The Ohio State Buckeyes invaded Berkeley over the weekend and fired on all cylinders, knocking off the youthful California Golden Bears, 52-34, to remain near the top of the top-25 polls. The Buckeyes stormed out to a 21-0 lead behind Kenny Guiton and never looked back, and there was plenty to take away from it for both sides.
Ohio State vs. Cal reaction: Buckeyes prove too much for young Golden Bears
Even with Braxton Miller on the sidelines, Ohio State couldn’t be stopped with the ball in its hands.
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Our Ohio State blog, Land Grant Holy Land, called Guiton’s performance Heisman-worthy and had nothing but high praise for him.
Kenny Guiton, QB: I really don’t know what more you can say about Guiton that hasn’t been said. He ran Urban Meyer’s offense like a conductor overseeing an orchestra, making great throws and runs all night. He had the Cal defense off-balance and one step behind all night, and he rolled up 368 yards of offense.
California Golden Blogs was frustrated with how the defense continued to struggle, even if it was against an elite team.
There is no shame in losing to the third (or fourth) ranked team in the country and there is certainly much to like about the Bears’ refusal to fold their tent after falling behind by three touchdowns early. But the continued slow starts and the defense’s tendency to give up large amounts of yards and points are trends that have to worry the Bears and their fans as the season moves forward. Now is a good time for the bye week, with Oregon looming in two weeks.
Off Tackle Empire, our Big Ten headquarters, was really impressed with how the Buckeyes performed on a day that was otherwise a black eye for the conference.
Ohio State basically cruised against Cal, building a 31-14 lead in the 2nd quarter and a 45-20 lead early in the 3rd quarter en route to a 52-34 win. Kenny Guiton had a huge game in relief of dinged up Braxton Miller, as Guiton threw for 276 yards and 4 TDs while also picking up 92 yards on the ground. If there's any negative to be taken from this game it's that Cal managed 503 total yards (including 371 passing yards by freshman QB Jared Goff) against the Buckeye defense....then again, Cal was playing from behind and Urban Meyer largely called off the dogs, I suspect, when the game was out of reach.
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