Right from the start, the Buckeyes showed how large the talent disparity was after a solid return by Demario McCall and a 51-yard TD rush by Justin Fields on the first drive. In the first half as a whole, the defense shut down the Owls offense, holding their offense in negative yardage for most of the first half (minus-14 at halftime).
The theme of the first half for both defenses was stopping the run, with running room coming at a premium apart from Fields’ TD run. J.K. Dobbins ran for 62 yards on 12 carries, but failed to break off a run longer than a dozen yards, and ended the game with 91 yards on 21 carries
In the first quarter, the passing coverage of FAU was poor.