COLUMBUS, Ohio - It was an extremely satisfying win for the Buckeyes on Saturday as they fought through plenty of adversity en route to a 38-7 win over Wisconsin to improve to 8-0 and get to the second open week of the season.
The weather conditions were anything but pleasant as storms hovered over most of the state of Ohio and the region for the entirety of Saturday but the Buckeyes were able to overcome in a game that will be highlighted by the play of guys like Chase Young and JK Dobbins.
The Buckeyes did have the opportunity late in the game to get many of the second team out on the field for some experience once the game had been put away as everyone will have plenty of bumps and bruises to tend to as Ohio State will not play again until a home date with Maryland in two weeks.
How did the workload split up? We have the latest snap counts gathered by our friends at PFF.com.
Quarterbacks
This was pretty much going to be all Justin Fields and if everyone knew that Chris Chugunov would be in for the final moments of the game and there to take the victory formation snaps, everyone would have been thrilled.
Fields got knocked around a good amount in this game as the physicality of this game was off the charts and the Badgers made it an emphasis to get to the quarterback. Fields had to go to the injury tent at one point after scoring an Ohio State rushing touchdown but did not miss any time in the game. He seemed to be upbeat during post game interviews but you just have to know that he was looking forward to getting some treatment and back toward healthy with two weeks until the next game.
Fortunately for Ohio State, the next two games, at least on paper, do not appear to be ones that might take the first-team into the fourth quarter and because of that, guys like Chug and Gunnar Hoak better be ready for some extended action as it will be critical to have everyone ready for the final eight quarters (pending no overtimes) of the regular season against Penn State and Michigan.
Running Backs
221 yards of total offense on 20 carries and three receptions for JK Dobbins was just what the Buckeyes needed as Dobbins broke the 1,000-yard mark and had his sixth 100-yard game of the season. Dobbins just seems to be getting stronger and stronger as the season goes on as there is no shortage of confidence in his game.
Master Teague saw a good number of carries in this game and while he did not have one of his signature big runs on a tired defense as the end, he continues to run hard and give the Buckeyes a great complimentary piece to Dobbins as shown by Ohio State's willingness to put Teague in during early game action and not just as someone looking to pick up all of the garbage time.
Wide Receivers/Tight Ends
This won't go down as one of Ohio State's best passing days but the weather played a major role in that along with a pass rush from the Badgers that really kept Ohio State off-balance. Ohio State did not have Austin Mack in this game as well as he did not suit up for the game with an undisclosed injury.
Chris Olave was the ironman of the receivers with 57 snaps and had a career-high seven receptions for his efforts. KJ Hill was tight there with 54 snaps but had a couple of uncharacteristic drops due to the weather and it was a relatively quiet day for him.
Offensive Line
These numbers are pretty straightforward. The first-team line played 65 snaps and the second-team line played the other nine. Dawand Jones stepped into that second-team tackle position with the continued absence of Josh Alabi from the second team. Ryan Day said that they were likely not going to redshirt Jones and with the loss of Alabi for the time being, it seems that we now know their plans in terms of who the second team tackles are with him joining Nick Petit-Frere.
Defensive Line
Chase Young completely set the world on fire with only 42 snaps in the game. The rotation of Larry Johnson is obviously working. Remember that the Buckeyes did all of this without a captain in Jonathon Cooper and a prized back-up in Tyler Friday. Zach Harrison continues to get a good amount of work with 21 snaps. The interior line is really doing a good job of splitting things up with Jashon Cornell leading the way with 25 snaps.
Linebackers
The Buckeyes got Baron Browning back and while he did not see a huge amount of snaps, it was great getting him back out there. Justin Hilliard was out there immediately and had quite the impact on the game during his 18 snaps and any longtime observer of the team could not be any more happy for the former five-star, who has had an injury-plagued career and really has not had many opportunities at his given position of linebacker because of it.
Malik Harrison and Pete Werner saw most of the action, each in the mid-to-high 40s with snaps while Tuf Borland was in there a fair amount as well against an extremely physical Wisconsin offense.
Defensive Backs
Not as deep of a rotation here as in some games but the Buckeyes did what the needed to in holding the Badgers to just 108 yards of passing. Jeffrey Okudah, Damon Arnette and Jordan Fuller led the way in the high-40s in terms of snap counts while Shaun Wade had 30 snaps of his own. The Buckeyes employed a lot of different looks out there and there were some different personnel packages but those guys saw the lion's share of the action from secondary personnel with nobody else putting together more than five snaps in a back-up role.