COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Sweating through a blowout high atop Ohio Stadium on Saturday, fans were thinking agua, not quarterbacks. Get those metal bleachers cooking with a late September temperature approaching 90, and the aim is survival, not analysis.

Ohio State's 54-21 destruction of UNLV came on alumni band day and was the weakest game on the schedule, which brought a lot of first-timers and one-game-a-year fans into the stadium.

The Buckeyes are trying to improve the competition paid to come here and lose, and to reduce the games that barely feel like a game, but this was one of them. And it was scorching.

"Twelve noon, 90-plus degree heat and I saw every seat filled," Urban Meyer said after the win. "I just speak on behalf of our team and our coaches - that's a 'Wow.'

"Most schools across the country, you play a game like this and it's not like that. So I want to be real clear, and man oh man, it's awesome to look up there. And I counted them. Our team talked about that for a few minutes afterwards. So I speak on half of our players, saying thank you for the support."

A police officer in the stands rubbed ice on his arms, worked through five bottles of water in a half and said this felt like working the country music festival at Ohio Stadium in the middle of the summer. Fans compared life in the direct sun to the equator, the Caribbean and the fiery underworld down below. (See video.)

Dwayne Haskins? He probably just saw this as a bit of reality.

Ohio State sent out a message in the middle of the game thanking the more than 106,000 fans who battled the heat. By the time that was out, the seats were half-empty, as fans were either hiding in the shade of the concourse or standing 40 deep in lines to refill their water bottles at the free stations offered by Ohio State, or they had gone somewhere else in search of air conditioning.

😎Thanks to the BEST FANS IN THE LAND for braving the 🔥 today in #TheShoe #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/pBcig53wql — Ohio State Buckeyes (@OhioStAthletics) September 23, 2017

By the middle of the fourth quarter, the seats were at least two-thirds empty, but by then, Haskins, the arm prodigy in his first extended action, had thrown a pick-six and tempered the enthusiasm (including mine) that arrived with his fourth-quarter, four-throw debut against Army a week ago.

This wasn't football weather, and this, really, wasn't football, not in the sense that you could learn anything from it.

Nick Bosa's prediction of a shutout was gone with three minutes left in the second quarter. J.T. Barrett threw five touchdowns to five receivers and fired balls into the teeth of the defense the way he needs to do for this offense to work. The OSU plan attacking the perimeter last week seemed to lead the Rebels to attempt to take that away - and surrender a bevy of 10-yard runs and 20-yard throws in the process.

"I was very pleased with the first team," Meyer said. "Just no nonsense, went out and played as hard as they possibly could."

Barrett was 12-of-17 for 209 yards and five scores against a terrible defense. The OSU corners were called for multiple pass interference calls that did nothing to inspire more confidence in the pass defense. Both Parris Campbell and Rashod Berry fumbled inside the 2, and if you were concerned with Ohio State's status as a 40.5-point favorite, this 33-point win had you beside yourself.

Haskins finished 15-of-23 for 228 yards, with two touchdowns and that interception. He fired more than a few nice passes, but overthrew some of them, too. He had another throw that could have been intercepted, but wasn't. He wasn't perfect. Barrett, in his own way, took another step forward.

So how hot were the fans? Hot. Really hot.

Who's your quarterback? Barrett.

Have another bottle of water and be glad this one is over.