How did Ryan Day and the Buckeyes grade out in their win over Minnesota?
Carrying momentum from a defense-heavy road win against Washington, Ohio State flexed its playmaking muscle against Minnesota on Oct. 4, winning 42-3 for the Buckeyes' second consecutive Big Ten win.
After giving up an opening-drive field goal, the Buckeyes' defense shunned the deep-ball threat of Gophers quarterback Drake Lindsey and held him to 29 passing yards after the first drive.
It was a scoring party for the Buckeyes under the Saturday night lights. After making his first road start, quarterback Julian Sayin completed 23 of 27 passed for 326 yards and three passing touchdowns. Carnell Tate had a career day with 183 receiving yards on nine catches, with a 48-yard touchdown grab as the cherry on top.
How did the Buckeyes grade in their win? Leaves are awarded on a zero-to-five basis.
Offense (5 leaves)
All week after the Washington game, people speculated if the Buckeyes would try calling big-yardage plays for Julian Sayin, given that the offense had not registered a play of more than 20 yards in the 24-6 win against the Huskies. It seems offensive coordinator Brian Hartline got the point.
Through the first four drives, Ohio State had four plays for over 30 yards. Those four plays made up 172 of 255 yards gained on those drives. Even in Carnell Tate's career game (career highs with nine receptions, 183 receiving yards) and a route-running clinic, Jeremiah Smith had two touchdowns. Tight end Max Klare rounded out the receiving corps with five catches for 63 yards, making three Buckeyes' receivers with at least five receptions.
Instead of establishing a run game early, the clear game plan was to work in all the skill players and make a variety of different looks for the Gophers' defense. Once again, there's still more work to be done in the running game (4.4 yards per carry), but Ohio State did not need to force ground work and instead played into its strengths.
Defense (5 leaves)
It's starting to sound like a broken record, but it was a typical night for Matt Patricia's defense: no red zone touchdowns and one-third down conversion allowed.
Though the Gophers scored on their first drive and moved the ball well through a short passing game, Ohio State limited big plays (four allowed) and retained its spot as the No. 1 defense in college football. Make that 5 points allowed per game this season through five contests.
Special teams (4 leaves)
SPECIAL TEAMS TRICKERY. 😱
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) October 5, 2025
Ohio State pulling out ALL the stops. pic.twitter.com/VeyPoIc8q1
It was a second straight week with special teams starting with a dud. Failing to get the snap off in time, the Buckeyes called a timeout to prevent a delay-of-game penalty on Jayden Fielding's 53-yard field goal attempt. Though he had the leg, Fielding missed wide left, leaving a sour impression to start the night.
In the third quarter − in perhaps the funkiest Ohio State special teams play of the season − Brandon Innis caught a punt return and threw a 15-yard lateral pass to Lorenzo Styles Jr. (a former wide receiver at Notre Dame) for a 36-yard gain, a nice way to offset the mishap at the beginning of the game. After fumbling a punt against Washington, Innis got creative and resorted to his quarterback roots for a high-risk, high-reward try. That might earn a style point.
The Buckeyes had to punt only twice, with punter Joe McGuire landing both kicks inside the 20-yard line.
Coaching (5 leaves)
No turnovers and no fourth-down falters on offense. No touchdowns allowed on defense. Besides miscommunication early on the field goal try that forced Ohio State to call a timeout, the Buckeyes' coaching staff made no mistakes. Hartline expanded the playbook while Patricia continued to throw every scheme in his toolbox at Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck, who called Patricia's defense "One of the best I've seen in 13 years," in the postgame press conference.
Fun factor (3 leaves)
Fleck's press conference attire set a high bar for the fun factor on homecoming Saturday night.
Find me another college football head coach who pulls up to a Monday press conference in this outfit.
— Tony Liebert (@TonyLiebert) September 29, 2025
P.J. Fleck is truly one of one. pic.twitter.com/PFt2i5MYb2
But the fun MVP is the Tate-Smith receiver duo of big-time plays to set the Buckeyes' tone early, as well as the wacky special teams play in the third quarter that got the crowd going.
All in all, the student section started emptying at the start of the fourth quarter, but the big plays gave the fun factor a boost. Oh, and happy birthday, Brutus.
Officials (1 leaf)
It was not a great day for the officials, who missed four calls, three on scoring plays, overturned by booth review.
The first came on Minnesota's first offensive drive, on a throw to receiver Jalen Smith, who scraped his foot before stepping out of bounds in the red zone. The play was quickly overturned from an incomplete to a complete pass, keeping the Gophers' first offensive possession alive.
The next three were overturned on the Buckeyes' goal-line rushing attempts. CJ Donaldson had to rush for a touchdown twice after the officials missed his knee down shy of the goal line. Contrarily, Bo Jackson Jr. was ruled short of the goal line later in the game, the play getting overturned to a touchdown. The final overturned call came in garbage time on a Lincoln Kienholz rushing touchdown, overturned to be ruled short. He waltzed in on the next possesion.
Miscellaneous offenses sprinkled throughout the game, including a roughing-the-kicker call with seconds remaining in the first half that saw little contact on the Minnesota kicker. A picked-up flag additionally turned heads. The play came on a pass interference call during a crucial third-down scenario for the Gophers, with the replay showing linebacker Payton Pierce gripping the collar of the intended receiver.
There was a missed late-hit call from Minnesota offensive lineman Nathan Roy to Caleb Downs, who responded with a kick and promptly awarded an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
Minnesota (2 leaves)
Lindsey's arm is no joke, but Ohio State's defense was ruthless, holding the Gophers to no points past the first drive. Afterward, Fleck had no answers on offense or defense as the game quickly got out of hand. An impressive win against Rutgers in Week 5 shows promise for the Gophers moving forward, but Lindsey faced his toughest challenge yet in his redshirt freshman season.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State football vs Minnesota: How OSU grades against Gophers?
Category: General Sports
