Ohio State rolls to 10-0 with a convincing win over UCLA in one of their most complete games of the season!

Yes, the Bruins are horrible at 3-7. Yes, the spread on this game favored Ohio State by 33 points. But every team that plays football has to beat the next team in front of them on the schedule. The Buckeyes did that in spades. They took care of business like the top-ranked team in the country should. And they looked solid while doing it.

How'd they get the job done? Let's take a look at the Keys to Victory!

Leaning on the running game

The more I look at how Coach Day and Coach Hartline are handling games the Buckeyes should win handily, like Purdue and UCLA, the better I'm feeling.

Ohio State already has one of the most explosive wide receiver units in the entire country. The running game is solid, but it's always good to keep sharpening up and staying physical on the ground. The teams the Buckeyes should beat going away provide a good opportunity for them to polish the running game before they play the bigger games like Michigan, possibly Indiana and any CFP games that might be around the corner.

As a team, Ohio State ran the ball 33 times for 222 yards (6.7 yards per carry). They also managed to score four rushing touchdowns on the night. Everyone's seen Bo Jackson's explosiveness and speed as the Buckeyes' feature running back. But I think I was actually more impressed tonight with the athleticism of James Peoples.

The sophomore carried the rock six times for 42 yards, but he scored a pair of touchdowns. His first one of the night was a thing of beauty!

With just over a minute remaining in the first half, Peoples took Julian Sayin's handoff at the 19, ran around the left end, and straight up hurdled a UCLA cornerback!

Hurdles usually make me nervous. Sure, they look cool. But I always am worried that the player will either fumble the ball, or land wrong and blow a knee or something. But James Peoples executed a perfect hurdle, landed safely, kept his balance, and finished off his first touchdown run of the season! That's finding paydirt in style!

Complementary football

This might be where I'm most excited. These guys are using games like this to not just sharpen up the running game, but to learn how to balance everything out. We all know how great the defense is. The Silver Bullets do Silver Bullet things.

But getting absolutely everyone involved in the action at this point in the season is critical. Especially if they want to play as a cohesive unit when it really matters. If the biggest star of the show was the running game, then the most explosive one was on special teams. Something happened tonight that hasn't happened in 15-20 years.

Ohio State not only scored a touchdown on a kickoff return for the first time in 15 years, but the Buckeyes scored a touchdown on a 100-yard kickoff return for the first time in 20 years. As explosive as the Buckeyes naturally are, they hadn't scored a touchdown on a kickoff since the 2010 game vs. Michigan, and they hadn't scored a touchdown on a 100-yard kickoff return since 2005, when Ted Ginn Jr. housed one against Minnesota.

But all that changed tonight, when Lorenzo Styles Jr. took one from coast to coast! As soon as he scored, I told my girlfriend and I quote, "It's been a while since I've seen one of those!" But I didn't realize how long it truly had been! Wow!

I know kickoff returns for touchdowns are rare. But if Ohio State can find some consistency in creating more of these explosive plays on special teams, that will make an already dangerous team even more deadly and keep opponents extremely honest in how they handle things. It'll force them to have even less room for error when they play the Buckeyes.

Keeping their foot on the gas

It's getting late in the regular season. Teams are getting primed and ready for some kind of postseason run. Whether it's trying to make a bowl game, chasing after a conference championship, or vying for one of those 12 coveted College Football Playoff spots, everyone's really buckling down. Or at least the best teams are.

But if you're in Ohio State's position as the top-ranked team in the country, and the reigning National Champion, it can be tempting or easy to hold back, screw around and not play up to potential.

But they haven't done that. Not even remotely. Instead of playing down to the competition, the Buckeyes have simply been very workmanlike with how they've treated every opponent. Their intensity, execution, crispness, and the way they go about things has been nice to see. They've done that every week, including against Purdue and UCLA the last two weeks. Now if only they could do the same thing on November 29th in Ann Arbor, Michigan!

Keeping the pedal to the metal, and the foot to the floor has worked for Ohio State, and the Buckeyes seem well on their way to something big if they can continue playing and executing at such a high level!

Next up, another home game on November 22 against Rutgers. But until then, GO BUCKS!

Statistical Leaders

Julian Sayin: 23-31, 184 yards, TD.

Bo Jackson: 15 carries, 112 yards, TD

Mylan Graham: 3 receptions, 40 yards

Sources

ESPN, Peacock

Picture Credit

tsilverbulletin.com