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 StateAP No. 6 45

Away · Challenger

NorthwesternAP No. 21 24

AP poll, week 14: Northwestern No. 21 at Ohio State No. 6 · No. 1 that week: Georgia. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Ohio State came in 21 days into reign #306, which began with a win over Michigan State, with 2 defenses already behind it; this was its third defense. Ohio State went on to defend it 14 more times before Clemson took it on December 28, 2019, 413 days after the reign began.

For Northwestern this was its 13th shot at the belt; it had held the belt once before.

It was the 6th of 7 belt games between the two; going in, Ohio State led the belt series 4–1; all-time Ohio State leads 6–1. Every meeting →

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

Ohio State

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT
Dwayne Haskins	34/41	499	12.2	5	1

Northwestern

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT
Clayton Thorson	26/43	265	6.2	1	2

Rushing

Ohio State

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
J.K. Dobbins	17	68	4.0	1	11
Mike Weber	17	51	3.0	0	11
Dwayne Haskins	10	-5	-0.5	0	7
Team	2	-6	-3.0	0	0

Northwestern

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
John Moten IV	4	76	19.0	1	77
Isaiah Bowser	14	62	4.4	0	20
Riley Lees	1	18	18.0	0	18
Clayton Thorson	6	-3	-0.5	1	18

Receiving

Ohio State

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Johnnie Dixon	7	129	18.4	1	63
Parris Campbell	7	89	12.7	0	17
Chris Olave	5	79	15.8	1	29
Terry McLaurin	3	78	26.0	2	42
J.K. Dobbins	4	50	12.5	1	28
Binjimen Victor	2	33	16.5	0	17
Mike Weber	3	21	7.0	0	12
Alex Williams	1	10	10.0	0	10
K.J. Hill	1	8	8.0	0	8
Demario McCall	1	8	8.0	0	8
Rashod Berry	1	4	4.0	0	4

Northwestern

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Kyric McGowan	3	48	16.0	0	17
Ben Skowronek	4	42	10.5	0	15
Jelani Roberts	1	33	33.0	0	33
Charlie Fessler	3	33	11.0	0	17
Cameron Green	4	26	6.5	1	16
Trey Pugh	2	25	12.5	0	15
Isaiah Bowser	2	24	12.0	0	15
Flynn Nagel	2	13	6.5	0	9
Berkeley Holman	2	7	3.5	0	9
Riley Lees	1	6	6.0	0	6
Chad Hanaoka	1	5	5.0	0	5
Solomon Vault	1	3	3.0	0	3

Show more stats (7 more categories)

Defense

Ohio State

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR
Malik Harrison	10	6	0	0	0	2
Jordan Fuller	9	7	0	1	0	0
Brendon White	5	4	0	0	0	0
Damon Arnette	4	4	0	0	0	0
Dre'Mont Jones	4	2	1	1	0	0
Chase Young	3	3	3	3	0	0
Shaun Wade	3	3	0	0	0	0
Robert Landers	2	2	0	1	0	1
Jonathon Cooper	2	2	0	0	0	0
Johnnie Dixon	2	1	0	0	0	0
Tuf Borland	2	1	0	0	1	1
Taron Vincent	1	1	1	1	0	0
Jashon Cornell	1	1	0	0	0	0
Davon Hamilton	1	1	0	0	0	0
Dwayne Haskins	1	1	0	0	0	0
Jeffrey Okudah	1	1	0	0	1	0
Haskell Garrett	1	1	0	0	0	0
Tommy Togiai	1	1	0	1	0	0
Kendall Sheffield	1	0	0	0	1	0

Northwestern

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL
Paddy Fisher	11	8	0	0.5
Blake Gallagher	8	7	0	0
Travis Jack Whillock	7	5	0	0
Sam Miller	5	4	1	2
JR Pace	5	4	0	0
Nate Hall	5	3	0	1
Montre Hartage	4	3	0	0
Joe Gaziano	4	3	0.5	0.5
Earnest Brown IV	4	3	0.5	2.5
Jordan Thompson	3	3	1	1
Alex Miller	3	3	1	1
Alonzo Mayo	3	3	0	0
Greg Newsome II	3	3	0	0
Cameron Ruiz	2	2	0	0
Trent Goens	2	1	0	0.5
Jared McGee	1	1	0	1
Ben Oxley	1	1	0	0
Clayton Thorson	1	1	0	0
Solomon Vault	1	1	0	0
Fred Wyatt	1	1	0	0
Joe Bergin	1	1	0	0
Tyler Gillikin	1	1	0	0
Ramaud Chiaokhiao-Bowman	1	1	0	0
Chris Bergin	1	1	0	0

Fumbles

Ohio State

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Jordan Fuller	0	0	1
Mike Weber	1	1	0

Northwestern

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Travis Jack Whillock	0	0	1
Clayton Thorson	1	1	0

Interceptions

Ohio State

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Damon Arnette	1	1	0
Shaun Wade	1	0	0

Northwestern

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Montre Hartage	1	0	0

Kick Returns

Ohio State

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

Northwestern

No recorded stats in this category.

Kicking

Ohio State

Player	TOT	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Blake Haubeil	1/2	50.0	42	6/6	9

Northwestern

Player	TOT	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Charlie Kuhbander	1/1	100.0	21	3/3	6

Punt Returns

Ohio State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
K.J. Hill	2	9	4.5	6	0

Northwestern

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Riley Lees	1	1	1.0	1	0

Punting

Ohio State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Drue Chrisman	4	219	54.8	1	2	62

Northwestern

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Jake Collins	7	288	41.1	0	1	56

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data, split out by team. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back. Linked player names go to that player’s stat line in every other belt game they’ve appeared in.

Sources Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 401056702) · This game in the downloadable dataset

← Michigan at Ohio State Washington at Ohio State →