Ohio State Heads to Arlington for Battle with TCU
9/10/2018 10:12:26 AM | Football
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A pair of top-25 teams meet Saturday night in primetime, as No. 4 (Associated Press) Ohio State hits the road for the ?rst time this season to take on No. 15 TCU at 8 p.m. inside AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The Buckeyes improved to 2-0 on the year last Saturday with a conference-opening 52-3 win over Rutgers. Ohio State was strong on both sides of the ball, totaling 579 yards of total offense while giving up just 134.
Ohio State vs. TCU Links
Game Notes | Sunday Lookahead: Ohio State vs. TCU | Ohio State Heads to Arlington for Battle with TCU
QB Dwayne Haskins has been impressive through his ?rst two career starts, going 42 of 53 for 546 yards and nine touchdowns. Last week, he completed 20 of 23 passes for 233 yards and four touchdowns in just over two quarters of action against Rutgers. His four touchdown passes went to four different receivers.
The Haskins-guided Buckeyes’ offense ranks second nationally with 650.0 yards per game and No. 2 in scoring offense, averaging 64.5 points/game.
Defensively, Nick Bosa leads the team with nine tackles and ?ve tackles-for-loss through the ?rst two weeks. He’s recorded at least one sack in ?ve consecutive games.
Other Buckeyes with multiple sacks thus far are DT Dre’Mont Jones (two for minus 16 yards) and DE Chase Young (two for minus 18 yards).
NOTES TO KNOW
- Ohio State has moved into sole possession of second place for most victories in college football history with its victory last week over Rutgers. Ohio State is, officially, the second school with at least 900 victories on the FBS level.
- Ohio State’s offense has never produced 1,300 total yards, 700 passing yards or nine touchdown passes after its ?rst two games of a season … until this year.
SCOUTING TCU
Like Ohio State, TCU has one of the nation’s top-scoring offenses, averaging 48.5 points through its ?rst two games. The Horned Frogs own a 55-7 win over Southern and defeated SMU, 42-12.
Quarterback Shawn Robinson has completed just over 62 percent of his passes thus far for 336 yards and four TDs. He’s also the team’s leading rusher with 112 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.
Two TCU running backs – Sewo Olonilua and Darius Anderson – have over 100 yards through two games. Anderson has carried the ball a team-high 17 times while Olonilua is just behind him with 16 attempts.
Senior Kavontae Turpin is TCU’s leading receiver (eight receptions, 111 yards, one TD) and is also a threat on special teams. He is averaging 20.7 yards on seven punt returns with one TD. Turpin was an honorable mention All-American last season as a kick and punt returner and is averaging 142.0 yards/game of all purpose yards this season.
LB Alex Dunham and LB Arixo Evans lead the defense with 10 tackles apiece thus far while DT Corey Bethley has a team-high three sacks and four tackles-for-loss.
Head coach Gary Patterson is in his 18th season at TCU and is the school’s all-time wins leader with 162. His Horned Frog teams have won 10 or more games 10 times since 2001. He’s 162-57 overall and 100-40 in conference play. During his tenure, Patterson has led TCU as a member of Conference USA, the Mountain West Conference and, most recently, the Big XII.
