December 1, 2018 Week 14 · Regular Season Neutral site Belt defended

Ohio State defends the belt, 45–24, at a neutral site over Northwestern.

Home · Defending Holder

Ohio State 45

Away · Challenger

Northwestern 24

AI-Written

Recap

Ohio State's passing attack, led by Dwayne Haskins and his favorite target Terry McLaurin, established early dominance with two touchdown passes in the first quarter to build a 14-7 lead. Northwestern kept pace with John Moten IV's 77-yard touchdown run, but Ohio State's superior offensive efficiency showed throughout the afternoon as Haskins connected for five total touchdown passes. The Buckeyes pulled away in the second half with scores from Chris Olave and two fourth-quarter touchdowns from Johnnie Dixon and J.K. Dobbins, while Northwestern's Clayton Thorson struggled with turnovers and couldn't generate sustained offensive drives. Ohio State's defense forced three turnovers and limited Northwestern to just 418 total yards, securing the belt with a convincing 45-24 victory.

Terry McLaurin's two first-quarter touchdown receptions (16 and 20 yards) that gave Ohio State an early 14-7 lead and established the passing game's dominance
Dwayne Haskins' 42-yard touchdown pass to McLaurin with 1:21 left in the half extending Ohio State's lead to 31-7 and breaking Northwestern's momentum
Clayton Thorson's interception to Damon Arnette in the third quarter that prevented Northwestern from closing the gap and maintained Ohio State's control
Johnnie Dixon's 63-yard reception in the fourth quarter setting up an easy touchdown that sealed the victory

Written by Claude from the box score and play-by-play on this page — a plain-English recap of the numbers below, not a substitute for them.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score

Ohio StateNorthwestern

Total yards607418

Rushing yards108153

Passing yards499265

First downs3121

3rd down conv.10/185/15

Turnovers23

Penalties–yards9–903–15

Time of possession35:1723:36

Full team box score from CFBD’s /games/teams data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have team-level stats that far back.

Play By Play

Key plays

CFBD play-by-play

When	Team	Yards	Play
Q1 10:31	Ohio State	+16 yd	Dwayne Haskins pass complete to Terry McLaurin for 16 yds for a TD (Blake Haubeil KICK)
Q1 6:27	Northwestern	+77 yd	John Moten IV run for 77 yds for a TD (Charlie Kuhbander KICK)
Q1 4:55	Ohio State	+20 yd	Dwayne Haskins pass complete to Terry McLaurin for 20 yds to the Nwest 24 for a 1ST down
Q1 3:29	Ohio State	+2 yd	J.K. Dobbins run for 2 yds for a TD (Blake Haubeil KICK)
Q2 13:31	Northwestern	+0 yd	Clayton Thorson pass intercepted, touchback. Shaun Wade return for no gain
Q2 13:50	Northwestern	+33 yd	Riley Lees run for 18 yds to the OhSt 49 for a 1ST down OHIO ST Penalty, Personal Foul (15 Yards) to the OhSt 36 for a 1ST down
Q2 11:16	Ohio State	+0 yd	Dwayne Haskins pass intercepted Montre Hartage return for no gain to the Nwest 16
Q2 9:35	Northwestern	+7 yd	Clayton Thorson run for 7 yds to the Nwest 46 Clayton Thorson fumbled, forced by J.K. Dobbins, recovered by OhSt Jordan Fuller
Q2 6:09	Ohio State	+42 yd	Blake Haubeil 42 yd FG GOOD
Q2 1:21	Ohio State	+42 yd	Dwayne Haskins pass complete to Terry McLaurin for 42 yds for a TD (Blake Haubeil KICK)
Q3 13:23	Northwestern	+18 yd	Clayton Thorson run for 18 yds for a TD (Charlie Kuhbander KICK)
Q3 13:23	Northwestern	+26 yd	Jake Collins kickoff for 59 yds , Demario McCall return for 26 yds to the OhSt 32
Q3 8:03	Northwestern	+2 yd	Clayton Thorson pass complete to Cameron Green for 2 yds for a TD (Charlie Kuhbander KICK)
Q3 9:55	Northwestern	+20 yd	Isaiah Bowser run for 20 yds to the OhSt 35 for a 1ST down
Q3 6:09	Northwestern	-1 yd	Clayton Thorson pass intercepted by Damon Arnette, return for 1 yd to the Nwest 34
Q3 4:51	Ohio State	+17 yd	Mike Weber run for a loss of 2 yards to the Nwest 39 Mike Weber fumbled, forced by Travis Whillock, recovered by Nwest Travis Whillock , return for 17 yds to the Nwest 39
Q3 1:21	Ohio State	+29 yd	Dwayne Haskins pass complete to Chris Olave for 29 yds for a TD (Blake Haubeil KICK)
Q3 0:15	Ohio State	+28 yd	Dwayne Haskins pass complete to J.K. Dobbins for 28 yds to the Nwest 32 for a 1ST down
Q4 12:24	Ohio State	+27 yd	Blake Haubeil 27 yd FG BLOCKED blocked by Fred Wyatt
Q4 10:34	Northwestern	+21 yd	Charlie Kuhbander 21 yd FG GOOD
Q4 12:15	Northwestern	+33 yd	Clayton Thorson pass complete to Jelani Roberts for 33 yds to the OhSt 47 for a 1ST down
Q4 9:11	Ohio State	+9 yd	Dwayne Haskins pass complete to Johnnie Dixon for 9 yds for a TD (Blake Haubeil KICK)
Q4 10:06	Ohio State	+63 yd	Dwayne Haskins pass complete to Johnnie Dixon for 63 yds to the Nwest 15 for a 1ST down
Q4 4:09	Ohio State	+17 yd	Dwayne Haskins pass complete to J.K. Dobbins for 17 yds for a TD (Blake Haubeil KICK)

Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).

Box Score

Player stats

CFBD player stats

Passing

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT
Dwayne HaskinsOhio State	34/41	499	12.2	5	1
Clayton ThorsonNorthwestern	26/43	265	6.2	1	2

Rushing

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
J.K. DobbinsOhio State	17	68	4.0	1	11
Mike WeberOhio State	17	51	3.0	0	11
Dwayne HaskinsOhio State	10	-5	-0.5	0	7
TeamOhio State	2	-6	-3.0	0	0
John Moten IVNorthwestern	4	76	19.0	1	77
Isaiah BowserNorthwestern	14	62	4.4	0	20
Riley LeesNorthwestern	1	18	18.0	0	18
Clayton ThorsonNorthwestern	6	-3	-0.5	1	18

Receiving

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Johnnie DixonOhio State	7	129	18.4	1	63
Parris CampbellOhio State	7	89	12.7	0	17
Chris OlaveOhio State	5	79	15.8	1	29
Terry McLaurinOhio State	3	78	26.0	2	42
J.K. DobbinsOhio State	4	50	12.5	1	28
Binjimen VictorOhio State	2	33	16.5	0	17
Mike WeberOhio State	3	21	7.0	0	12
Alex WilliamsOhio State	1	10	10.0	0	10
K.J. HillOhio State	1	8	8.0	0	8
Demario McCallOhio State	1	8	8.0	0	8
Rashod BerryOhio State	1	4	4.0	0	4
Kyric McGowanNorthwestern	3	48	16.0	0	17
Ben SkowronekNorthwestern	4	42	10.5	0	15
Jelani RobertsNorthwestern	1	33	33.0	0	33
Charlie FesslerNorthwestern	3	33	11.0	0	17
Cameron GreenNorthwestern	4	26	6.5	1	16
Trey PughNorthwestern	2	25	12.5	0	15
Isaiah BowserNorthwestern	2	24	12.0	0	15
Flynn NagelNorthwestern	2	13	6.5	0	9
Berkeley HolmanNorthwestern	2	7	3.5	0	9
Riley LeesNorthwestern	1	6	6.0	0	6
Chad HanaokaNorthwestern	1	5	5.0	0	5
Solomon VaultNorthwestern	1	3	3.0	0	3

Show more stats (7 more categories)

Defense

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR
Malik HarrisonOhio State	10	6	0	0	0	2
Jordan FullerOhio State	9	7	0	1	0	0
Brendon WhiteOhio State	5	4	0	0	0	0
Damon ArnetteOhio State	4	4	0	0	0	0
Dre'Mont JonesOhio State	4	2	1	1	0	0
Chase YoungOhio State	3	3	3	3	0	0
Shaun WadeOhio State	3	3	0	0	0	0
Robert LandersOhio State	2	2	0	1	0	1
Jonathon CooperOhio State	2	2	0	0	0	0
Johnnie DixonOhio State	2	1	0	0	0	0
Tuf BorlandOhio State	2	1	0	0	1	1
Taron VincentOhio State	1	1	1	1	0	0
Jashon CornellOhio State	1	1	0	0	0	0
Davon HamiltonOhio State	1	1	0	0	0	0
Dwayne HaskinsOhio State	1	1	0	0	0	0
Jeffrey OkudahOhio State	1	1	0	0	1	0
Haskell GarrettOhio State	1	1	0	0	0	0
Tommy TogiaiOhio State	1	1	0	1	0	0
Kendall SheffieldOhio State	1	0	0	0	1	0
Paddy FisherNorthwestern	11	8	0	0.5	0	0
Blake GallagherNorthwestern	8	7	0	0	0	0
Travis Jack WhillockNorthwestern	7	5	0	0	0	0
Sam MillerNorthwestern	5	4	1	2	0	0
JR PaceNorthwestern	5	4	0	0	0	0
Nate HallNorthwestern	5	3	0	1	0	0
Montre HartageNorthwestern	4	3	0	0	0	0
Joe GazianoNorthwestern	4	3	0.5	0.5	0	0
Earnest Brown IVNorthwestern	4	3	0.5	2.5	0	0
Jordan ThompsonNorthwestern	3	3	1	1	0	0
Alex MillerNorthwestern	3	3	1	1	0	0
Alonzo MayoNorthwestern	3	3	0	0	0	0
Greg Newsome IINorthwestern	3	3	0	0	0	0
Cameron RuizNorthwestern	2	2	0	0	0	0
Trent GoensNorthwestern	2	1	0	0.5	0	0
Jared McGeeNorthwestern	1	1	0	1	0	0
Ben OxleyNorthwestern	1	1	0	0	0	0
Clayton ThorsonNorthwestern	1	1	0	0	0	0
Solomon VaultNorthwestern	1	1	0	0	0	0
Fred WyattNorthwestern	1	1	0	0	0	0
Joe BerginNorthwestern	1	1	0	0	0	0
Tyler GillikinNorthwestern	1	1	0	0	0	0
Ramaud Chiaokhiao-BowmanNorthwestern	1	1	0	0	0	0
Chris BerginNorthwestern	1	1	0	0	0	0

Fumbles

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Jordan FullerOhio State	0	0	1
Mike WeberOhio State	1	1	0
Travis Jack WhillockNorthwestern	0	0	1
Clayton ThorsonNorthwestern	1	1	0

Interceptions

Player	INT	YDS
Damon ArnetteOhio State	1	1
Shaun WadeOhio State	1	0
Montre HartageNorthwestern	1	0

Kick Returns

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Demario McCallOhio State	2	43	21.5	26	0

Kicking

Player	TOT	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Blake HaubeilOhio State	1/2	50.0	42	6/6	9
Charlie KuhbanderNorthwestern	1/1	100.0	21	3/3	6

Punt Returns

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
K.J. HillOhio State	2	9	4.5	6	0
Riley LeesNorthwestern	1	1	1.0	1	0

Punting

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Drue ChrismanOhio State	4	219	54.8	1	2	62
Jake CollinsNorthwestern	7	288	41.1	0	1	56

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back.

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