COLUMBUS — Every Friday we’ll bring you a quick-hit look at the game ahead for the Ohio State Buckeyes.
No. 23 Oregon (5-3, 3-2 Big Ten) at. No. 12 Ohio State (6-2, 4-1 Big Ten)
Kickoff: 3:30 PM
Network: CBS
Announcers: Brad Nessler, Charles Davis, Jenny Dell
History: Ohio State leads the all-time series 10-2. Oregon won the only regular-season Big Ten matchup at Oregon in 2024, but the Buckeyes got revenge in a Rose Bowl playoff quarterfinal, which was their last meeting. Ohio State’s wins also include two Rose Bowls, in 1958 and 2010, and the National Championship Game to cap off the 2014 season.
Info: Ohio State game notes & Oregon game notes
Game trailer
Buckeye I’ll be watching Saturday
OT Austin Siereveld: Whether he’s on the right side or the left (depending on Ian Moore’s availability), Siereveld will be in some tough matchups this week. Oregon defensive ends Matayo Uiagalelei and Teitum Tuioti are two of the best in the Big Ten. Siereveld wasn’t himself against USC. Not terribly surprising given that he missed two weeks due to illness. But he needs to get back to himself in this game so that the pressure rate on quarterback Luke Fahey can come down. — Bill
WR Chris Henry Jr.: I could copy and paste what Bill wrote in this space a week ago about CHJ. It didn’t quite happen against USC, when he had two catches for 50 yards and a big drop on this three targets. Try again.
Oregon has a very good outside corner in Ify Obidegwu and a good slot corner in Brandon Finney Jr. So the Buckeyes have to attack other parts of the Oregon secondary. That’s primarily second-year corner Na’eem Offord, the long-time OSU commit who flipped to Oregon on signing day in December 2024. Among Big Ten cornerbacks who have played at least half their team’s snaps, Offord’s PFF rating is 40th out of 42 qualifying players. Wanna try some deep shots? For a variety of reasons, some not his fault, Devin McCuin has caught just two of eight deep passes (20 yards or more) thrown his way. Henry has caught four of five deep-ball chances. Get Henry against Offord and throw it up to him. — Doug
One thing I want Ohio State to do Saturday
Tackle better. The Buckeyes had too many missed tackles against USC, which allowed too many big plays. Prior to that, OSU had been one of the better tackling defenses in the country. Oregon is similar to USC in that it wants to get players in space and hopes that you miss them. I have a hard time seeing the Ducks consistently moving the ball on the Buckeyes. So if the home team can tackle and keep explosives at a minimum, Ohio State should win. — Bill
Call some runs for Luke Fahey. As Bill mentioned, Oregon’s edge rushers might tee off on the OSU tackles. What could keep them from crashing down in the run game? Fahey scooting around the edge a few times. Against USC, Fahey ran it six times — three scrambles for 24 yards and three sneaks. Just a couple QB keeps in the read game or a draw or two could help the overall picture against the Oregon defensive line. — Doug
Another game to watch with Ohio State in mind
No. 19 Iowa at Northwestern, 7:30, Fox: It would be helpful for the Buckeyes if both of these teams look good, no matter who wins, as a way of boosting the quality of Ohio State’s resume. That’s assuming the Buckeyes beat Oregon this week and Northwestern next week and that resume points still matter. Things got tougher for the Wildcats with news that starting quarterback Aidan Chiles will miss this game with an upper body injury. His availability next week in Columbus is of major interest to the Buckeyes. — Bill
Stat to know
Dan Lanning is 53-11 as Oregon’s head coach since taking over in 2022. The only programs with more wins over that time are Georgia (58) and Ohio State (54).
Fan Plan
Uniform Look
Field Design
Band Plan
Lines
Ohio State -7.5
Over-under 45.5
Picks
Bill: Oregon 21-20
Doug: Ohio State 26-18
On the season
Bill: 6-2 straight up, 5-3 spread, 5-3 over-under
Doug: 8-0 straight up, 4-4 spread, 5-3 over-under
Your vote
Ohio State will win by 8 points more: 23 percent
Ohio State will win by 7 points or fewer: 56 percent
Oregon will win: 21 percent
Combined score of 47 points or more: 23 percent
Combined score of 46 points or fewer: 77 percent
Tracking network and kickoff times for the season
Network
Fox: 3
BTN: 2
CBS: 2
ABC: 1
NBC: 1
Announcers
Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt: 3
Brad Nessler, Charles Davis: 2
Jeff Levering, Jake Butt: 1
Mark Followill, Jake Butt: 1
Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit: 1
Noah Eagle, Todd Blackledge: 1
Kickoff time
Noon: 3
12:30: 1
3:30: 2
4:15: 1
7:30: 2
Also
• Oregon third-year receiver Jeremiah McClellan, a one-time Ohio State commit who flipped to the Ducks on signing day 2023, is expected to play Saturday. He’s been out since Week 2 with an injury. He was Oregon’s third-leading receiver last season with 38 catches for 557 yards.
• Oregon is 10-1 in conference road games since joining the Big Ten. The loss was in their last trip, to Illinois two weeks ago. Only two of those road wins are over teams ranked at the time — in overtime at No. 3 Penn State last season, and by two points over No. 20 Iowa last season.
• Ryan Day is 28-12 against ranked teams. Dan Lanning is 17-9.
• Jeremiah Smith broke the Big Ten receiving touchdowns record with his 40th TD against USC. He is third all-time in receiving yards among Big Ten receivers. He needs five yards to pass Purdue’s Taylor Stubblefield for second place and 164 to pass leader John Standeford.
• With the news that Northwestern and Wisconsin are expected to start backup quarterbacks Saturday because of injury, 11 of 18 Big Ten teams have been affected by injuries to their starting QBs: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State, Ohio State, Oregon, Northwestern, Rutgers, UCLA, Washington and Wisconsin. Plus Michigan benched their guy.
Only Maryland, Penn State, Purdue, USC, Nebraska and Minnesota have had clean QB seasons.
Listened to you picks pod and completely agree we need to see more CHJ. I’d like to see him more in the red zone with his 6’6 frame and 6’4 JJ on the other side. Let Fahey throw some jump balls to those guys and it may solve the red zone problems.