The Buckeyes scored early and often in the 70-0 win over Grambling State. While there are many players who deserve Buckeye Leaves in the win, BSB only has three to give out.
Here are the three players who get our Buckeye Leaves:
Sam Cipriani: Ohio State’s star wide receiver Jeremiah Smith bounced back from a lackluster performance against Texas with a Heisman-like outing against Grambling State.
Smith opened his afternoon with a catch on the opening drive, before hauling in a 87-yard bomb from quarterback Julian Sayin on the first and only play during the Buckeyes’ second drive. Two drives later and the Miami Gardens ,Fla., native, Smith, brought in 9-yard touchdown catch to increase Ohio State’s lead to 28 early in the second quarter.
Smith ended his day with five catches for 118 yards, and two touchdowns — and he only played in the first half.
Bobby Gorbett: My Buckeye Leaf is going to freshman linebacker Riley Pettijohn. Pettijohn showed why he was a top-50 recruit out of high school in Ohio State’s win over Grambling State.
Pettijohn, who finished the game with two total tackles, made his first impact play on the Tigers’ first play from scrimmage in the second half. On the play, Pettijohn was ready to scoop up a fumble caused by Ohio State defensive tackle Kayden McDonald and take it 23 yards fro the team’s first defensive touchdown of the season.
Then later in the third quarter, Pettijohn forced Grambling State running back Andre Crews to fumble. Freshman defensive end Epi Sitanilei hopped on the loose ball to give the Buckeyes the football.
Greg Wilson: After he wasn’t able to do much against Texas due to the Buckeyes’ conservative play calling, Julian Sayin set the Ohio State record for 16 straight passes to begin a game, passing Will Howard’s record of 14 that he set in the national championship against Notre Dame last season.
Sayin finished the game with 306 passing yards for four touchdowns and an interception, completing 18 of 19 passes. He started quickly, with first quarter touchdown passes to Will Kacmarek, Jeremiah Smith (87 yards, the second longest TD pass in OSU history) and Carnell Tate before getting another to Smith in the second quarter.
He did throw an interception in the red zone in the second quarter as well, waiting a bit to long to try to hit Tate on an out route in the end zone, but there is no better time for him to learn lessons like that than now, when his team is up by four touchdowns.
