Ohio State-TCU | Scarlet & Gray Matter

Ray Stein’s observations about Saturday's game:

The game at hand

• Short-attention-span synopsis: OSU looking good in these Day games. TCU later. Jerry World a new home away from home?

• Pregame buzz: The final game of the Ryan Day era — well, at least phase one of the Day era — coincided with Ohio State’s first exposure to major college football since the Cotton Bowl last December. How would the Buckeyes react to getting hit in the mouth? How would Dwayne Haskins Jr. react to getting hit at all? The answers were slow to come, but it’s a big-time passing grade in the end.

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• Worth the trip? Four years ago, TCU entered the final weekend of the regular season ranked third in the College Football Playoff standings, whipped Iowa State 55-3 — and dropped to No. 6 in the rankings when the playoffs were announced the next day, after Ohio State drilled Wisconsin. That decision still hits TCU fans like a poke in the eye, but the reason was plain to see on Saturday in AT&T Stadium. Buckeye Nation buys plane tickets and refreshments like few college football programs, and it was evident in a stadium located 18 miles from TCU’s campus. Ohio State fans accounted for 70 percent of the crowd, easily.

• This week in vanity plates: MPLOYBL (Ryan Day)

>> See 100 photos from Ohio State's win over TCU

They said it

• Your turn/the channel: The top announcing team at ABC/ESPN was on hand for the national telecast, but no amount of wisdom from the mouths of Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit could keep the broadcast from coming off like an elementary school fire drill. The Buckeyes and Horned Frogs played offense at lightning speed at times, which left exactly zero seconds for precious replays and close-ups of the principals. That didn’t stop the director from trying, however, which explains why cameras were watching TCU coach Gary Patterson while Nick Bosa was separating Shawn Robinson from the football on OSU’s first touchdown.

• This week in “College GameDay” signs: Every football fan knows of “College GameDay,” ESPN’s wildly popular (in 1995, anyway) Saturday morning preview show that somehow crams 45 minutes of analysis, features and predictions into three hours. Originality died on that set long ago, but the college kids in the crowd can still bring it with their homemade signs. This week’s winners from Fort Worth: “Urban Meyer didn’t make the travel team,” “I had a better sign but Urban Meyer covered it up” and, in a slam of the school, “An Ohio State University.”

Numbers for dummies

13-4: OSU’s road record against ranked teams since 2007

34: Wins in road and neutral-site games for Ohio State since the start of the 2012 season, most nationally

106-55: OSU’s scoring margin in three games in AT&T Stadium

0: Sacks allowed by TCU in its first two games

3: Sacks allowed to the Buckeyes

11-1: Dwayne Haskins Jr.'s touchdown-to-interception ratio after three games

On tap

The Buckeyes return home for a third helping of cupcake, this one with a distinctive beignet flavor. Tulane makes the journey from New Orleans to Columbus looking for a monumental upset, but the Green Wave surely will settle for the $1.5 million check they’ll get for the trouble. Tulane is 1-2, but the losses (to Wake Forest and UAB) say more about their program than the win (Nicholls State).

Tweethearts

Best responses to The Dispatch crew on Twitter:

@thebradkeller: Does horned frog taste like chicken?

@BrewdoodCMH: If this game is any faster, they’ll have to relocate it to the Brickyard.

@jleegil: Is it too soon for Bosa brothers to have kids? If not can we have them sign letter of intent in kindergarten?

@JonBauer7576: Amphibians outplaying #Buckeyes on both sides of the ball tonight. Frog legs apparently hard to tackle.

@travelenron: Would someone put a football in Mack's hands on the sideline so they can become friends again

Former Buckeye Corner

@mike96bennett: TCU doing everything they can to not have to drop back and throw the ball

Horseshoe haiku

After a wild ride

On the mechanical bull

Urban Cowboy’s back

rstein@dispatch.com

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