That score doesn’t mean much unless you know the Gray happened to be the defense, which clearly dominated the day.

The Silver Bullets were awarded points for stops and turnovers and sacks and whatnot, and the final numbers don’t even reflect the dominance since fourth-string freshman quarterback Luke Fahey took off for a 61-yard run late in the game to boost the Scarlet score.

As I wrote for PressProsMagazine.com, what we learned from the Ohio State spring game is largely in the eye of the beholder because every victory for one Buckeyes meant a loss for another.

That’s how spring games go, of course, but I thought this one was a little more intriguing because so many newcomers were involved.

On the other side of the ball, Julian Sayin was solid, but Bellefontaine’s Tavien St. Clair stole the headlines with his big arm and improved pocket presence.

Jeff Gilbert went in depth on what that means for the Buckeyes this fall and likely next.

In a debate on the BuckeyeSports.com message board, I declared the defense being better than the offense this fall would be a cause for concern, and I still feel that way.

One reason of course is the offense was farther from whole Saturday: The top two offensive tackles and the top two running backs did not play so the defensive ends had a big advantage in more ways than one. They got to work against younger players and also had a pretty good idea about what was coming.

Nonetheless, the defensive line is a big question this offseason with all its newcomers, so that group looking pretty good is noteworthy.

I am tempted to say I would rather the defensive backs look good than the receivers, too, though that might be more of a debate.

What were your takeaways?

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The Cincinnati professional baseball squadron is 14-8 after sweeping the Minnesota Twins over the weekend.

The Reds are in first place in a division in which everyone is multiple games over .500, which is no small feat since they still can’t hit.

So far this group has shown an uncanny knack for winning close games, and they came off the mat both Saturday and Sunday when it looked like they were headed for defeat.

By runs scored vs. runs allowed, they should be two games under .500, which continues to be a sign to me that Tito Francona is having a positive impact on the clubhouse that spills over into how the team plays the game.

Is this sustainable?

I tend to think it is.

The rotation is this good and the bullpen appears to be as well so they should keep getting strong pitching performances.

These Reds may never be an offensive machine, but literally everyone in the lineup has been way below replacement level except Elly De La Cruz, Sal Stewart and Eugenio Suarez so there has to be an upswing for some of these guys at some point.

TJ Friedl’s awful start is starting to get concerning, but he had a huge bases-loaded double Sunday in the 10th inning. That not only won the game but was his first extra-base hit of the season. Yes, the whole season that started almost a month ago.

The other thing is the rotation has been good but not great.

Chase Burns and Rhett Lowder lead the way while Brandon Williamson and Brady Singer have been somewhat shaky. Andrew Abbott had a poor spring and has been their worst starter so far. Will that continue, or is he due to turn it around? Probably the latter.

Of course they figure to get Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo (much sooner) back, too, but I am going to go out on a limb now and say Burns is going to be the best of the bunch when all is said and done.

Burns not only has nasty stuff but also a certain edge and competitiveness not everyone does.

Lowder might end up being No. 2 since the guys who are hurt now tend to be hurt a lot. He’s kind of like Bronson Arroyo with better stuff (and not just because of the hair).

In an interesting bit of symmetry, Cincinnati’s most accomplished reliever has also been their worst so far, and you can take that as glass-half-full or empty.

Emilio Pagan got the win Sunday, but that was a result of blowing his second save of the season. His ERA is 4.76 while his walks per nine inning are way up and strikeouts per nine innings are noticeably down. On the bright side, they seem to have plenty of options to close if he can’t do it, including Tony Santillan and Graham Ashcraft.

So yes, this fast start bodes well for a fun summer because they still have a lot of room to improve in all phases.

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Maybe they are “all-in” after all.

The Cincinnati Bengals went and did a thing over the weekend, trading the No. 10 pick in this week’s NFL Draft for Dexter Lawrence.

Who is Dexter Lawrence? One of the best defensive tackles in the NFL.

They also reworked his contract so that he will be under team control for three seasons that hopefully mark the back end of his prime in his late 20s.

Long-time Bengals beat writer Jay Morrison notes teams rarely trade their first round pick, but when they do, it usually precedes a good season.

Pro Football Focus gave him elite grades against both the run and the pass in 2022-24. He is widely perceived to have dropped off (but still been good) last season, but he was apparently playing with an elbow injury.

He could change the defense in a significant way by upgrading not just one spot but making everyone else better by demanding double teams on every play.

I’ll have some FOMO on them getting Caleb Downs until someone else takes the Buckeye safety in the top nine.

(The Giants, in fact, have been a team some projected to take Downs at No. 5 because new coach John Harbaugh had a versatile, difference-making safety, Kyle Hamilton, in Baltimore. That could still happen.)

I would still rather have Downs, but he is the only one because he’s a can’t-miss prospect and fills multiple needs at once.

Both of these guys can be called “force multipliers,” a term the Bengals brass used a lot at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis when talking about what types of players they were looking for to improve the league’s worst defense.

Getting a guy who can play at a high level this season makes a lot of sense because there is no time to waste with Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins in their prime.

Here’s another way to look at it: How often have they actually gotten three good seasons out of their first-round pick recently? Seems like many of their rookie years have been lost, let alone impactful (excluding Chase).

Beyond that, this further signals they really care about winning the line of scrimmage.

In fact, they could be pretty good… on both lines! Is this real life?

Flashback: Ohio State hires Jim Tressel