Ohio State opens as 52.5-point favorites over Kent State in Week 3

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Betting Line: Ohio State -52.5 | O/U 57.5

Saturday night’s loss to Texas felt incredibly familiar to Ohio State fans.

When the Buckeyes have lost these types of games, they usually follow a pretty similar pattern — an early lead that Ohio State lets slowly slip away with a conservative offensive game plan and a defense that’s unable to get key stops down the stretch, mixed with incompetent special teams and dreadful clock decisions.

That was all the case in the 24-23 loss to the Longhorns in Week 2.

The question now is whether Day and the coaching staff decide to actually learn for their mistakes, or will the same exact problems repeat themselves yet again in their next marquee matchup against Indiana in over a month?

We won’t learn a ton until that Oct. 17 battle against the Hoosiers, as Ohio State now has a string of games that will not provide much of a test. That starts with Kent State in Week 3, where the Buckeyes are favored by 52.5 points.

Ohio State’s offense was anemic in the second half against Texas. After Julian Sayin started the game 12-of-16 with 192 yards and a touchdown, Sayin completed only five of his 16 pass attempts in the second half, including a huge miss to a wide open Devin McCuin that would have likely iced the game late in the third quarter.

The Buckeyes second half drives, which began with a 20-3 lead: punt, field goal, punt, punt, missed field goal, end of game.

Ohio State also got absolutely nothing from wide receivers not named Jeremiah Smith. Smith caught eight passes for 164 yards and a touchdown. McCuin and Inniss — the only two other wide receivers to catch a pass — combined for two catches for 24 yards.

The defense was equally as poor over the final 30 minutes. Matt Patricia’s group held Texas to 97 total yards in the first half, and with the offense failing to stay on the field time and time again in the second half, it clearly took a toll.

After punting on their first two drives of the third quarter, the Longhorns scored touchdowns on three straight possessions to end the game, also converting a pair of fourth down opportunities to keep the game alive. The defense got very little pressure on Arch Manning and did virtually nothing right down the stretch as we watched what felt like a slow motion car crash until Texas eventually took the lead for good.

Ohio State must now pick up the pieces and right the ship before several other big games on the schedule. They’ll look to get that started against a Kent State team in Week 3.

The Golden Flashes have also started the season 1-1, suffering a 57-0 loss to South Carolina in the opener before defeating Wofford 36-15 this weekend. It is unlikely they will provide much resistance to a group of Buckeyes that will be angry and searching for answers.

All odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook.

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