This year marks the 10th anniversary of the 2014 national championship season, when the Ohio State football Buckeyes went 14-1 and captured the first College Football Playoff title. We’ll relive that remarkable year by sharing the game stories from that campaign as they appeared in the pages of The Columbus Dispatch.

Now up: Ohio State’s game against Illinois.

Buckeyes romp; Spartans next

Ohio State rolls to 38-0 lead over lowly Illinois

November 1, 2024

All week, Ohio State’s players and coaches insisted they would not look past Illinois toward next week’s showdown against Michigan State.

They were true to their word. The No. 13 Buckeyes got more help than resistance from Illinois last night, rolling to a 55-14 victory at Ohio Stadium.

Ohio State’s defense caused four turnovers, three of which were converted into scores. “I thought our defense came out and played really well,” Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer said.

Quarterback J.T. Barrett, who suffered a sprained knee ligament in last week’s double-overtime victory over Penn State, showed no ill effects from the injury in one half of work.

“The knee really didn’t give me any problems,” Barrett said.

The victory was the 20th straight regular-season Big Ten victory for Ohio State, tying the conference record set by the 2005-07 Buckeyes.

No. 21 will not come as easily. The Buckeyes and Spartans have seemingly been on a collision course since Michigan State ended Ohio State’s 24-game winning streak under Meyer in last year’s Big Ten championship game.

“We’ve not talked about it much,” Meyer said. “Obviously, the dream was ripped away from us by a very good team.”

The Spartans had a bye this week. The Buckeyes (7-1, 4-0 Big Ten) might as well have, given how overmatched and mistake-prone the Illini were. There’s a reason that Illinois (4-5, 1-4) has won only two league games in three seasons under Tim Beckman.

REMEMBERING THE TITLE RUN: 2014 College Football Playoff Championship 10th anniversary

One came last week against once-beaten Minnesota. That got their attention, the Buckeyes said, and they played as if focused on the here and now.

Ohio State led 31-0 at halftime, and it probably should have been worse. Twice, the Buckeyes were stopped on fourth down deep inside Illinois territory, the second time on fourth-and-goal from the 1.

The closest Illinois came to scoring in the first half came when Beckman passed up a chance to kick a field goal on fourth-and-2 from the Ohio State 12 in the second quarter with the Buckeyes ahead 24-0. Defensive end Joey Bosa threw

down backup Illinois quarterback Aaron Bailey for a loss on a bootleg.

Earlier, the Illini missed a 47-yard field-goal attempt.

The Buckeyes’ defense did more than stop Illinois. Linebackers Darron Lee and Curtis Grant had interceptions off of deflections thrown by starter Reilly O’Toole. Safety Tyvis Powell caused a fumble on a crunching hit on running back Josh Ferguson.

Lee’s interception and 26-yard return on Illinois’ opening possession set up Ohio State’s first score. Freshman running back Curtis Samuel, who earned the start over Ezekiel Elliott with a strong week of practice, scored on a 23-yard run.

Grant’s interception gave the ball to Ohio State at the Illinois 24 and set up Samuel’s second score on a 1-yard run.

Barrett wasn’t sharp early, overthrowing some receivers, but he settled in. He finished 15 of 24 for 167 yards and two touchdowns, both to Devin Smith. He also ran seven times for 38 yards before becoming a spectator for the entire second half.

Smith’s first touchdown came on a 32-yarder in which he beat cornerback Darius Mosely and made a nifty over-the-shoulder catch on Barrett’s perfect throw.

If there was to be any suspense about the second half, Smith ended it with his second score, which was aided by a questionable decision by Beckman.

After the Illini stopped Elliott on a shovel pass on fourth-and-goal, Illinois took over at its 2 with 1:38 left. On second down, Illinois attempted a short sideline pass, which fell incomplete. That allowed Ohio State to use its only remaining timeout after a third-down run.

The Buckeyes got a 28-yard punt return by Jalin Marshall to take over at the Illinois 25 with 34 seconds left. The Buckeyes needed only two plays to score – a 17-yard pass to Dontre Wilson and then Smith’s 8-yard touchdown catch to make it 31-0.

Backup quarterback Cardale Jones threw 27 yards to Wilson on Ohio State’s opening drive of the third quarter to extend the lead to 38-0.

By then, the only drama was whether the Buckeyes could maintain the shutout. That bid ended with mostly Ohio State’s backups on the field late in the third quarter when Donovonn Young capped a 65-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown run to make it 48-7.

brabinowitz@dispatch.com

@brdispatch

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