CHICAGO, Ill. - Northwestern remains in search of its first win at Wrigley Field after a 31-7 loss to No. 2 Ohio State.

The Wildcats gave head coach Ryan Day's crew an early scare and took a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter, but the Buckeyes quickly found their groove and rattled off 31 unanswered points to seal their victory.

Northwestern quarterback Jack Lausch was 21-for-35 for 201 yards with a rushing touchdown. Wide receiver Bryce Kirtz made his return from injury with seven catches for 92 yards as the Wildcats' leading receiver, but their performances couldn't make a lasting dent in the formidable Ohio State squad, especially when plagued by a first-drive fumble by Lausch and a series of bad snaps.

"Against an opponent like Ohio State, the margin is ultra-thin," head coach David Braun said. "There were some things in the first half that gave us an opportunity, then some things that unraveled in the second quarter. In any game, let alone one against a team like Ohio State, it can't happen."

Ohio State wide receiver and Chicago native Carnell Tate had four catches for 52 yards and two touchdowns, and freshman phenom Jeremiah Smith chipped in four catches for a game-high 100 yards in his own right. Running backs Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson combined for 150 yards and two touchdowns.

Here are our takeaways from Northwestern's Homecoming loss.

Wildcats threw a great first punch: Northwestern took the second-ranked Buckeyes by surprise with two long drives to start the game. The first was 11 plays for 59 yards that ended with a Lausch fumble in the red zone, but burned nearly seven minutes of clock. Ohio State's next drive ended with a punt after a touchdown pass to Smith was overturned, and the Wildcats went 13 plays for 92 yards and a touchdown.

"I challenged our program going into the bye week," Braun said. "There's a difference between hope and belief...we all know that if we play Ohio State in a seven-game series, that's a tall task but that's why you play.

"The way we came out swinging [I believed we could win]."

Lausch threw some of the best passes of his career with five completions for 10+ yards in his first ten attempts, and punched in a quarterback draw from eight yards out for a 7-0 lead that held into the heart of the second quarter.

"He's getting the ball out and up," Braun said. "He's allowing playmakers like Bryce Kirtz, AJ Henning, CJ Johnson, to adjust for the ball and go compete for it.

"That wasn't something he was doing earlier in the season, I think that's why we've seen some of the deep ball production show up."

The Buckeye defense, which entered the game as the No. 2 scoring defense in the country would hold Northwestern scoreless the rest of the way, albeit with two aggressive and unsuccessful fourth-down calls that could have changed the final score. But with lesser units ahead in Michigan and Illinois, this performance gives Northwestern some belief it can compete in those games and for a bowl berth.

Self-inflicted wounds escalated Ohio State's runaway win: After those two long drives, Northwestern found themselves at third-and-4 on their own 31 with a chance to keep the drive alive, the score tied 7-7. Instead, a bad snap by center Jackson Carsello that never came close to Lausch led to a scrum for the ball, eventually won by left tackle Caleb Tiernan for a loss of four.

Crisis seemed to be averted but long snapper Will Halkyard snapped it past punter Hunter Renner on the next play.

"There's no one else that I'd rather have snapping for us than Will Halkyard," Braun said. "I've never seen Will do that in a game or practice, but that was certainly a change in momentum."

Renner broke a tackle and tried to get a punt off, but it was blocked and recovered by the Buckeyes at the NU 1. Braun pointed out that Renner's play, which many saw as an unnecessary risk, was needed as the ball had checked up short of the end zone. Had Renner tried to bat it out the back for a safety, Ohio State would have gotten the ball at the 1 anyways.

Judkins punched it in two plays later and Ohio State had gained a lead they would never relinquish.

Another bad snap by Carsello cut a drive short where Lausch had to dive forward to recover it, pushing a second-and-7 to a third-and-11 and killing the drive.

Carsello has subbed in for the injured Jack Bailey since Bailey suffered a season-ending injury at Washington, and has struggled to find consistency with his snaps, sending Lausch jumping and diving after several of them in the past few weeks. Braun stood by his next man up in the middle.

""It's the few and the proud in that [O-line] room, right now," Braun said. "They're battling their butts off. I'm really proud of the way Jackson Carsello has continued to battle.

"We have to clean the snaps up but we are not evaluating [a change] at that position right now."

Braun did make a change at left guard, and true freshman Ezomo Oratokhai got his first start in place of Cooper Lovelace. Oratokhai had previously appeared off the bench for a big chunk of the Wisconsin game.

Injury-riddled defense showed potential against Ohio State: Ohio State scored on five straight possessions but the Wildcats were without arguably their top two defenders in linebacker Xander Mueller and cornerback Theran Johnson. Young corners Josh Fussell and Braden Turner had the unenviable task of trying to contain Ohio State's air attack and showed real flashes of their potential.

"The level that has to improve is consistency," Braun said. "Can we see that type of confidence and performance consistently? But I grabbed both of those guys after the game and was like, man, if this isn't some form of confidence booster against one of the best wide receiving corps you'll ever see, I don't what is."

Braun added he expects Johnson to be back next week at Michigan. Northwestern's next generation on defense showed there's real upside for this team's future within what was anticipated to be a veteran-laden effort.

Whose Homecoming was it? Northwestern set this as their Homecoming game, but you would have never know it looking at the stands. Buckeye fans swarmed the Friendly Confines and the purple was drowned out by about a 90-10 ratio of red.

You could have played this game on Mars and gotten the same result on the field, but this was a perplexing decision by Northwestern's administration, creating a subpar experience for alums that made the trip.

This administrative own goal was the direct result of Northwestern reaping what it had sowed by its own indecision and lack of planning. Northwestern hasn't explicitly stated this, but it's easy to imply the timeline at hand when Homecoming was announced in February and the temporary stadium that allowed the Wildcats to play five games on campus this season was announced in April. The decision seems to have been made to avoid a potential trek for fans out to SeatGeek Stadium, Soldier Field or another Chicago alternative.

Homecoming clearly should have been set about a month ago for Oct. 19 vs. Wisconsin, a mid-October date in line with the traditional time frame. Fans could have seen a game on campus, on a beautiful day with a high of 73. Instead, it was slate-gray and 50 in Chicago. There were next to no tailgating options and no connection to campus. If the goal was to provide more alums a chance to see the game, away from the 12,000-seat temporary stadium, that was almost certainly unsuccessful as red and silver blanketed Wrigley Field.

Braun was aware of the dynamic in the stands and surrounding area.

"I look forward to answering that question when we're putting eight to 10-win seasons together," he said on the swathes of Buckeye fans. "When we're doing that, our fanbase better be the dominant fanbase. That's happened at Northwestern, I've seen the pictures.

"But we have to go work our tails off tirelessly to put a product on the field so that people have no choice but to not only get a seat but cheer their butt's off for the Cats. When we get to that point and we're not showing up the right way then that's an opportunity for me to challenge our fanbase but right now, those that are with us, we appreciate greatly...

"I love this place, I love our players and I love the people that have been associated with this program for decades."