The Ohio State Buckeyes put it all together today; the complete game that fans have been impatiently waiting for all season. The offense executed and the defense continued to dominate, pressuring their opponent into 5 turnovers in a 45-7 win over the Michigan State Spartans.

James was all over the place. Every time I turned out, he was in on a tackle. He has a knack for being in the right place at the right time when it comes to tackling, and today was no exception. He finished with 11 tackles and 1 1/2 sacks. But his impact, in my eyes, was much more than that.

His defensive soldiers were making plays as well! Malcolm Jenkins continues to get pressure and cause turnovers. Today, he sacked MSU backup QB Kirk Cousins. Thaddeus Gibson picked up the ball and ran it back for a score. Running alongside Gibson was Jenkins, who provided protection from Spartan RB Javon Ringer.

The defense was definitely fired up. They set their goal as limiting/containing Sparty’s Heisman Trophy hopeful RB Javon Ringer. They accomplished that as he was only able to rush for 67 yards. They may have had an extra incentive as Ringer told ESPN’s College GameDay he wanted to beat the Bucks by 4 or 5 TDs. Coach Heacock made the defensive unit aware of those comments and it definitely motivated them.

With the run game shut down, MSU looked to establish a passing game after James knocked starting QB Brian Hoyer out of the game. Backup QB Cousins, was a nice change of pace for MSU, as he completed his first 10 passes. He led the Spartans to their only points of the day. But eventually, the Buckeye ‘D’ got to him as well. He threw an INT as well as the aforementioned fumble.

On the other side of the ball, the Buckeye offense found a rhythm and jumped out to a 21-0 lead after the 1st quarter. It was not the one-sided affair we all saw during the Purdue game. While the offense seemed to shut it down a bit in the second half, the defense continued to swarm, turning 2 Spartan turnovers directly into TDs in the 4th quarter alone.

It was nice to see the Laurinaitis family in the stands during the game. James’ younger sister, Jessica — who is now an Ohio State freshman — was wearing a Wayzata Football hat, paying tribute to their high school back in Minnesota.

James’ postgame note mentions are as follows:

• James Laurinaitis led the defense with 11 tackles. He now has 14 career games with 10 or more tackles. He has 55 tackles in his last five games.

• Laurinaitis now has 132 tackles in 13 career games against ranked opponents, an average of 10.1 per game.

• In three career games with the Spartans James Laurinaitis has 32 tackles and 3.5 sacks.

Great outing for the team to build on when undefeated at #3 ranked Penn St. comes to the ‘Shoe next weekend under the lights!