Buckeyes, Bobcats Meet in Primetime on Saturday Night

FIRST AND TEN

• No. 1 Ohio State No. 1 Ohio State (2-0; 0-0 Big Ten) hosts Ohio University (1-1; 0-0 MAC) in a 7 p.m. Big Ten Saturday Night game that will be streamed on NBCUniversal’s Peacock platform.
• The Buckeyes have defeated No. 1 Texas and FCS Grambling State in their first two games this season while introducing 14 new offensive and defensive starters into the rotation.
• Ohio, located just 74 miles southeast of Columbus, came back from a 31-14 deficit Week 1 at Rutgers to tie the game only fall, 34-31, and then defeated Big 12 Conference member West Virginia last week in Athens, Ohio, 17-10.
• Ohio State is 38-1 all-time vs. current members of the Mid-American Conference and is riding a 38-game unbeaten streak. The only loss: vs. Akron in 1894, 12-6.
• The Buckeyes are 195-50-1 all-time against the 28 Ohio teams they have met on the gridiron with 47 consecutive wins.
• Ryan Day‘s teams are 23-1 in the month of September and 19-1 in regular season non-conference games with Oregon, in 2022, accounting for the loss in each of those stats.
• This week is the annual Buckeyes for a Cancer Free World Game, presented by The James.

BY THE NUMBERS

52-0-1: Ohio State is on a 53-game unbeaten streak – 52-0-1 with the tie coming in 1924 vs. Wooster, 7-all – against other Ohio universities since last losing to an Ohio school, 7-6 vs. Oberlin in 1921.

48-0-1: Ohio State has never lost to an Ohio school in Ohio Stadium. The team is 48-0-1 vs. Ohio schools at home since the grand facility, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, opened in 1922. 

17: Ohio State has the fewest losses in the 11-plus season CFP era: 17. The Buckeyes, who are 130-17 since 2014, and Clemson (130-25) have the second-most wins in this era, trailing only Alabama at 137-19.

81-82: Ryan Day‘s Ohio State Buckeye teams have been ranked in the Top 10 of the Associated Press poll for 81 of his 82 games coached. The only blip: the team was ranked 11th for the Oct. 2, 2021 game vs. Rutgers.

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y NIGHT!

• The game will be Ohio State’s first night game of the season after noon and 3:30 p.m. starts, respectively, for Texas and Grambling State.
• Ohio State is 22-4 in night games under Ryan Day and is on an impressive five-game winning streak that includes wins over No. 7 Tennessee (42-17), No. 3 Texas (28-14) and No. 5 Notre Dame (34-23) during the CFP championship run last year.
• Ohio State is 85-30 all-time in night games; 25-5 in Ohio Stadium.  

FROM OHIO U. TO OHIO STATE

• Standout Buckeye senior tight end Will Kacmarek, who is from St. Louis, transferred to Ohio State from Ohio University following the 2023 football season.
• He played three seasons for the Bobcats and hauled in 42 passes for 507 yards and two touchdowns in 29 career games.
• He has played in 14 Ohio State games, started twice, and caught his first TD wearing the Scarlet & Gray last week against Grambling State, a 47-yard catch and run to open the scoring.
• He has caught 10 passes for 141 yards as a Buckeye.

TIGHT END U

• Speaking of tight ends, Kacmarek is part of a loaded tight end room for Ohio State with five of them, who collectively average 6-5-1/2 inches and 250 pounds, combining for nine targets, seven receptions, 107 yards and two touchdowns vs. Grambling State.
• Kacmarek (two catches for 55 yards and one TD) and Jelani Thurman (3-44-1) led the way.
• Bennett Christian, Max Klare and Nate Roberts were also targeted in the game by Ohio State QBs.
• The TE unit is coached by Keenan Bailey.

FROM OHIO STATE TO OHIO U.

• Ohio University has one former Buckeye affiliated with its football program: offensive graduate assistant Brandon Pahl.
• Pahl was a walk-on offensive lineman with Ohio State from 2015-19. 

15 YEARS AGO … MASCOT MAYHEM

• There was mascot mayhem the last time Ohio State and Ohio met on the gridiron.
• Rufus the Bobcat attacked Brutus Buckeye before the 2010 game … jumping on it, riding it to the ground and hitting it multiple times before being dislodged.
• Brutus refrained from commenting, as it always does, but both mascots stayed on the sidelines and did mascot stuff the rest of the game. 

MORE OHIO STATE VS. OHIO U

• Ohio State holds a 6-0 advantage over Ohio University in football.
• The teams played consecutively in 1899, 1900, 1901 and 1902 with Ohio State winning all four games by shutout.
• A pause of 97 years ensued before the teams met in 1999, a 40-16 Ohio State win.
• Ohio State won in 2008, 25-14, and the 2010 game, a 43-7 Ohio State win, was later vacated by the NCAA.

THERE WAS NO DELAYIN’ SAYIN

• Julian Sayin, the Big Ten Conference freshman of the week, went right to work against Grambling, completing a school record 16 consecutive passes to open the game and finishing with 18 completions in 19 attempts for 306 yards.
• His two-quarters day included four touchdown passes and one interception
• Sayin connected with Jeremiah Smith on two touchdown passes, including the second-longest completion, and third longest play from scrimmage, in school history: an 87-yard catch-and-run midway through the first quarter.
• Sayin’s 94.7 completion percentage for the game is third-highest in school history and his 16 consecutive completions ties for the third-most at Ohio State.