COLUMBUS – As Big Ten conference play gets underway in earnest, No. 5 Ohio State faces its toughest challenge yet at Nebraska on Saturday.
(5/6) Ohio State (4-0, 1-0) at Nebraska (3-1, 1-0)
Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Neb.;Sat. Sept. 28 7:30 p.m./ABC
The Buckeyes have had this game circled on the calendar since the beginning of the season. They’ve rolled along in their first four games against overmatched teams, outscoring their opponents by a combined 214-36, but Nebraska will have the best athletes they’ve seen.
“They do a really good job of stretching you horizontally and get you with tempo on offense, and then on defense a lot of different looks and very well-coached,” said Ohio State head coach Ryan Day. “This is going to be by far the biggest challenge of the year for us, going on the road, night game at one of the toughest places to play in the conference.”
Nebraska has spent much of the last two decades as something of a football afterthought. It has no conference championships since 1999 and is now on its fifth coach since Tom Osborne’s national championship heyday.
This week the Cornhuskers are front and center again with a visit from ESPN’s College GameDay show in the morning.
The Cornhuskers’ arsenal starts with quarterback Adrian Martinez, who had a great game at Ohio Stadium last season as the Cornhuskers nearly upset the Buckeyes and who had been recruited by Day and the OSU staff before they backed off due to a shoulder injury that kept Martinez sidelined for his senior season in high school.
“It was just hard for us because there was no senior film, and at the end of the day, we just weren’t sure. But, had a feeling he was going to be a special player, and so hats off to him. He is a special player, and he’s everything he said he was going to be and we thought he would be,” Day said.
The Buckeyes lead the series between the two perennial college football powerhouses, which dates back to 1955 by a 6-1 margin.
Nebraska almost knocked off Ohio State in Columbus in 2018 and is still looking for a statement win under second-year coach Scott Frost. At Ohio Stadium last season, Nebraska led the game at halftime and Ohio State had to run out the final 2:57 to secure a 36-31 win.
The game in Lincoln will be the first of three consecutive night games for OSU: Michigan St. (Oct. 5), at Northwestern (Oct.18).
All but two of the Big Ten’s 14 teams play conference games this weekend, including the Buckeyes, who look like contenders for the College Football Playoff. The Buckeyes’ playoff bids the past two years ended because of losses to unranked Big Ten West opponents.
Nebraska is still looking for its first statement win under second-year coach Scott Frost and this would be a doozy.
Elsewhere on the schedule, Indiana puts its passing game up against a tough Michigan State defense.
Penn State’s Sean Clifford makes his first road start in prime time Friday against Maryland.