Michigan leads Ohio State at halftime

Nov. 25—ANN ARBOR — Michigan took advantage of a short field and one long drive to take a 14-10 lead into halftime in the 119th matchup with Ohio State.

After the teams traded punts twice to start the game, Michigan got the first big break on when Will Johnson intercepted Kyle McCord’s pass intended for Marvin Harrison Jr.

He returned the ball to the Ohio State 7-yard line, and four plays later Blake Corum scored the first touchdown of the game on a 1-yard run over right guard on fourth-and-goal.

Ohio State got on the board on its next drive with a 43-yard field goal by Jayden Fielding that capped a nine-play, 51-yard drive. The key play was a third down fade to Harrison for 24 yards that got the Buckeyes into Michigan territory for the first time.

Michigan extended its lead to 14-3 when J.J. McCarthy threaded a 22-yard pass to Roman Wilson between two defenders.

Ohio State answered with a tidy seven-play, 73-yard drive capped by McCord’s 3-yard pass to Emeka Egbuka for a touchdown. The big play on the drive was a 32-yard pass McCord put right over the head of a defender into the arms of Cade Stover to get the Buckeyes into Michigan territory.

That made it 14-10 Michigan with 6:27 to go in the second quarter.

On the next drive, Ohio State got a big stop when Jack Sawyer sacked McCarthy on a third down, but the Wolverines were able to down the ensuing punt on the 2-yard line.

The Buckeyes drove to the Michigan 34-yard line, but with only one timeout they had to settle for a 52-yard field goal attempt by Fielding that went wide left as time expired.

Ohio State outgained the Wolverines 193-119 in the first half, but the lone turnover loomed large.

An inability to finish drives, something that has bothered the Buckeyes all season, also played a role as they moved into scoring range three times but came out with only 10 points.

Neither team managed much success on the ground in the first half as Michigan averaged 1.9 yards per carry and Ohio State countered at 3.1.

McCarthy struggled in his previous two games with a knee injury, but he was able to get out of trouble a few times in the first half to keep drives alive. He completed 8 of 11 passes for 85 yards.

McCord was 12 for 19 for 156 yards, and Harrison caught two passes for 68 yards.

The Buckeyes avoided giving up the big explosive plays that hurt them in The Game last season, but Michigan converted three fourth downs.