Hot 11: Post Northwestern

Nobody outside of the Northwestern program went into Saturday’s game thinking that this game was going to be a significant challenge.

Ohio State was its typical self in being a slow starter, putting up zero points in the first quarter once again, but when the dust settled at Wrigley, the Buckeyes walked out with the win and were able to focus on the next two games, starting with Indiana.

But as always, we wrap up the week that was by scouting the Hot 11, a chance to look at the top 11 players on the team. This is not supposed to be a list of players of the week, but rather a running list of the season as a whole.

That means one good game shouldn’t put you atop the list and one bad came shouldn’t drop you off the list.

But we let our members at Buckeye Huddle vote on this list 100-percent, so the list is their will and we don’t control it.

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Rank	Player	Details	Last
1.	Jeremiah Smith (99)	Smith had a big game in terms of having 100 yards on just four catches. People will remember his 68-yard catch-and-run but more importantly how he got up limping after a questionable tackle by a Northwestern defender. Smith was seen with ice on his ankle after the game and BuckeyeNation is nervous how he is responding.	1st
2.	Caleb Downs (94)	I read an insane X/tweet from some Alabama person that Downs has hurt his draft stock since joining the Buckeyes. After I was done laughing at that, I put in some highlights of Downs absolutely erasing plays and laughed some more.	2nd
3.	Seth McLaughlin (77)	Offensive line remains the most difficult position to talk about on here with the lack of tangible statistics, but the Ohio State OL plays well and McLaughlin is the anchor of it at center.	5th
4.	Will Howard (70)	Ho-hum, it was not the most stat-driven game of Howard’s Ohio State career, but he was 15-24 for 247 yards and two scores in Ohio State’s win. Howard does not need to go out there and win the game himself, he just has to play within himself and he will face some tests against IU this week.	3rd
T5.	TreVeyon Henderson (50)	Henderson ran for 74 yards and had two receptions for another 19 yards to add to the totals. Henderson has to be the healthiest he has ever been in an Ohio State uniform at this point of the season and the Buckeyes are really going to need him moving ahead.	10th
T5.	Emeka Egbuka (50)	Egbuka didn’t have a huge numbers day but there is no question how valuable he is to the operation. He had two catches for 25 yards for the Buckeyes and was credited with being sacked on a trick play where he looked to throw but didn’t go downfield with it.	6th
7.	Lathan Ransom (44)	Ransom is a fixture on the list and had four tackles of his own as the Buckeyes locked things down after Northwestern’s lone score of the game. This upcoming game is going to see a lot of action for the entire secondary and you know Ransom will be up for the challenge.	4th
8.	Carnell Tate (33)	Tate makes the list some weeks and not others but this was a week he definitely needed to make it, even if there could be an argument to add a couple of other players. His homecoming to Chicago saw him haul in two touchdowns as the Buckeyes made sure to feed their valuable wideout in front of the home crowd, especially with all that he has endured as a Buckeye.	NR
9.	Quinshon Judkins (30)	Judkins actually outrushed Henderson by two yards and had two touchdowns where Tre didn’t get to eat in the endzone. But the voters voted how they did. Judkins has not had a chance for a long run lately, he is due.	8th
10.	Tyleik Williams (24)	Williams is another one of those players that generally doesn’t pop in the scorebook, until he does. This was not one of those games but don’t buy into the numbers as the whole story. Ohio State absolutely needs more Williams, not less.	7th
11.	Sonny Styles (23)	I personally was shocked that Styles didn’t rate a little higher after his NU game. Two sacks, two PBUs, a good amount of action playing as a true pass rusher, I was seeing what I expected Styles to be all along. Let’s all hope that we see more of this with Styles playing closer to the ball and being able to use his best God-given talents.	NR