Ohio State vs. Michigan State score, takeaways: No. 4 Buckeyes throttle Spartans despite shorthanded roster

Ohio State proved itself the class of the Big Ten again in a dominant victory on Saturday in East Lansing

No. 4 Ohio State has positioned itself as the team to beat in the Big Ten -- even if it may not be eligible to play for the Big Ten championship -- after returning to action in a 52-12 win at Michigan State on Saturday. 

The Buckeyes have too much talent up and down the roster to be thought of as anything else, particularly after controlling the game from start to finish with 23 players in the lineup because of illness or injury. Among those absent were three offensive line starters, starting linebacker and three-time captain Tuf Borland as well as key reserves on the defensive side of the ball. During the week, head coach Ryan Day, who spent the day in Columbus as he remains in COVID-19 protocol as well, indicated that the Buckeyes would be a little shorthanded but the extent of the personnel hit was not known until hours before kickoff.

With Day at home, defensive line coach Larry Johnson assumed the head coaching duties for what he called a "program win." It was the kind of day where the talent level of Ohio State's backups was on display, as second and in some cases third-string players were called on for key snaps in a tough road environment against the Spartans. 

Of course, it also helps to have Justin Fields. 

The Buckeyes quarterback was the difference-maker for the offense, totaling 199 yards through the air on 17-of-24 passing and 104 rushing yards on 13 attempts with four total touchdowns (two passing, two rushing). Whether third-down conversions after Michigan State won first and second downs or taking broken plays and turning them into positive yards, Fields raised the floor of Ohio State's offense. He was sharp with his ball placement through the passing game, particularly on a 41-yard "drop it right int he breadbasket" touchdown toss to Chris Olave in the fourth quarter.

After throwing three interceptions against Indiana the last time out, Fields was markedly better with his decision making and avoided giving Michigan State any short fields. Settling for a punt, flipping the field and waiting for the next series worked out, because it only takes a few explosive plays for Ohio State's offense to find the end zone. The more chances the Buckeyes get, the more likely they are to run up the score. 

Michigan State's defense was doing a good job of winning the battles in the trenches against Ohio State's re-worked offensive line early on, but as the game wore on, the Buckeyes' commitment to the ground game sprung some big plays -- like Trey Sermon's 64-yard touchdown run. 

As a team, Ohio State's 346 rushing yards at 7.69 yards per attempt with four rushing touchdowns. Both Fields and Sermon (10 carries, 112 yards) topped 100 rushing yards and Master Teague added 46 rushing yards with a 21-yard tackle-breaking run in the first half setting up one of Fields' rushing touchdowns. To do all that behind a reworked offensive line is a credit to this team's depth and its ability to overcome adversity. 

Michigan State's ability to keep up in this game was impacted by a change at quarterback after Rocky Lombardi was shaken up on a hard hit late in the second quarter. He was replaced by freshman Payton Thorne, who played fairly well in relief against an Ohio State defense that was looking to a better job of finishing the opponent than it did against Indiana when it allowed a 28-point lead to nearly evaporate late in the second half. 

Whether Ohio State will be able to play for the Big Ten championship now becomes as big of a storyline as however the selection committee reacts to this win, if at all, when the rankings are updated on Tuesday. Michigan had to pause all football activities and reports haven't pointed to high probabilities for next week's game against the Buckeyes being played, though no decisions have been made either way at this time. 

That's prompted Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez, among others, to get serious about changing the Big Ten's rules to allow Ohio State into the conference championship game to give it the best chance possible of making the College Football Playoff. Whether the Michigan game is played and whether the Big Ten adjusts its rules if its not will be a big piece of the playoff puzzle for the Buckeyes. 

Here now are three key takeaways from Ohio State's dominant win in East Lansing on Saturday

1. Larry Johnson made history

Johnson is one of the most respected coaches in that building, not just for his role in the development of Nick and Joey Bosa, Chase Young as well as numerous other dominant defensive linemen at Ohio State, but as one of the most impactful coaches in the Big Ten this century. When the longtime Penn State assistant was hired by Urban Meyer in 2014, he quickly became one of the most important pieces in building Ohio State back into a national championship contender. A Buckeye has been named the Big Ten defensive lineman of the year in five of the six years that Johnson has been in Columbus, and his role as associate head coach has allowed him to have a hand in guiding the transition from Meyer to Ryan Day. 

With his head coaching duties on Saturday, Johnson became the first Black head coach in Ohio State football history. But the celebration of Johnson in this moment is not limited for his ability to step up in place of Ryan Day, but to guide the entire coaching staff with three more full-time assistants (co-defensive coordinator Greg Mattison, quarterbacks coach Corey Dennis and special teams coach Matt Barnes) also not available for the game. 

2. Ohio State's punting was elite

Drue Chrisman is one of the best punters in all of college football, and Saturday was a clinic in field-flipping. He totaled 267 punting yards on five attempts (53.4 average) with three of those five punts downed inside the 20. Among the highlights were a perfect punt that was downed at the 1-yard line, setting up Michigan State in a tough spot that resulted in a pick-six for Ohio State and a booming 74-yard punt that was arguably one of the five or six most impressive plays of the day for any player on the roster. 

3. Did Thorne make Michigan State better? 

True freshman quarterback Payton Thorne looked alright in relief of Lombardi, completing 16 of 25 passes for 147 yards and adding a 31-yard touchdown run to a 42-yard rushing total on nine attempts. He did throw an interception, but the passing game was much more effective with him under center. It's worth considering that Ohio State had taken control of the game by the time he got things rolling, but it's still worth investigating whether Michigan State would be better off to let the rookie build on this performance going forward even if Lombardi is available moving forward. 

[Dec 5, 2020 at 2:27 pm ET · Chip Patterson]

Trey Sermon gets LOOSE for a 64-yard touchdown run to put the Buckeyes up 35-0