October 18, 2019 Week 8 · Regular Season Belt defended

Ohio State defends the belt, 52–3, on the road at Northwestern.

Home · Challenger

Northwestern 3

Away · Defending Holder

Ohio StateAP No. 4 52

AP poll, week 8: Ohio State No. 4 at Northwestern unranked · No. 1 that week: Georgia. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Ohio State came in 342 days into reign #306, which began with a win over Michigan State, with 10 defenses already behind it; this was its 11th defense. Ohio State went on to defend it 6 more times before Clemson took it on December 28, 2019, 413 days after the reign began.

For Northwestern this was its 14th shot at the belt; it had held the belt once before.

It was the 7th of 7 belt games between the two; going in, Ohio State led the belt series 5–1; all-time Ohio State leads 6–1. Every meeting →

AI-Written

Recap

Ohio State's dominant defensive performance and efficient offensive execution resulted in a convincing 52-3 victory over Northwestern to retain the belt. The Buckeyes struck early with Justin Fields connecting with Chris Olave for a touchdown on their opening drive, then methodically built their lead throughout the first half with three more scoring drives capped by Fields' touchdown passes and J.K. Dobbins' short touchdown run. Northwestern managed only a field goal in the first half as their offense struggled to generate momentum, totaling just 42 passing yards for the entire game. Ohio State's relentless attack continued in the second half, with Fields and backup Chris Chugunov combining to add three more touchdowns, including an impressive 73-yard rushing touchdown by Master Teague III in the fourth quarter, while Northwestern's two interceptions in the final quarter sealed their inability to mount any meaningful comeback.

Justin Fields' early touchdown pass to Chris Olave set the tone for Ohio State's dominant performance from the opening drive
J.K. Dobbins' 68-yard run to the Northwestern 5-yard line in the second quarter exemplified Ohio State's offensive control of the line of scrimmage
Northwestern's three turnovers (two interceptions and one fumble) against only one turnover from Ohio State demonstrated the vast disparity in execution
Master Teague III's 73-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter put the game completely out of reach and highlighted Ohio State's superior depth and conditioning

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

NorthwesternOhio State

Total yards199480

Rushing yards157279

Passing yards42201

First downs1422

3rd down conv.5/188/14

Turnovers20

Penalties–yards8–765–58

Time of possession32:2227:38

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 10:42	Ohio State	+20 yd	Justin Fields pass complete to Chris Olave for 20 yds for a TD, (Blake Haubeil KICK)
Q1 15:00	Northwestern	+59 yd	Trey Finison kickoff for 64 yds for a touchback NORTHWESTERN Penalty, Illegal Procedure (-5 Yards)
Q1 3:05	Northwestern	+33 yd	Charlie Kuhbander 33 yd FG GOOD
Q2 12:44	Ohio State	+19 yd	Justin Fields pass complete to J.K. Dobbins for 19 yds for a TD, (Blake Haubeil KICK)
Q1 0:00	Ohio State	+20 yd	Justin Fields pass complete to K.J. Hill for 20 yds to the 50 yard line for a 1ST down
Q2 10:16	Northwestern	+38 yd	Daniel Kubiuk punt for 38 yds , Demario McCall returns for a loss of 1 yard to the OhSt 27
Q2 9:36	Ohio State	+5 yd	J.K. Dobbins run for 5 yds for a TD, (Blake Haubeil KICK)
Q2 10:16	Ohio State	+68 yd	J.K. Dobbins run for 68 yds to the Nwest 5 for a 1ST down
Q2 6:36	Ohio State	-5 yd	Justin Fields run for a loss of 5 yards to the OhSt 12 Justin Fields fumbled, recovered by OhSt Justin Fields
Q2 4:10	Northwestern	-9 yd	Tyler Gillikin run for a loss of 9 yards to the Nwest 15 Tyler Gillikin fumbled, recovered by Nwest Daniel Kubiuk
Q2 3:45	Ohio State	+8 yd	Justin Fields pass complete to Chris Olave for 8 yds for a TD, (Blake Haubeil KICK)
Q2 0:31	Northwestern	+33 yd	Daniel Kubiuk punt for 33 yds , Garrett Wilson returns for a loss of 1 yard to the Nwest 36
Q2 0:00	Ohio State	+55 yd	Blake Haubeil 55 yd FG GOOD
Q3 12:05	Northwestern	+21 yd	Daniel Kubiuk punt for 36 yds, punt out-of-bounds at the NORTHWSTRN 20 NORTHWESTERN Penalty, Kick Catching Interference (Joe Bergin) to the OhSt 35
Q3 9:45	Ohio State	+23 yd	Justin Fields pass complete to Austin Mack for 23 yds for a TD, (Blake Haubeil KICK)
Q4 15:00	Ohio State	-7 yd	Justin Fields sacked by Joe Gaziano for a loss of 7 yards to the Nwest 46 Justin Fields fumbled, forced by Joe Gaziano, recovered by OhSt Justin Fields , return for 0 yards
Q4 10:34	Ohio State	+45 yd	Drue Chrisman punt for 39 yds, fair catch by Riley Lees at the NORTHWSTRN 13 NORTHWESTERN Penalty, Offensive Holding (Greg Newsome II) to the Nwest 7
Q4 9:46	Northwestern	+0 yd	Aidan Smith pass intercepted Sevyn Banks return for no gain to the Nwest 11
Q4 9:20	Ohio State	+7 yd	Chris Chugunov pass complete to Jeremy Ruckert for 7 yds for a TD, (Blake Haubeil KICK)
Q4 7:46	Ohio State	+73 yd	Master Teague III run for 73 yds for a TD, (Blake Haubeil KICK)
Q4 2:38	Northwestern	+0 yd	Andrew Marty pass intercepted Amir Riep return for no gain to the OhSt 16
Q4 1:58	Ohio State	+53 yd	Marcus Crowley run for 53 yds to the Nwest 31 for a 1ST down

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

Northwestern

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Aidan Smith	6/20	42	2.1	0	1	8.6
Andrew Marty	0/1	0	0.0	0	1	72.9

Ohio State

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	QBR
Justin Fields	18/23	194	8.4	4	91.6
Chris Chugunov	1/2	7	3.5	1	99.5
Team	0/1	0	0.0	0	0.0

Rushing

Northwestern

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	LONG
Isaiah Bowser	16	65	4.1	16
Drake Anderson	13	39	3.0	9
Aidan Smith	11	33	3.0	10
Andrew Marty	2	16	8.0	16
Kyric McGowan	2	14	7.0	13
John Moten IV	2	-1	-0.5	2
Tyler Gillikin	1	-9	-9.0	0

Ohio State

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
J.K. Dobbins	18	121	6.7	1	68
Master Teague	7	96	13.7	1	73
Marcus Crowley	2	53	26.5	0	53
Justin Fields	6	8	1.3	0	10
Demario McCall	1	7	7.0	0	7
Team	3	-6	-2.0	0	0

Receiving

Northwestern

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	LONG
Riley Lees	3	19	6.3	9
Kyric McGowan	1	13	13.0	13
Jace James	2	10	5.0	5

Ohio State

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Chris Olave	5	60	12.0	2	20
Austin Mack	4	50	12.5	1	23
J.K. Dobbins	3	30	10.0	1	19
Garrett Wilson	3	28	9.3	0	13
K.J. Hill	2	19	9.5	0	20
Jeremy Ruckert	1	7	7.0	1	7
Binjimen Victor	1	7	7.0	0	7

Show more stats (7 more categories)

Defense

Northwestern

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR
Paddy Fisher	8	6	0	1	0	0
Chris Bergin	5	2	0	0	0	1
Sam Miller	5	1	0	0	0	0
Andrew Leota	3	1	0	0.5	0	0
Bryce Jackson	1	1	0	0	0	0
Brandon Joseph	1	1	0	0	0	0
Blake Gallagher	11	2	0	0.5	0	1
Greg Newsome II	7	7	0	0	1	0
Joe Gaziano	5	3	1	1	0	0
Cameron Ruiz	3	3	0	0	0	0
Travis Jack Whillock	3	1	0	0	0	0
JR Pace	3	0	0	0	0	0
Kyric McGowan	1	1	0	0	0	0
A.J. Hampton	1	1	0	0	1	0
Raymond Niro III	1	1	0	0	0	0
Cameron Mitchell	1	1	0	0	0	0
Joe Spivak	1	0	0	0	0	0
Alex Miller	0	0	0	0	0	1

Ohio State

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR
Jordan Fuller	5	5	0	0	0	0
Dallas Gant	4	2	0	0	0	0
Javontae Jean-Baptiste	4	2	0	0	0	0
Damon Arnette	3	3	0	0	0	0
Robert Landers	2	1	0	0.5	0	0
Haskell Garrett	2	1	0	0	0	0
Craig Young	1	1	0	0	0	0
Shaun Wade	1	0	0	0	2	0
Tyler Friday	1	0	0	0	0	0
Malik Harrison	9	7	0	0.5	0	1
Tuf Borland	5	5	0	1	0	0
Pete Werner	4	2	0	0	0	0
Tommy Togiai	4	1	0	0	0	0
Brendon White	3	1	0	0	0	0
K'Vaughan Pope	3	0	0	0	1	0
Chase Young	2	2	1	1	0	1
Jashon Cornell	2	2	0	0	0	1
Antwuan Jackson	2	2	0	1	0	0
Davon Hamilton	2	0	0	0	0	1
Justin Hilliard	1	1	0	1	0	0
Jonathon Cooper	1	1	0	0	1	0
Tyreke Smith	1	1	0	0	1	1
Josh Proctor	1	1	0	0	0	0

Fumbles

Northwestern

Player	REC	FUM	LOST
Tyler Gillikin	0	1	0

Ohio State

Player	REC	FUM	LOST
Justin Fields	0	2	0

Interceptions

Northwestern

No recorded stats in this category.

Ohio State

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Amir Riep	1	0	0
Sevyn Banks	1	0	0

Kick Returns

Northwestern

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Riley Lees	4	18	4.5	18	0

Ohio State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Demario McCall	1	0	0.0	0	0

Kicking

Northwestern

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Charlie Kuhbander	1/1	100.0	33	0/0	3

Ohio State

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Blake Haubeil	1/1	100.0	55	7/7	10

Punt Returns

Northwestern

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Riley Lees	2	12	6.0	6	0

Ohio State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Garrett Wilson	2	3	1.5	4	0
Demario McCall	1	-1	-1.0	0	0

Punting

Northwestern

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Daniel Kubiuk	7	262	37.4	0	0	45
Andrew David	1	42	42.0	0	0	42

Ohio State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Drue Chrisman	5	237	47.4	0	0	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 401112248) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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