COLUMBUS, Ohio | Ohio State didn’t wait long to show NIU why it is No. 1 in the country.

The Buckeyes took advantage of the Huskies’ porous defense early, racking up an astonishing 28 points in the first 15:05 en route to a 35-12 victory Saturday in this sprawling college town.

OSU needed less than seven minutes to score its three early touchdowns and put more than enough distance between itself and the Huskies.

The overmatched NIU secondary struggled to slow the apparent track stars in OSU uniforms — junior receiver Ted Ginn Jr. in particular.

“I’ve played people of similar speed, but he was fast,” said NIU cornerback Adriel Hansbro, referencing Ginn. “We tried to cut his angles and tried to get our hands on him as much as possible.”

Despite the first-quarter debacle, the Huskies did pull some positives in the last three quarters of the game.

The NIU offense and defense settled in and outscored the Buckeyes 12-7 in the game’s last 45 minutes.

The Huskies offense began to look sharp after the one-man army that was Garrett Wolfe led NIU down the field and set up a 35-yard Chris Nendick field goal for the Huskies’ first points of the game.

From there, the NIU defense began to lock down the potent OSU offense, forcing two fumbles that were recovered by the Huskies in the second half.

“In the first half, I was afraid things were out of hand,” said NIU coach Joe Novak. “I thought we settled down and played better in the second half. We ran and threw a little better in the end.”

Wolfe ended the game with 285 of the Huskies’ 343 total yards and the team’s only touchdown.

The wasted performance did little but prove the need for Wolfe’s teammates to step up their game and help shoulder the load.

“I’m very disappointed with us losing,” Wolfe said. “I believe this is the worst loss I’ve had as a player.”