Buckeyes Host Spartans on Senior Day in The ‘Shoe – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/16/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 16, 2015
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#13 Michigan State at #3 Ohio State
Saturday, November 21, 2015, 3:30 p.m. ET
Ohio Stadium (104,955), Columbus, Oh.
TV: ABC
Chris Fowler
Kirk Herbstreit
Heather Cox
Radio: WBNS FM (97.1 The Fan) The Urban Meyer pregame show airs 30 minutes prior to kickoff. Paul Keels will call the action with former Buckeye Jim Lachey and Marty Bannister on the sidelines. The game can also be heard nationally on ESPN Radio and Sirius and XM channels 84 with Bill Rosinski, David Norrie and Joe Schad on the call.
FIRST AND 10
- Ohio State enters the game having won 23 in a row overall, the longest active streak in the nation.
- Ohio State has won a Big Ten-record 30 regular season conference games in a row, a record across the current FBS conference landscape.
- Ohio State leads the B1G in scoring (36.4), pass efficiency (144.1), rushing (244.8) and punting (41.0) and is second in scoring defense (13.8), total offense (453.3) and fewest first downs allowed (15.5).
- Ohio State’s defense has surrendered just 8.5 points per game since week 7, the fewest in the FBS.
- Running back Ezekiel Elliott leads the Big Ten with 161.7 rushing yards per game in Big Ten play. He has an FBS-leading streak of 15 consecutive games with at least 100 yards rushing.
- With 181 yards at Illinois, Elliott moved into third place on Ohio State’s all-time rushing list with 3,565 yards. Eddie George is second with 3,768.
- Quarterback J.T. Barrett has accounted for a total of 14 TDs in his past 4 games (8 rushing, 6 passing).
- Wide receiver Michael Thomas has caught a pass in 26 consecutive games. He leads the team with 45 catches for 651 yards and 8 TDs.
- Defensive end Joey Bosa leads the Big Ten with 12.5 TFL in Big Ten play. He tied a career high with 3.0 TFL in the win at Illinois.
- Urban Meyer has the highest winning percentage (.854) among active coaches with at least 10 years of experience. He is a perfect 28-0 in games played in October (14-0) & November (14-0) at Ohio State.
SETTING THE STAGE
No. 3 Ohio State (10-0, 6-0 Big Ten) welcomes the 13th-ranked Michigan State Spartans (9-1, 5-1) to Ohio Stadium Saturday for a Big Ten East Division clash with conference title game implications.
Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET and will be televised on ABC and Watch ESPN with Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Heather Cox on the call.
The Spartans are currently tied for second with Michigan at 5-1 for second in the division behind the Buckeyes. Ohio State will close out the regular season Nov. 28 in Ann Arbor.
SENIOR DAY IN OHIO STADIUM
Saturday prior to the game against Michigan State 18 Ohio State seniors will be honored before their last game in Ohio Stadium. The group includes DE Chris Fong, K Jack Willoughby, CB Armani Reeves, RB Jeffie Johnson, WR Jeff Greene, WR Kato Mitchell, RB Warren Ball, LS Bryce Haynes, LB Cam Williams, DT Tommy Schutt, TE Nick Vannett, OT Chase Farris, DT Joel Hale, DT Adolphus Washington, OC Jacoby Boren, OT Taylor Decker, LB Joshua Perry and H-Back Braxton Miller.
MORE ON THE SENIORS
Five of the seniors are fifth-year performers who first enrolled at Ohio State for the 2011 season: Haynes, Vannett, Farris, Hale and Miller. Eight are among the first class of recruits signed by coach Urban Meyer in February of 2012: Reeves, who gave up football but is a student coach, Ball, Williams, Schutt, Washington, Boren, Decker and Perry. All this group of seniors has done is put Ohio State football at the top of football programs nationwide with the best record in college football – 48-3 – since the start of 2012, including a national championship and a Big Ten championship in 2014, a Big Ten Conference-record 30 consecutive conference wins, the nation’s longest current winning streak (23 games) and road winning streak (17 games) and a program-record for wins by a senior class (48).
ESPN COLLEGE GAMEDAY BACK ON CAMPUS!
ESPN’s College Gameday, America’s premier college football preview show, will be making its first visit to Ohio State since 2010 and will be broadcasting its popular Saturday morning football preview show and pep festival on the Oval in front of the William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library. ESPN College Gameday radio also will be broadcasting its show from outside St. John Arena Saturday with Doug Kezerian, Brad Edwards and Trevor Matich offering expert analysis on all the Saturday games.
This will be the Buckeyes 35th appearance on the show, tied for the second most all-time with Alabama, and have now hosted 15 times, tied for the most with Alabama.
BUCKEYE CHAMPIONS AT ILLINOIS
Another dominating defensive performance by Ohio State, vs. Illinois, earned three defenders co-player of the week honors: DE Joey Bosa, CB Eli Apple and LB Raekwon McMillan. The trio was part of a 13-champion unit along with Tyquan Lewis, Adolphus Washington, Tommy Schutt, Michael Hill, Sam Hubbard, Joshua Perry, Darron Lee, Gareon Conley, Von Bell and Tyvis Powell. Ezekiel Elliott was named offensive player of the week with Jalin Marshall, Michael Thomas, Curtis Samuel, Taylor Decker and Pat Elflein also awarded champion status. Samuel was also named special team’s player of the game. Scout team honors went to WR Kato Mitchell and DL Chris Fong.
MORE NOTABLES FROM THE ILLINOIS WIN
- The 181 rushing yards by Ezekiel Elliott marked the 20th game of his career with 100+ yards, which ties him for second-most all-time at Ohio State with Eddie George. The record is 34 by Archie Griffin.
- Elliott also moved into third place on Ohio State’s all-time rushing list with 3,565 yards, passing Tim Spencer who rushed for 3,553 from 1979-82. Eddie George is second with 3,768.
- Elliott now has 16 rushing TDs on the season and 36 in his career, tying him for fifth all-time at Ohio State with Tim Spencer and Harold Henson.
- Michael Thomas has caught a pass in 26 consecutive games. He finished with six catches for 76 yards and a TD.
- Thomas surpassed the 100-catch mark and now has 102 in his career.
- Thomas has 25 catches for 359 yards and five TDs in his last five games.
- Joey Bosa tied a career high with 3.0 TFL. He leads the Big Ten with 12.5 TFL in Big Ten play.
- Raekwon McMillian recorded 14 tackles, his seventh game this season with 8 or more tackles. McMillan also had 2.0 TFL and a fumble recovery.
- Ohio State’s defense gave up just 20 yards rushing after allowing just 33 on the ground to Minnesota last week.
- Ohio State recorded 11.0 TFL on the day, the second-highest total on the season.
- After allowing just three points to the Illini, Ohio State has now given up just 34 points in the last four games (8.5 ppg).
- Since the start of the 2012 season under Coach Meyer, Buckeye defenses have given up the thirdfewest rushing yards amongst FBS schools in true road games.
- Cameron Johnston recorded four punts inside the 20, tying him with A.J. Trapasso for the most alltime at Ohio State with 78. Johnston averaged 44.4 yards per punt on the day with a long of 54.
