Moment of the Game: Ransom’s massive hit proves his health and defensive aggression

Oh yeah, and Jeremiah Smith broke two program records too.

The easy pick here for the moment of the game is Jeremiah Smith surpassing Cris Carter’s freshmen receptions record and his freshman touchdowns record, but I’ve picked a lot of J.J. Smith plays for this column already this season (also, the video for the record-breaking touchdown is below).

So, I went with a play that not only shows a shift in Ohio State’s defensive aggression in recent weeks, but also confirms that a key player on that side of the ball for the Buckeyes is clearly healthy and back to 100%.

Halfway through the second quarter with the Buckeyes up 14-0, Purdue was on the move. On 2nd-and-4 from the Boilermaker 43, Texas transfer quarterback Hudson Card kept the ball and ran to the right, aiming to pick up the first down. However, a missile was fired from the back of the defense and absolutely blew him up.

When Card decided to keep the ball on what appeared to be a zone read, safety Lathan Ransom was roughly 20 yards away from him as the deepest man on defense. But, he read the play from deep in the secondary and made a B-line for the ball carrier.

While Card had to avoid some other Buckeye rushers, Ransom closed 15 yards in the same amount of time that the QB ran seven. When they met at the Purdue 46-yard line, Ransom delivered a massive hit that dislodged the ball and stopped Card short of the line to gain.

One of the knocks on the Buckeyes coming out of the loss to Oregon in Eugene was that they just weren’t aggressive enough on defense to force Dillon Gabriel and the Ducks’ offense into difficult situations.

Since then, we have started to see some more creativity up front with stunts and blitzes from different positions, and it has been marginally effective. A lot of that focus has been on the defensive line and whether or not they are actually able to hit the quarterback — OSU had four sacks and five tackles for loss against Purdue. But, it seems to me that this aggressive mindset has begun to permeate the entire defense, and Ransom’s closing speed and bone-shaking hit prove it.

Ransom was injured against Oregon and didn’t play against Nebraska coming out of the subsequent bye week. The safety has been no stranger to injuries in his time as a Buckeye. He broke his leg in the 2022 Rose Bowl and missed the final five games of last season with a foot injury.

So any time he has to miss snaps, let alone games, should cause fans to be a little apprehensive. But, based on a solid performance against Penn State and an even more impressive one against Purdue, I think that it’s safe to say that Lathna Ransom is as healthy as one can be heading into the final three games of the regular season.

Even though the stop didn’t result in an immediate punt or turnover on downs, the electric hit continued to give the Buckeye defense life. Ransom added a third-quarter interception to go along with four tackles; really solid day for one of the most important players on the OSU roster.

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As promised, here is the history-making touchdown catch for Jeremiah Smith.