How Warren Buffett’s portfolio describes Ohio State’s win over Nebraska

Ohio State wrapped up the month of October by hosting the Nebraska Cornhuskers on the final Saturday of the month. Entering the game as 25.5-point favorites, the Buckeyes had their hands full with Matt Rhule’s team, needing an interception late in the fourth quarter by Jordan Hancock to seal the 21-17 victory, extending their winning streak over Nebraska to eight games. Now Ohio State can fully turn their attention to Penn State, who they’ll face next Saturday in State College.

Before we turn the page on Nebraska here at LGHL, we are going to take another look at what we saw in Saturday’s game but put a different spin on it. Since one of Nebraska’s most famous alums is Warren Buffett, an interesting way to recap the game is to use some of the assets owned by Berkshire Hathaway to describe some of the key points from the nail-biter at Ohio Stadium. Buffett graduated from Nebraska in 1950 with a degree in business administration, and a little more than a decade later he took control of Berkshire Hathaway, which at the time was a textile company.

Pilot Flying J

Jeremiah Smith continues to impress, scoring another long touchdown where he left the opposing defense in the dust. Midway through the second quarter Smith found his way behind the Nebraska secondary and Will Howard found the wide receiver for a 60-yard touchdown to push Ohio State’s lead to 14-3. Smith finished with three catches for 70 yards in the victory, recording at least 70 yards receiving and a touchdown in each of his first seven collegiate games.

It’s only a matter of time before Smith stands alone at the top of Ohio State’s freshman receiving lists. With his touchdown on Saturday, Smith now has eight receiving touchdowns, tying Cris Carter’s school record, which he set back in 1984. Along with his scoring prowess, Smith sits second on the freshman receptions list. After catching three passes against Nebraska, Smith has 35 receptions, moving past the 33 catches David Boston hauled in during his freshman season. Standing between Smith and the top spot is Cris Carter, who caught 41 balls in 1984. Soon “Flying J” Smith will be the captain when it comes to output for Buckeye freshman receivers.

Duracell

Cody Simon keeps going and going and going. Wait, maybe that’s the Energizer slogan but you catch my drift. Since missing the season opener against Akron, Simon has been all over the field for Ohio State. The linebacker led the team on Saturday, registering eight stops against the Cornhuskers, marking the second straight week that Simon has been the team’s top tackler.

Even more will be needed for one of the team captains next week since Ohio State will be short-handed at linebacker for the first half against Penn State. In the fourth quarter against Nebraska, Arvell Reese was ejected on a very questionable targeting call that resulted in head coach Ryan Day coming unglued. Simon now has 33 tackles in the six games he has played in this year, putting him 25 away from moving past his career-high of 57 tackles, which he recorded in 2023. With 20 more stops Simon will hit 200 tackles during his time in the scarlet and gray.

Acme Brick Company

Following the Oregon game there was a lot of criticism of Jim Knowles and his defense. Credit to the defensive coordinator for having his unit ready to play on Saturday. Had it not been for the efforts of the Silver Bullets Ohio State would have likely been riding a two-game losing streak right now. There are still some issues to iron out with the defense but it was a nice bounce-back performance to restore some of their confidence ahead of next week’s showdown at Penn State.

It was obvious early that Nebraska wanted to use some screen passes to try and crack the Ohio State defense. The Buckeyes were ready for what the Cornhuskers were trying to do, stopping a number of those plays behind the line of scrimmage. Ohio State finished the game with 13 tackles behind the line of scrimmage. The biggest stop of the game for the Buckeyes wasn’t actually a TFL, as they stuffed Nebraska running back Dante Dowdell at the one-yard line on 4th and goal in the third quarter to keep the score 14-9. The stop was crucial because it came after a Will Howard interception that the Cornhuskers returned inside the 10 of Ohio State. Jordan Hancock would seal the victory for the Buckeyes late in the fourth quarter with an interception of a Dylan Raiola pass.

General Motors

The automobile maker only makes up a small portion of Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio, as Buffett’s company owns a four percent share of GM. Yesterday the Ohio State rushing attack didn’t look anything like a high-performance machine, only rushing for 64 yards against a game Nebraska defense. Both TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins failed to rush for more than 30 yards in their most frustrating performance of the season.

A major reason for the struggles was that it was obvious Zen Michalski wasn’t ready to replace the injured Josh Simmons at tackle. Michalski routinely looked lost before he was injured in the second half. It is unknown if Michalski will be available against Penn State on Saturday. No matter if Michalski is to play against the Nittany Lions, Ohio State needs to quickly find an answer at the position because it is hard to see the Buckeyes being a serious title contender if what we saw against Nebraska in trying to replace Simmons is the best they can do. It might be time to see if Justin Frye still qualifies for the Lemon Law since what he has done since arriving in Columbus as the offensive line coach has been underwhelming.

Kroger

Much like General Motors, Berkshire Hathaway only owns a small portion of the grocery giant, as they are responsible for eight percent of the company. Last year Ohio State Ryan Day said he was heckled in the produce section at Kroger. If Day isn’t careful, he might soon be working in the produce section. Of course, I’m being dramatic but patience in Buckeye Nation with Day continues to wear thin.

What exactly have Day and the coaching staff been doing since the loss to Oregon? It’s understandable how teams might have some rust to knock off after a bye week but what they showed on Saturday was inexcusable. Nebraska came into the game coming off a 56-7 loss at Indiana, which makes what Ohio State showed against the Cornhuskers even more puzzling. Matt Rhule thoroughly outcoached Day and put Day’s streak of not yet losing to an unranked team in serious jeopardy.

Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Ohio State fans might sound spoiled calling for the job of a head coach who is 62-9. This Buckeye has the chance to be special but they almost saw their national title hopes take a major hit against a team they were 25-point favorites over entering the game. The loss to Oregon was tough to stomach but that’s just because it was so close and there is a path for revenge later in the year. A loss to Nebraska would have been catastrophic. Then there was Day’s meltdown after the targeting call on Arvell Reese. It feels like Day is falling into some of his old habits and coaching scared. If Day can’t regroup and make some noise in the playoff he’ll just be new-age John Cooper.