Lorenzo Styles, Caden Curry have big nights for Ohio State on defense and special teams
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After Ohio State football’s 48-10 win over UCLA (3-7) on Nov. 15, Lorenzo Styles was asked when he knew his kick return was going to go back 100 yards for a touchdown.
“When I first got the ball,” he said. “I told myself, they kick it to me, I’m going to take it to the house.”
The play, which came with three seconds left in the third quarter and Ohio State (10-0) leading 34-7, marked OSU’s first kick return for a touchdown since Jordan Hall ran one back 85 yards against Michigan on Nov. 27, 2010.
“Feels great,” Styles said. “Lot of credit to my coaches and my teammates. The install took a lot of work, a lot of preparation. My teammates did their jobs, so it was good to put that on the field.”
Styles, a former receiver at Notre Dame, has had standout plays on special teams before. On Oct. 4, Brandon Inniss fielded a punt from Minnesota’s Tom Weston. Inniss lateralled it to Styles, who ran it back 36 yards before Mason Carrier knocked him out of bounds at the Minnesota 20.
Styles felt he should have gone all the way as opposed to letting Bo Jackson finish off that drive a couple of plays later with a 5-yard touchdown run. That was one reason Styles was excited about his big moment against the Bruins. The other reason was who greeted him after the score.
“The kick return, it was cool,” Styles said, “but the best feeling is celebrating with your teammates, most of all my brother. I had my brother there and him being so excited for me, telling me how sweet he thought that play was. It felt great. It’s a blessing.”
Linebacker Sonny Styles led Ohio State with seven tackles. He had one tackle for loss. Nickel back Lorenzo Styles was right behind him with five. As a unit, OSU held UCLA to 222 yards (only 50 in the first half) and a 5-for-13 performance on third down.
Ohio State defensive end Caden Curry had five tackles as well. His effort, and those of the Styles brothers, came on a day when the Bucekyes had to adjust to the late-breaking news that UCLA would be without quarterback Nico Iamaleava (concussion).
“Kind of sucks when you prepare for somebody all week and they bring somebody else,” Curry said.
Backup Luke Donald went a respectable 16 for 23 for 154 yards and a touchdown.
“I gave him the best advice ever,” said UCLA interim coach Tim Skipper. “Just throw the ball at our color jersey. That’s all I told him.”
At that, Donald was successful: He threw no interceptions in his college debut. Still, he was contained. Curry was part of that.
And like Lorenzo Styles, Curry had a big moment on special teams. With 16 seconds remaining in the second quarter, UCLA’s Will Karroll attempted to punt the ball from his own 22. He misfired and hit Curry squarely in the chest.
The Buckeyes got the ball back at the UCLA 14 as a result and were able to hit a field goal before the end of the half to make the halftime score 27-0.
“I’m going to claim that for me, (it was) the intimidation factor,” Curry said with a smile in trying to explain his block.
Ohio State’s defense is giving up an FBS-leading average of just over a touchdown a game (7.5 points), so the intimidation factor is already high. If the Buckeyes’ defensive starters who also contribute on special teams enable those units to catch fire?
“Just icing on the cake there,” Lorenzo Styles said.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State football’s Lorenzo Styles, Caden Curry show versatility
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