NORMAN, Okla.: Ohio State’s Noah Brown took the spotlight off the Buckeyes’ “basic” defense.
Brown came up with an astonishing touchdown reception, holding onto the ball with two hands behind the back of an Oklahoma cornerback, and caught four passes for scores. Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said Monday he was waiting for someone to emerge from the crowded pack of receivers and the redshirt sophomore from Flanders, N.J., answered the call.
Brown’s performance helped No. 3 Ohio State down No. 14 Oklahoma 45-24 Saturday night before a record crowd of 87,979 at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. The Buckeyes improved to 19-0 on the road under Meyer and 2-1 against the Sooners.
The game was delayed 90 minutes by a thunderstorm that hit a half hour before the scheduled 7:30 p.m. EDT kickoff.
Oklahoma (1-2) was fighting for its College Football Playoff life after an upset loss to Houston in the season opener. Ohio State (3-0) didn’t face nearly the same urgency, but kept alive its national title hopes. It should benefit from No. 10 Louisville’s rout of No. 2 Florida State earlier in the day.
Brown missed all of the 2015 season after suffering a gruesome leg injury in practice just days before the opener. But he proved nearly unstoppable against the Sooners, especially on his shocking score with six seconds left before halftime.
Oklahoma cornerback Michiah Quick couldn’t have covered Brown any tighter in the left corner of the end zone. But Brown reached behind Quick and held onto J.T. Barrett’s 21-yard pass. The play survived a replay review.
Brown also pulled in scoring passes of 4 and 37 yards to help the Buckeyes claim a 35-17 halftime lead. Ohio State got the ball first in the second half and Brown finished off a 75-yard drive with an 8-yard TD to put OSU up 42-17. On second-and-15 in that series, Quick was whistled for a 15-yard face mask penalty that gave OSU a first down.
Brown tied a school record with four touchdown receptions, last accomplished by Dane Sanzenbacher against Eastern Michigan in 2010. That group also includes Terry Glenn at Pitt in 1995 and Bob Grimes versus Washington State in 1952.
But the Buckeyes’ ball-hawking defense also had a hand in the outcome.
Oklahoma backup quarterback Austin Kendall made headlines in the week leading up to the game when he told Sooner Sports TV that OSU had “a very basic defense.” He predicted Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield, who finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting last season, would “light them up.”
Ohio State, the nation’s co-leader in interceptions with seven coming in, picked off Mayfield twice in the first half. Linebacker Jerome Baker took advantage of a ball tipped by defensive end Jayln Holmes and returned it 68 yards for a touchdown. It was OSU’s fourth interception return for a score in three games.
With 6:10 left in the second quarter, Marshon Lattimore intercepted Mayfield, setting up the Buckeyes at the OU 37. Barrett found Brown for a touchdown on the next play. With his third pick of the season, Lattimore, a redshirt sophomore from Glenville, tied for the team lead with sophomore safety Malik Hooker. Lattimore nearly got No. 4 in the fourth quarter, but the play was overturned by replay review.
The Ohio State defense did surrender its first touchdown of the season with 4:12 left in the second quarter. Mayfield found A.D. Miller for a 35-yard scoring reception as freshman cornerback Damon Arnette slipped and fell. The Sooners picked up another with 4:06 remaining in the third quarter on a 5-yard pass from Mayfield to Mark Andrews.
The Buckeyes also relied on a strong running game led by redshirt freshman tailback Mike Weber, junior H-back Curtis Samuel and Barrett.
The most drama in the game came when Oklahoma redshirt sophomore Joe Mixon returned a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown with 4:20 left in the first quarter to cut Ohio State’s lead to 14-7. A FOX television camera caught Mixon dropping the ball before he crossed the goal line, but the score was not reviewed by Big 12 replay officials.
Ohio State responded with an 11-play, 89-yard drive capped by Brown’s 4-yard TD catch that boosted the Buckeyes’ lead to 21-7.
OSU lost its top cornerback, junior Gareon Conley, a Massillon High School product, early in the second quarter with an upper body injury. Conley landed hard on his shoulder defending a short Sooner pass.
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her blog at www.ohio.com/marla. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.