Ohio State vs. Notre Dame score, takeaways: No. 2 Buckeyes battle back to overcome No. 5 Fighting Irish

No. 2 Ohio State overcame lackluster play and injury to come back and beat No. 5 Notre Dame 21-10 in an exciting season-opener. The Buckeyes trailed at halftime and into the third quarter before the Ohio State offense put together its best drive of the night. It was a 10-play, 70-yard drive that ended with a 24-yard touchdown pass from C.J. Stroud to Xavier Johnson that seemed to wake up the Buckeyes and the 100,000 in attendance at Ohio Stadium.

It would not be the last moment for them to cheer, as Ohio State would follow it with an even better drive, going 95 yards in 14 plays to put the game out of reach. After losing star receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba to a leg injury in the first quarter, the Buckeyes offense struggled to find a rhythm, but Emeka Egbuka and running backs TreVeyon Henderson and Miyan Williams stepped up to fill the void.

The Irish offense got off to a promising start, picking up 54 yards on the first play of the night, but managed only 199 yards for the rest of the game. Tyler Buchner (177 yards passing, 18 rushing) made some plays, but the Irish could never find any consistency against an Ohio State defense that played with its hair on fire.

Tommy Eichenberg finished with two sacks for Ohio State, while Mike Hall had another sack and two tackles for loss. With their second half comeback, the Buckeyes were able to avoid becoming the first No. 1 or No. 2 team to lose its season opener since No. 1 Miami fell to BYU to begin the 1990 season. CBS Sports will be with you the entire way breaking down everything that happens as Notre Dame visits Ohio State. Keep it locked here for live scores, analysis and highlights throughout the game.

Here are the primary takeaways from an interesting night in Columbus, Ohio.

1. Ohio State’s defense won this game

There were questions about how Ohio State defense would perform in Jim Knowles’ first game as defensive coordinator, and early returns are quite promising. While the Buckeyes ended up winning somewhat comfortably, it’s only because the defense picked up a lackluster offense time and time again. While Notre Dame hit the occasional big play through the air, the Buckeyes did not allow the Irish to string together significant drives. It looked like a completely different unit than the one that too often allowed teams to move the ball down the field in crucial spots last season.

The most significant difference was the pressure. Knowles threw all sorts of disguises at the inexperienced Buchner. All of it — blitzes, stunts, and pass-rushers like Zach Harrison dropping into coverage — was designed to keep Buchner guessing and unsure of where to go with the ball, and it worked, for the most part. The Buckeyes defense finished with six tackles for loss and three sacks as it held Notre Dame to 5.3 yards per play. More importantly, it allowed the Irish to convert only three of its 13 third downs and forced them into third-and-long situations all night. That kept the Irish from being able to sustain drives and bought the Ohio State offense more time to figure things out.

2. WR depth an issue for Ohio State

Who would’ve thought we’d be saying that? Ohio State’s receiver corps is supposed to be the best in the country, but Smith-Njigba suffered a leg injury of some type on the team’s first series and saw only a few more plays the rest of the night. Julian Fleming was already banged up. That meant the Buckeyes had to play with a lot of inexperienced receivers, and it showed. There was miscommunication about where they were supposed to be on routes and the timing was off with Stroud.

Still, things picked up in the second half with Egbuka emerging as the most reliable target. Egbuka finished with nine receptions for 90 yards and a touchdown. Marvin Harrison Jr. caught five passes for 56 yards, and while Johnson caught only two passes, his 24-yard touchdown proved the game-winner. In the end, six receivers aside from Smith-Njigba (two catches, 3 yards) caught passes from Stroud on the evening.

3. Notre Dame hurt by lack of run game

Coming into the evening, I thought Notre Dame’s problem on offense would be a lack of explosive plays in the passing game, making it difficult to keep up with the high-powered Ohio State offense. While they weren’t consistent enough throughout the night, Buchner and his receivers hooked up for four passes of at least 20 yards, including a 54-yard connection with Lorenzo Styles on the first play of the game. The problem was the Irish couldn’t do anything on the ground. The Ohio State defense held Notre Dame to only 76 yards rushing on 30 carries. Adjust for sacks, and that number only improves to 95 yards on 27 carries (3.5 per).

With a young quarterback making his first start on the road in a demanding environment, the Irish would have liked to have gotten more from their ground game to take the load off Buchner. Instead, Buchner had to carry the load, and it went about as well as you’d expect in the long run.

4. This was not C.J. Stroud’s best night

Frankly, Stroud looked ordinary in the first half and shaky to start the second half. It wasn’t until the middle of the third quarter that he seemed to find a rhythm, and from that point, Ohio State took control of the game. Stroud’s final stat line isn’t going to turn many heads (not for the right reasons, anyway), but he made big throws late when he had to and helped his team pick up a crucial win.