COLUMBUS, Ohio — As the eyes of the crowd went downfield, expecting to see the ball fly toward the waiting arms of Johnnie Dixon, the ball was nowhere to be found.
Most kickoffs, even squib kicks, tend to move away from the kicker in the direction he is facing. This kick, however, squirted off Caleb Lightbourn’s left and just a single yard forward on what coach Scott Frost said was an attempted onside kick that his team didn’t execute. A Nebraska offsides penalty moved the football back 4 yards behind its original starting position.
Ohio State did nothing with the gift of a starting field position at the 31-yard line.