Julian Sayin threw for 326 yards and three touchdowns and Carnell Tate set a career high with 183 receiving yards along with a touchdown as No. 1 Ohio State steamrolled Minnesota 42-3 on Saturday in Columbus.
The victory gave Ryan Day a 75-10 record (88.2 percent) to become the all-time career winning percentage leader in major college history, moving ahead of Notre Dame’s Knute Rockne’s 88.1 percent from 1918-30.
Sayin was 23 of 27, Tate had a personal best nine catches and Jeremiah Smith had 67 yards and two touchdowns off seven receptions.
Ohio State spotted the Golden Gophers a 3-0 lead on their first drive but it was the Buckeyes (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) who reeled off 21 unanswered points for a 21-3 halftime lead with Sayin and Tate igniting the offense. Tate had a 48-yard reception and Smith followed with a 31-yard catch to the 2 before CJ Donaldson ran in from the 1 for a 7-3 lead to end the first quarter.
Tate’s 49-yard catch-and-run set up a third-down TD pass to Jeremiah Smith at the left sideline to make it 14-3 early in the second quarter.
After Minnesota (3-2, 1-1 Big Ten) was stuffed for no gain on a fourth-and-1 from its 44, the Buckeyes needed just eight seconds to go ahead 21-3. That’s amount of time it took for Sayin to connect with Tate in the end zone.
Minnesota quarterback Drake Lindsey was 15 of 26 for 94 yards. The Golden Gophers had 162 total yards, with 66 coming on their first series.
Ohio State has allowed only 25 points and two touchdowns this season.
Midway through the third quarter, the Buckeyes used a cross-field lateral from Brandon Inniss to Lorenzo Styles for a 36-yard gain to the Minnesota 20 on a punt return to enable Bo Jackson to run in from the 5 three plays later to make it 28-3.
Smith added a 9-yard TD reception on the first play of the fourth quarter to up the advantage to 35-3.
