COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State’s performance didn’t draw rave reviews Saturday. But the Buckeyes were less of a mixed bag in Week 2 than a week prior at Indiana. Of course, their opponent was an FCS team.

And given that fact, their 35-7 win over Youngstown could best be described as uneven.

The defense allowed the Penguins to convert 7 first downs and win time of possession by 8 minutes. As a result, the Buckeyes ran only 60 plays in 9 drives before a 1-play 10th possession to end the game.

The rule changes to reduce the number of times the clock stops has drastically reduced the number of plays in the Buckeyes’ first 2 games — by about 30 plays each. That doesn’t make a play-caller like Ryan Day happy.

Fewer plays and possessions aren’t the only reasons the Buckeyes aren’t lighting up the scoreboard. The offensive line needs to be better in the running game. And the defense can’t let an inferior team win time of possession by 8 minutes.

Player of the Week: Marvin Harrison Jr.

Harrison is still good at football in case there were any doubts after last week’s non-highlight-reel game at Indiana. In the first half, Harrison caught 2 touchdown passes including a career-long catch for 71 yards. He finished the half with 7 catches for 160 yards.

Freshman of the Week: Wide receiver Carnell Tate

Tate helped lead the second touchdown drive under non-starting quarterback Devin Brown. He caught a 20-yard pass to the 30 to set up TreVeyon Henderson’s touchdown run on the next play. He caught a second pass for no gain.

Biggest surprise: Shakeup in the secondary

Josh Proctor did not start at free safety after a stellar performance last week at Indiana. But it wasn’t his fault. He warmed up some but was unable to play because of what is presumably an ankle injury.

True freshman Malik Hartford started, but Syracuse transfer Ja’Had Carter played the most at the spot after not playing at all last week against Indiana.

Biggest concern: Offensive line … still

When asked if he wanted to discuss their performance, Day said no. TreVeyon Henderson averaged 11.2 yards on 5 carries. But he also lost 3 carries, 27 yards and a touchdown because of holding penalties.

Developing trend: Locking up QB1 job

Kyle McCord is earning the starting quarterback job for good. He came out more poised and made a good read to exploit a busted coverage on the fourth play of the game, hitting Harrison on the 71-yard touchdown.

McCord had his second 200-yard day with 258 yards. He completed 14 of 20 and threw for 3 touchdowns. Brown played a lot more than last week and completed 7 of 13 passes for 101 yards.

Key stat: No one got 10 carries

The wide distribution of rushing attempts continued, with no one getting more than 6 carries. Henderson had 5 that counted. Miyan Williams, Chip Trayanum and Brown had 6 apiece. Xavier Johnson had 3 and McCord 1. After Henderson’s 11.2 average, the best was Williams’ 4.2.

The division of labor will apparently continue, but Henderson is clearly the best option.

First impression about Week 3

At this past Tuesday’s news conference, a question was posed to Day about “2” upcoming games against FCS opponents. The reporter was quickly corrected. Western Kentucky, this week’s foe, is in the FBS and led the nation with almost 5,000 passing yards a year ago.

The Hilltoppers (2-0) are the preseason pick to win Conference USA are back at it this year with 300+ passing yards in each of their wins. Being tested through the air will be good for the OSU defense with Sam Hartman and Notre Dame on tap a week later on the road.