SportsDirect Inc. staff
Sep 1, 2012
Ohio State 56, Miami (Ohio) 10: Braxton Miller threw a pair of touchdown passes and ran for a score as the Buckeyes overcame a slow start to open the Urban Meyer era with a rout of Miami (Ohio).
Trailing 3-0 after a sluggish first quarter, Miller heated up in the second quarter - both with his arm and his legs - as the Buckeyes reeled off 35 straight points and coasted past their intrastate foe. The sophomore QB, who started just 1 of 7 for 5 yards, finished with 207 yards and two touchdown passes while rushing for a career-high 161 yards and another score.
The Buckeyes amassed 538 yards of total offense while committing just three penalties and no turnovers.
OSU got going when Miller threw a 23-yard TD pass to Devin Smith, who made an acrobatic, one-handed leaping catch to put the Buckeyes on the scoreboard early in the second quarter.
Carlos Hyde added 82 rushing yards for Ohio State, which finished with 294 yards on the ground.
Zac Dysert led the Miami (Ohio) offense by completing 31 of 53 passes for 303 yards - highlighted by a 44-yard TD strike to Nick Harwell, who caught eight passes for 120 yards. Dysert was intercepted two times by the Ohio State defense, which held the Redhawks to -1 rushing yards.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Ohio State has won 34 straight season openers at home since 1978. The last team to win a home opener against the Buckeyes in Columbus was a No. 6-ranked Penn State team. ... Ohio State has now won 13 straight season openers overall and 58 consecutive regular season games against unranked opponents. ... Dysert is the first opposing quarterback since 2005 to throw for more than 300 yards at Ohio Stadium.