Ohio State: How special teams saved lackluster Buckeyes

Here’s a clear indication about the quiet life of a punter, even at a football-mad university such as Ohio State.

The Buckeyes’ Drue Chrisman was chosen to do postgame interviews in the media room after Saturday’s 26-6 victory at Michigan State. Those media appearances are common for any game’s star performers.

It’s not common for punters, though.

“I didn’t even know this room existed,” Chrisman said.

Chrisman garnered a huge amount of praise — even a helmet sticker from ESPN’s College GameDay Final — for his efforts at Spartan Stadium, and rightly so. The Buckeyes punter only averaged 37.8 yards on nine punts, but that does not begin to tell the story of his performance. He, and the speedy players tasked with running downfield to down punts, pinned the Spartans inside their 6-yard line on five consecutive possessions in the second half.

The sophomore talked about how often he punted against MSU — nine times, tying his career high — but that, after a 4-yard punt on his first attempt, he started to raise his comfort level.

“You’re getting punts on almost every drive, which is not what we want,” Chrisman said, according to OSU’s student newspaper, The Lantern. ”You just get comfortable, into that groove and then you’re just able to do whatever the team needs of you.”

Add in a first-half punt when Chrisman pinned the Spartans at their 12 and he had six punts inside the 20 for the day. He had his second-lowest average of the season but that didn’t matter at all.

The “gunners” on special teams also deserve a ton of credit. Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer, noted for how much attention he devotes to special teams, said that their efforts made a big difference.

“We were just playing the field position game,” Meyer said. “We kicked it five times inside their 6-yard line. In those conditions, that was the difference. … I can’t imagine a group of guys that works harder than our gunners.”

Terry McLaurin led OSU in receiving yards with 63, but he might have had an even better day covering punts. Check out the effort on Chrisman’s first attempt of the second half, pinning MSU at its 5:

McLaurin later made another terrific play to stop a punt from bouncing into the end zone, as did long snapper Liam McCullough and receiver Johnnie Dixon.

“I’m really ecstatic for: Our defense, our punter and Terry McLaurin,” Meyer said. “You go back to Bradley Roby, Devin Smith, Denzel Ward, Gareon Conley. We call them the “gunners.” Terry is as good as there is. He’s taken over the title of the best I’ve ever had.”

On a day when Ohio State’s offense had its least productive day of the season, the defense was solid. But that defense got a ton of help from its special teams.

Especially from a guy who isn’t used to all the attention.