Breaking into the open field for a late, long touchdown run Saturday at Illinois, Ohio State running back Carlos Hyde wondered why it hadn’t all come this easy for the Buckeyes.
Hyde finished the day with the kind of numbers that usually come with an easy win: 248 yards rushing with four touchdowns on the ground and another through the air. Quarterback Braxton Miller wasn’t far behind with 184 yards rushing and two more touchdowns.
But after opening up a 28-0 lead, the No. 3 Buckeyes needed a momentum-changing safety and Hyde’s late 55- and 51-yard touchdowns to finally put Illinois away 60-35 and stay unbeaten (10-0, 6-0 Big Ten).
“That last run, in my head I was like, we could (have done) this the whole time,” Hyde said. “That last run, I had energy and I just feel like we could have had that momentum the whole game.”
Illinois, though, fought back. Quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase led the Illini with 288 yards passing and two touchdowns. But the Buckeyes defense kept him under pressure all day, sacking him five times and hitting him more than that.
Hyde, Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer said, made the difference.
“He’s been great for us and did get great in the end for us,” he said. “It did get tight. Offensively, we did need the help.”
The loss extends the Big Ten losing streak for Illinois (3-7, 0-6) to 20 games.
“An L is an L,” Illini head coach Tim Beckman said. “These kids fought, they know they fought. … I’m proud of them for doing that, but they’re just like everybody else is, they want a W.”
After trailing 28-0 in the second quarter, Illinois closed to 35-21 in the third on two Scheelhaase touchdown passes.
Illinois had the momentum when the Buckeyes’ Ryan Shazier sacked backup quarterback Reilly O’Toole in the end zone. Illinois recovered his fumble but the safety gave the Buckeyes a 37-21 edge and the ball. Minutes later, a Hyde touchdown put them up 44-21.
It was one of the hits on Scheelhaase that kept Ohio State in control when Illinois was getting back into the game.
After Illinois closed to within two scores at 35-21, Scheelhaase had his helmet ripped off at his own goal line. Under the rules, he had to leave the game for a play, bringing O’Toole on.
The Buckeyes teed off on the backup quarterback, with Shazier hitting him from behind and knocking the ball loose. Tight end Matt LaCosse recovered the ball for Illinois to limit the damage to the safety.
The momentum swung swiftly back to the Buckeyes.
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