Game Preview: Ohio State at Michigan State
12/4/2020 9:15:46 AM | Football
The Ohio State Buckeyes will be back on the field Saturday when they return to Big Ten East play against Michigan State. Kickoff is slated for noon at Spartan Stadium with ABC broadcasting.
The Buckeyes did not play their scheduled game at Illinois last week due to an increase in positive COVID-19 tests within the program. The decision was made with the health, safety and well-being of the student-athletes is the main concern.
THE BASICS
No. 4 Ohio State at Michigan State • Sat., Dec. 5 • When: 12:00 p.m. • Where: Spartan Stadium • TV: ABC • Radio: 97.1 The Fan
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- Ohio State and Michigan State will be playing for the 49th time in series history on Saturday. The Buckeyes hold a 33-15 all-time advantage and have won each of the last four meetings, including a 34-10 win last year at Ohio Stadium.
- The Buckeyes have won seven straight in the series in games played in East Lansing. Their last loss at Spartan Stadium was a 23-7 setback in 1999.
- Ohio State has won 13 of the last 16 games between the team teams since MSU won back to back games in 1998 and 1999.
- Ohio State continues to possess on the nation’s most potent offenses. The Buckeyes had 607 total yards vs. Indiana and were equally balanced on the ground (307 yards on 50 carries) and through the air (300 yards and two touchdowns).
- Ohio State’s offensive line was named this week to the Joe Moore Award Midseason Honor Roll. The unit is comprised of Thayer Munford, Harry Miller, Josh Myers, Wyatt Davis and Nicholas Petit-Frere. Ohio State leads the Big Ten Conference and ranks 16th nationally with 233.2 rushing yards per game.
RUSHING TO VICTORY
- Ohio State has the Big Ten’s top rushing offense at 233.2 yards per game.
- Master Teague’s 380 yards is sixth highest in the conference and he’s tied for fourth with six rushing touchdowns.
- His average of 95.0 yards rushing per game is second only to Minnesota’s Mohamed Ibrahim.
AIR ATTACK
- Ohio State’s passing game is headlined by Justin Fields, who is fourth nationally in quarterback efficiency (202.10).
- Fields is completing 79 percent of his passes with 13 touchdowns and just three interceptions.
- His top wide receiver targets are Garrett Wilson, who is seventh nationally at 128.3 yards per game, and Chris Olave, who averages 97.3 yards per game. The pair has combined to catch eight of Fields’ 13 touchdowns.
FAST FOUR-GAME START FOR WILSON
- Garrett Wilson is off to the best four-game start ever at Ohio State, highlighted by four straight 100-yard games – the second longest streak in school history.
- His average of 128.3 yards per game is second in the Big Ten and No. 7 nationally.
- That’s nearly 10 yards better than David Boston’s single-season record for receiving yards per game, which was set in 1998 (119.5).
WERNER A BUTKUS SEMIFINALIST
- Monday, senior LB Pete Werner was named as one of 16 semifinalists for the Butkus Award, given annually to the nation’s top linebacker.
- Werner is a three-year starter and veteran of 43 career games.
- He is Ohio State’s leading tackler this season with 24 stops to go along with 2.5 tackles for loss, one sack, one quarterback hurry and a forced fumble.
- Werner is one of two Big Ten players on the semifinalist list, along with Rutgers’ Olakunle Fatukasi.
- Two Buckeyes have won the Butkus Award previously: James Laurinaitis in 2007 and Andy Katzenmoyer in 1997.
5
Cris Carter’s school-record (1986) for consecutive 100-yard receiving games. Wilson has topped 100 yards four consecutive games.
3
Games this season Belitnikoff Award watch-listers Olave and Wilson have doubled-up with each reaching 100 receiving yards.
66
For the season, Ohio State has outscored its opponents 66-17 in the second quarter and has outgained them 669-251. In the last three games, in wins over Penn State, Rutgers and Indiana, the Buckeyes have a 561-173 advantage in total offensive yards.
378
Yards of total offense – a career high – for Fields against Indiana (300 passing and an OSU career-high 78 rushing) with three TDs.
40
In the win over Indiana, Ohio State reached the 40-point mark for the 27th time (in 46 games) since Ryan Day’s arrival with the program in 2017 (58.6 percent). The Buckeyes have scored 40 or more in three of four games this year. Their averaging 45.2 points per game and the school record for points per game is 46.9, set just last season.
19
Ohio State has the nation’s longest active regular season winning streak at 19 consecutive games. During that streak, the Buckeyes’ average margin of victory has been 30.8 points per game.
- Michigan State is coming off perhaps it most noteworthy win of the 2020 season, a 29-20 upset of then-No. 8 Northwestern last Saturday in East Lansing.
- The Spartans defense held Northwestern to just 285 total yards, including 63 on the ground, and forced four turnovers.
- Quarterback Rocky Lomdardi’s thrown eight touchdown passes in five games while completing 54.1 percent of his passes for 1,057 yards.
- Lombardi’s top target is Jayden Reed (22 receptions, 252 yards, three TDs) and Jalen Nailor, who had 99 yards receiving last week to bring his season total to 379. He’s caught two touchdown passes.
- Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker, a Cleveland native, was on Ohio State’s defensive coaching staff from 2001-04 under Jim Tressel and part of the staff that helped the Buckeyes win the 2002 BCS national championship.
- Tucker was the defensive backs coach from 2001-03 and the co-defensive coordinator in 2004.
