The Spartans played hard but were overwhelmed by mistakes, refs, and Buckeyes.
The Ohio State Buckeyes put their 23-million roster to good use, but numerous Spartan mistakes and questionable calls by the refs helped.
Let's keep it simple; it came down to these plays:
- Spartans go for it on 4th and one and come up short—no interior push.
- Buckeyes on 3rd and goal pass into the endzone, and Malik Spencer drops a sure interception.
- Velling fumbles the football deep into Buckeye territory.
- Chiles fumbles in the red zone, and the refs miss a facemask on Ohio State.
- OSU's Henderson appears to have fumbled the ball deep in their territory, but the refs say his arm was down.
- MSU's Eckley shanks a punt, giving the Buckeyes good field position.
- OSU scored a late TD before the first half ended when OSU WR Smith made a circus catch against good coverage from CB Woods.
- The Spartans look sloppy to start 2nd half on offense.
- On 4th and 1, the refs give Ohio State a first down on a phantom spot of the ball.
- Ohio State's No.4 should have been called for a personal foul but was not.
- An Aidan Chiles interception gave OSU a short field to work with, and OSU scored again. BALL GAME
On a night Coach Dantonio was being honored, his creedence was to protect and control the ball on offense. We saw none of that tonight.
The good news is that MSU went toe-to-toe with the Buckeyes physically, and the defense played hard all night, so they deserved better. The other good news is that Ohio State has a monster offense, and the Spartans won't see another one like it the rest of the year.
