COLUMBUS – No one doubted that Saturday’s game at Oklahoma would be an acid test for the young Ohio State football team and, now that the early-season showdown is in the offing, the Buckeyes and Sooners appear to be teams headed – at least, for now – in opposite directions.
(3/4) Ohio State (2-0) at (14) Oklahoma (1-1), Oklahoma Memorial Stadium (7:30 p.m. ET/FOX)
“Obviously the challenges come next week against a very good team and we’re going to jump on that one early and get ready to go,” said Buckeye head coach Urban Meyer Saturday, after the Buckeyes scored another solid win, over Tulsa.
“We got to definitely get better, get back in the lab [Sunday] and start watching film on Oklahoma next week and start preparing for that game,” said sophomore safety Malik Hooker, who returned his an interception for a second quarter touchdown in the 48-3 win over the Golden Hurricane.
After starting out the season ranked No. 3 in the AP Top 25 and the Amway Coaches’ poll, the Sooners plummeted after an opening-week loss to Houston.
The Buckeyes moved to No. 4 after beating Bowling Green and to No. 3 in the media poll after previous No. 2 Clemson struggled to beat Troy on Sept. 10.
This is the first of a home-and-home series that will conclude at Ohio Stadium in Sept. 9, 2017.
This is the third meeting between the two programs judged to be the No. 1 and No. 2 all-time over the course of the Associated Press poll history, covering the last 80 years.
The Sooners won the first meeting, 29-28, in 1977 and Ohio State won the next game, 24-14, in 1983.
Ohio State and Michigan both moved up one spot in the AP poll as Florida State took over the No. 2 spot vacated by the Tigers. Clemson was No3 in the coaches’ poll, followed by Ohio State and Michigan in the top five.
Alabama is still No. 1 in both polls. Clemson fell from second to fifth in the media poll after a four-point win against Troy.