Here are some highlights to help you get warmed up for the Buckeyes and Cornhuskers:
Ohio State
- The Buckeyes are starting their season in October for the first time since 1939. That year, Ohio State defeated Missouri, 19-0, in its first game of the season and went on to finish 6-2 overall and won the Big Ten Conference with a 5-1 record.
- Ohio State has won 20 consecutive season- opening games dating back to the 1999 loss to No. 12 Miami in the Kickoff Classic at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J.
- Overall, the Buckeyes have won 40 of their last 43 season openers.
- Ohio State hasn’t lost a season-opener at Ohio Stadium since 1978, a 19-0 loss to No. 5 Penn State. Its streak currently stands at 34 consecutive wins.
- Ohio State returns a total of 68 career starts return at linebacker, headlined by three-time captain Tuf Borland (34), followed by Pete Werner (27), Baron Browning (4) and Justin Hilliard (3).
- Since Nebraska joined the Big Ten for the 2011 season, Ohio State is averaging 48.6 points per game in six meetings.
Ohio State Buckeyes: 5 takeaways from Ryan Day's Nebraska preview press conference https://t.co/oUu3VYbfxj
— Marcus Hartman (@marcushartman) October 21, 2020
Nebraska
- Saturday’s season opener marks Nebraska’s first game in 330 days, dating back to Black Friday last year. The stretch of 330 days without a game is the second-longest in school history, trailing only the 331 days between the 1892 and 1893 seasons.
- Saturday’s game also pits two of college football’s historical powers against each other. Nebraska and Ohio State are two of the seven college football programs who have won 900 games, and Saturday’s contest will be just the eighth meeting in college football history between 900-win programs.
- Nebraska must replace two of its three leading receivers from last season. Sophomore Wan’Dale Robinson, who was recruited by Ohio State and split time at running back last fall, is NU’s top returning receiver after he ranked second on the team with 40 catches and 453 receiving yards in 2019.
- Nebraska notes NU signed the top junior college wide receiver in the 2020 class (Omar Manning) and the No. 12 high school wideout and top 60 overall recruit (Zavier Betts) while also adding graduate transfer Levi Falck, who caught 70 passes for 774 yards in 24 games the past three seasons at South Dakota.
- Nebraska returns every offensive line starter from last season, while the Huskers must replace every defensive line starter, as all three 2019 starting defensive linemen are on NFL rosters.
- Based on available records, 2020 is believed to be the first time Nebraska returns its entire starting offensive line since two-platoon systems were first allowed under NCAA rules in 1964.
- Nebraska is the only team in the country who had the same starting offensive line (by player and position) for every game during the 2019 season and returned all five of those starters.
- Though not counted as a returning starter, Ben Stille has 14 career starts and 23 tackles for loss, including 11.5 sacks, in his career.
- Martinez enters his junior season as Nebraska’s all-time leader in total offensive yards per game (277.5) and 400-yard total offense games (4). He has produced four of Nebraska’s 16 individual 400-yard total offense performances, and Martinez’s career average of 277.5 yards of total offense per game is 40 yards higher than any other Husker quarterback who played in at least 15 career games.
- Nebraska’s roster features 53 newcomers, including 39 true freshmen and 14 transfers. NU added five FBS transfers - four from Power Five teams - one FCS transfer and eight junior college transfers.
- More than two-thirds of the Husker roster is underclassmen, as 109 of the 154 players are either freshmen or sophomores (71 percent).
- Nebraska has 79 freshmen on its roster, more than the sophomore, junior and senior classes combined. Fifty-one percent of NU’s roster is freshmen, the second straight season freshmen have made up more than half of the roster.
Big Ten
- This is the 125th season of Big Ten football
- Seven of the 12 returning Big Ten coaches have a losing career record in conference play.
- That includes Nebraska coach Scott Frost, who is 9-15 overall in two seasons with the Cornhuskers. The Nebraska notes point out nine of those losses are by seven or fewer points. Frost is 6-12 in Big Ten play.
BONUS (from me)
- The Cornhuskers are coming off a season in which they went 5-7 and were seventh in the Big Ten in scoring offense and 11th in scoring defense. Nebraska struggled in the red zone whether on offense (12th) or defense (13th) and was among the worst teams in the country in rushing defense (94th nationally/11th in the Big Ten). They were third in the Big Ten and 30th nationally in rushing but just ninth/82nd in passing offense. They were also in the middle of the pack in turnovers lost, gained and margin.
- John Bivens, a running back from Alter, is among the many walk-ons who are with the Cornhuskers but not on the published roster.
- Nebraska’s last trip to Ohio Stadium was one of the few competitive games in the series. Ohio State had to rally for a 36-31 win.
- Both of the Big Ten’s “new” head coaches are former Ohio State defensive coordinators: Mel Tucker at Michigan State and Greg Schiano at Rutgers. Schiano, you likely know, actually made his name as the head coach at Rutgers a decade ago and is back to try to revive the program that fell on hard times after he left for the NFL — most recently under another former Ohio State defensive coordinator, Chris Ash.
- The last team to win four consecutive Big Ten championships was… Ohio State. The Buckeyes won or shared the title every year from 2005-10, though the school has vacated the 2010 championship it shared with Wisconsin and Michigan State after several players and head coach Jim Tressel violated NCAA rules.
- No team has won four straight undisputed Big Ten titles. Last year, Ohio State became the first to win three in a row.
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