Ohio State overcame another slow start before riding a strong defensive effort to a 28-14 victory over Minnesota on Saturday night.
Ezekiel Elliott rushed for 114 yards and a touchdown, securing his place in Ohio State history. He has now passed Beanie Wells and is the 4th leading rusher in school history.
“He’s an animal, I love that kid,” said Head Coach Urban Meyer, who flashed a little smile when told of Elliott’s new ranking. “He’s a team player. You can see how he was holding onto the ball because they were trying to strip it there at the end. He’s a work horse and we’re very glad he’s going to be with us for a while.”
Elliott now has 3,384 career rushing yards, and needs 169 more to catch Tim Spencer and become the Buckeyes’ third-best rusher of all-time. Eddie George has 3,768 career yards while Archie Griffin totaled 5,589.
Zeke rushed for 100+ yards for the 14th straight game, dating back to November of last season.
Ohio State began the game slowly, as Cardale Jones struggled to find any offense. Midway through the second quarter, neither team had scored, and Jones had completed only four passes while taking three sacks. Safety Vonn Bell broke the scoreless tie by snagging an errant pass and returning it 16 yards for the pick-six.
The Buckeyes followed that score with a 7-play, 77-yard drive for a score, capped by Elliott’s 15-yard dash for pay dirt.
Jones found senior WR Michael Thomas in the corner of the end zone in the third quarter to open up a 21-0 lead. Minnesota made it interesting late, but Jones sealed the game with a 38-yard TD run with under two minutes left.
Following the game, Jones snapped at a question about his efforts towards keeping the starters role, stating that he “only wants to do whatever it takes to win”.
Ohio State travels to Illinois next weekend for a Noon kickoff.
NOTES
- No coach in FBS history has won 47 of his first 50 games with a team, until now. Urban Meyer is the first coach in history to go 47-3.
- Ohio State has now won 22 consecutive games, and 29 straight regular-season Big Ten games
- The Buckeyes are now 75-12-1 all-time as the nation’s top-ranked AP team.
- Attendance was 108,075, 4th-highest all-time for Ohio State.
- Jones’ 38-yard TD was the longest of his career.
- Braxton Miller left the game in the fourth quarter with an injury, then vomited as he reached the sideline. He only appears to have sustained a concussion. Trainers helped him off the field with his arms draped over them, ruling out a re-injury to his shoulder.
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