Michigan State football wrecked by Ohio State Buckeyes in embarrassing 56-7 loss

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Heisman Trophy very well may have been won Saturday. And not by Kenneth Walker III, either.

Michigan State’s chances for a Big Ten East Division title dissolved well before that came into focus.

Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud threw six first-half touchdowns and executed with mechanical precision in dissecting the Spartans in every possible way. The redshirt freshman’s day was done after one third-quarter possession, and No. 8 MSU’s surprising turnaround season took a tumble in a 56-7 blowout loss to the fourth-ranked Buckeyes.

Stroud finished 32 of 35 for 432 yards, and his six TDs before halftime were the most ever thrown by an opposing quarterback against the Spartans (9-2, 7-2 Big Ten). The Buckeyes (10-1, 8-0) scored on their first seven possessions and gained 652 yards, the third most ever given up by an MSU defense, to set up their regular-season finale next Saturday at No. 7 Michigan.

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The Spartans host unranked Penn State next Saturday in their final game before bowl selections are made. Kickoff time and TV network is yet to be determined, but the game will be either 3:30 p.m. on ABC or ESPN or 4 p.m. on Fox.

Considered a potential finalist for the Heisman, Stroud and OSU’s offense delighted the 101,858 fans at Ohio Stadium by skewering the Spartans’ pass defense that entered as the nation’s worst in allowing 329.0 yards a game. Stroud approached that in the first quarter with 241 yards and touchdowns of 23 and 43 yards to Chris Olave and 77 yards to Garrett Wilson. Stroud also completed a Buckeyes record 17 straight passes between the end of the first and start of the second quarters.

The Spartans’ secondary yielded a 4-yard TD pass on the fourth drive of the game from Stroud to Julian Fleming. Running back Miyan Williams scored on a 1-yard run to close the next OSU possession when Stroud’s 27-yard completion sent Olave out of bounds just before the pylon. But the quarterback hit Wilson for a 12-yard score on the next drive and followed it with a 5-yard TD to Jaxon Smith-Njigba with 1:37 before halftime, with MSU safeties Xavier Henderson and Angelo Grose tripping over each other in the end zone as a singular representation of how their entire half went.

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Meanwhile, MSU’s potential Heisman candidate, Walker – who entered second in the nation with 1,473 rushing yards and a 147.3 yards per game average and tied for the national lead with 17 rushing scores – spent much of the day watching as a spectator.

Coming off a career-high 30 carries in last week’s win over Maryland, the junior running back got just seven touches against the Buckeyes and finished with six carries for 25 yards and one catch 4 yards. He was targeted one other time on an incompletion. He ran the ball once on MSU’s second play of the third quarter and sat the rest of the game after, appearing to be bothered by an injury to his left foot that required a heavy tape wrap against Maryland.

MSU relied on Payton Thorne and its passing attack early, and the Spartans moved the ball on two of their first three drives. Both ended in turnovers, a Jayden Reed fumble trying to stretch for a first down deep in OSU territory on MSU’s second possession, and Jordon Simmons’ fumble to end its third drive deep in Spartan territory.

OSU dominated MSU for a 500-116 advantage in total offense in the first half, and Thorne was 8 of 26 for 77 yards.

The Spartans finally reached the end zone after both teams pulled most of their starters, with Thorne leading an eight-play, 51-yard drive that he capped by delivering wide receiver Keon Coleman’s first career touchdown on a 12-yard pass to open the fourth quarter.

Thorne finished 14 of 36 for 158 yards. The Spartans also played the second half without Jayden Reed, who had a boot on his right foot, after entering the game minus fellow starting receiver Jalen Nailor, who had a cast on his right hand and was not dressed. They also did not play safety Xavier Henderson and Quavaris Crouch after halftime.

Ohio State’s Smith-Njigba (10 catches 105 yards), Olave (seven for 140) and Wilson (seven for 126) all eclipsed 100 yards receiving and combined for five TD catches. Henderson ran nine times for 63 yards before going to the bench to rest for next week's game in Ann Arbor.

Master Teague III led the Buckeyes with 95 yards on 25 carries, including a touchdown with 3:30 left that was their only score of the final half. OSU ran for 202 yards, the most MSU has allowed this season.

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football wrecked by Ohio State Buckeyes, 56-7