against the Horned Frogs would likely rank third on the list, behind J.T. Barrett’s game against Michigan State in 2014 and Cardale Jones’ destruction of Wisconsin that same season.
Starting with Haskins and going in reverse chronological order, here are the numbers Ohio State quarterbacks have put up in their first start against ranked opponents dating back to 2001.
Dwayne Haskins
- Date: Sept. 15, 2018
- Location: Arlington, Texas (AT&T Stadium)
- Result: No. 4 Ohio State 40, No. 15 TCU 28
- Comp./Att. (%): 24/38 (63.2)
- Pass Yards: 344
- Yards/Att.: 9.1
- TD/INT: 2/0
- QB Rating: 156.6
- Rushes/Yards/TD: 3/8/1
Cardale Jones
- Date: Dec. 6, 2014
- Location: Indianapolis (Lucas Oil Stadium)
- Result: No. 6 Ohio State 59, No. 11 Wisconsin 0
- Comp./Att. (%): 12/17 (70.6)
- Pass Yards: 257
- Yards/Att.: 15.1
- TD/INT: 3/0
- QB Rating: 255.8
- Rushes/Yards/TD: 8/9/0
J.T. Barrett
- Date: Nov. 8, 2014
- Location: East Lansing, Mich.
- Result: No. 13 Ohio State 49, No. 7 Michigan State 37
- Comp./Att. (%): 16/26 (61.5)
- Pass Yards: 300
- Yards/Att.: 11.5
- TD/INT: 3/0
- QB Rating: 196.5
- Rushes/Yards/TD: 14/86/2
Braxton Miller
- Date: Oct. 8, 2011
- Location: Lincoln, Neb.
- Result: No. 14 Nebraska 34, Ohio State 27
- Comp./Att. (%): 5/8 (62.5)
- Pass Yards: 95
- Yards/Att.: 11.9
- TD/INT: 1/0
- QB Rating: 203.5
- Rushes/Yards/TD: 10/91/0
- Miller had Ohio State ahead, 27-6, with 10:53 to go in the third quarter, but he was injured and missed the rest of the game. His replacement, Bauserman, was 1 of 10 for 13 yards with a pick.
Terrelle Pryor
- Date: Oct. 4, 2008
- Location: Madison, Wis.
- Result: No. 14 Ohio State 20, No. 18 Wisconsin 17
- Comp./Att. (%): 13/19 (68.4)
- Pass Yards: 144
- Yards/Att.: 7.6
- TD/INT: 0/1
- QB Rating: 121.6
- Rushes/Yards/TD: 15/20/1
- Pryor had an 11-yard touchdown run to win the game with 1:08 remaining.
Todd Boeckman
- Date: Oct. 6, 2007
- Location: West Lafayette, Ind.
- Result: No. 4 Ohio State 23, No. 23 Purdue 7
- Comp./Att. (%): 17/29 (58.6)
- Pass Yards: 200
- Yards/Att.: 6.9
- TD/INT: 2/3
- QB Rating: 118.6
- Rushes/Yards/TD: 4/-1/0
Troy Smith
- Date: Nov. 20, 2004
- Location: Columbus, Ohio
- Result: Ohio State 37, No. 7 Michigan 21
- Comp./Att. (%): 13/23 (56.5)
- Pass Yards: 241
- Yards/Att.: 10.5
- TD/INT: 2/0
- QB Rating: 173.2
- Rushes/Yards/TD: 18/145/1
Justin Zwick
- Date: Oct. 9, 2004
- Location: Columbus, Ohio
- Result: No. 15 Wisconsin 24, No. 18 Ohio State 13
- Comp./Att. (%): 15/31 (48.4)
- Pass Yards: 125
- Yards/Att.: 4.0
- TD/INT: 0/0
- QB Rating: 82.3
- Rushes/Yards/TD: 11/17/0
Craig Krenzel
- Date: Nov. 24, 2002
- Location: Ann Arbor, Mich.
- Result: Ohio State 26, No. 11 Michigan 20
- Comp./Att. (%): 11/18 (61.1)
- Pass Yards: 118
- Yards/Att.: 6.6
- TD/INT: 0/1
- QB Rating: 105.1
- Rushes/Yards/TD: 2/-4/0
Scott McMullen
- Date: Nov. 17, 2001
- Location: Columbus, Ohio
- Result: No. 12 Illinois 34, No. 25 Ohio State 22
- Comp./Att. (%): 4/13 (30.8)
- Pass Yards: 42
- Yards/Att.: 3.2
- TD/INT: 1/0
- QB Rating: 83.3
- Rushes/Yards/TD: 2/-3/0
- Krenzel replaced McMullen in the loss, going 11 of 23 for 164 yards with one touchdowns and two interceptions.
