Buckeyes take in Chicago, take down Northwestern

CHICAGO – Ohio State and the hotels in downtown Chicago and on the north side of the city were the big winners when the Buckeyes defeated Northwestern 31-7 in a "home" game for the Wildcats at Wrigley Field on Saturday. Ninety percent of the crowd 38,147 appeared to be Ohio State fans who had traveled to Chicago to check out what football looked like in one of baseball's most historic ballparks. And 70 percent of the minutes in the game were dominated by No. 2 Ohio State (9-1, 6-1 Big Ten). Northwestern (4-6, 2-5 Big Ten) gave its fans hope for the first 17 ½ minutes of the game with long drives on its first two possessions, the second of which produced a touchdown that gave the Wildcats a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter. Two and a half minutes into the second quarter Northwestern had outgained OSU 151 yards to 30 yards. But hope faded quickly when Ohio State scored on five consecutive possessions and limited Northwestern to 100 yards of total offense the last 42 ½ minutes of the game. "They really controlled the first quarter of the game. "It was kind of like a business-like win and now it's time for us to move on," Ohio State coach Ryan Day said, alluding to the Buckeyes' match-up with undefeated Indiana at Ohio Stadium this Saturday. After falling behind 7-0, Ohio State tied the game with a 12-play, 85-yard drive that ended with a 1-yard touchdown run by Quinshon Judkins with 6:59 left in the first half. Ohio State's special teams set up the Buckeyes' second touchdown when a snap sailed over the head of Northwestern punter Hunter Renner and David Adolph blocked his hurried kick out of bounds at the 1-yard line. Two plays later, Judkins gave OSU a 14-7 lead with another 1-yard touchdown run. Ohio State's defense forced Northwestern to punt after three plays on its next possession and the offense went 76 yards in six plays for a touchdown and a 21-7 halftime lead. That score came on a 25-yard pass from Will Howard to Carnell Tate on a diving 25-yard catch. It was the first of two touchdowns for the sophomore wide receiver in his hometown. Tate's 8-yard touchdown catch on the Buckeyes' first possession of the second half increased the lead to 28-7 and Jayden Fielding added a 28-yard field late in the third quarter for the 31-7 final. Howard completed 15 of 24 passes for 247 yards and two touchdowns. Jeremiah Smith had 4 catches for 100 yards and Tate caught 4 passes for 52 yards. Judkins had 76 yards on 15 carries and TreVeyeon Henderson ran for 74 yards on 11 carries. Linebacker Sonny Styles had two sacks and two pass breakups. The trip to Wrigley Field seemed to be popular with Ohio State's players as well as with its fans. "It was awesome," Howard said of playing at the famed stadium. "I felt like I had to just take it in for a little bit before the game. It's a historic place. The 8-year-old kid in me would be giddy because I was a baseball kid growing up." Center Seth McLaughlin said, "It was awesome. The crowd was great. It ended up being like 90 percent Buckeyes fans. "It was an unbelievable experience. I've seen a lot of people complain about the turf and stuff but it was great. The crowd was awesome and playing in the stadium environment in such a historical place was just awesome." Ohio State defeated Northwestern for the eleventh consecutive time and for the 35th time in the last 36 games between the two schools.