In a back-and-forth, low-scoring game at Ohio Stadium, the Buckeyes came out on top and retook the lead in the fourth quarter to ultimately defeat Nebraska 21-17 on Saturday afternoon.

While it was a defensive game for both teams, the offenses played a key role at times as Will Howard was solid even with limited opportunities while the running game struggled and Ohio State’s defense stepped up when needed.

We dig into three key stats from the Buckeyes’ sixth win of the season.

102 Receiving Yards for Carnell Tate

While Jeremiah Smith (three catches for 70 yards and a touchdown) and Emeka Egbuka (three receptions for 20 yards) tied for the team lead with four goals with Tate, the latter made the most of his opportunities against the Cornhuskers.

Tate caught all four passes thrown his way for a career-high 102 yards and a touchdown, highlighted by a 40-yard score for the first points of the Ohio State game late in the first quarter.

Will Howard Carnell Tate. pic.twitter.com/iuHHJsbjy1

— Eleven Warriors (@11W) October 26, 2024

While Tate has shown his playmaking ability when he gets the ball, with so much talent in Ohio State’s offense, including at wide receiver, the sophomore totaled 15 catches for 232 yards in five games this season before Saturday. Tate’s previous career-high was 79 receiving yards on three receptions against Purdue in 2023.

13 tackles for loss

After Ohio State’s defense allowed just two tackles for a loss to Oregon, the kind of result on that side of the ball that led to a lot of questions over the past two weeks, the Silver Bullets have certainly made a name for themselves and taken a big step forward. away against Nebraska.

The Buckeye defense had 13 tackles for loss on Saturday afternoon, the most since Oct. 23, 2021, when OSU had 15 tackles for loss in a 54-7 win at Indiana.

Cody Simon led the charge with a career-high three tackles for loss, followed by Tyleik Williams, JT Tuimoloau and Denzel Burke, who each had two.

Whether it was Jim Knowles and co. by devising different schemes, executing turns along the defensive line or simulating pressure as fans and reporters alike demanded, Ohio State pressured Dylan Raiola and Nebraska’s running backs time and time again, even if it only led but up to three bags at the end of the day.

Only converted one of 10 third-down attempts

On what was quite a frustrating day for Ohio State’s offense, especially in the second half, the struggles can be attributed to quite a few things, but the biggest is probably the fact that the Buckeyes only made one of ten third-down opportunities against the Cornhuskers. , including missing all six of their third-down conversions in the second half. Will Howard’s six-yard run on third-and-1 in the middle of the second quarter was OSU’s only conversion of the game.

Ohio State converted just one of four third-and-down opportunities (within four yards) and was unsuccessful on both third-and-longs (nine-plus yards), while the Buckeyes’ average distance from third down was lower was was 5.9 yards compared to Nebraska’s 9.1.

Before the Nebraska game, Ohio State converted 48.6% of its third downs (35 of 72) this season, the 15th best mark in the FBS. Whether it was the offensive line struggles that made it difficult to get the run game going or something else, the Buckeyes just weren’t able to do much on third down all game.