FIVE FUN FACTS: Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Youngstown State Penguins

Impress everyone at your watch party with these interesting facts and storylines about the two former meetings between the Buckeyes and Penguins.

The No. 5 Ohio State Buckeyes are just hours away from kicking off their first game of the season at Ohio Stadium against the Youngstown State Penguins.

Here are five interesting bits of knowledge about the Buckeyes and Penguins before things get started from Columbus on Big Ten Network.

5. The Buckeyes and Penguins have a legend in common

Starting off with probably the most well-known tidbit on this list, Jim Tressel spent time at both Ohio State and Youngstown State in his career. The legendary college coach led the Buckeyes and Penguins to a combined five national championships in nine title appearances over an 11-year span.

Tressel first coached Youngstown State to title-winning seasons in 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1997. The year after taking the head coaching job at Ohio State, Tressel won his first NCAA championship in 2002.

Tressel most recently served as university president at Youngstown State, a position from which he retired earlier this year.

4. Ohio State has a lack of FCS experience

Saturday's contest with the Penguins is only the fourth game in the last 83 years between the Buckeyes and a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) opponent. This includes two previous games against Youngstown State in 2007 and 2008.

The only other FCS opponent Ohio State has taken on aside from the Penguins was Florida A&M in 2013. The Buckeyes dominated the Rattlers, 76-0.

3. The Buckeyes love their home turf

Ohio State is set to begin its 101st season with Ohio Stadium as its home venue. The Buckeyes are 469-112-19 at 'The Horseshoe' over that time, which equates to an impressive 78% win percentage (ties were omitted from the number of total wins).

There is a 'bad news' part to that statistic, however.

The Buckeyes are 7-3 over their last ten home openers, which isn't a horrible record, but concerning that 15% of Ohio State's losses at Ohio Stadium have come so recently. The losses came against Virginia Tech in 2014, Oklahoma in 2017 and Oregon in 2021.

2. The Buckeyes and Penguins poached talent from 2022 opponents

This is going to be a tough one to explain, but here it goes. Both Ohio State and Youngstown State have transfer players on their roster from schools against which they played last season.

Senior receiver Bryce Oliver came to Youngstown State after two years at Kentucky. The Penguins lost to the then-No. 9 Wildcats in 2022, 31-0.

On their other side, Lorenzo Styles Jr. transferred to Ohio State this offseason from Notre Dame, a team of which he was a member last season when the Buckeyes beat the Irish in Week 1, 21-10.

1. Youngstown State is not the only David battling a Week-2 Goliath

The Penguins have a tough ask on Saturday: go to Columbus, Ohio, and take down the fifth-best team in the country. However, they are not the only team playing this weekend with a similarly challenging mission.

There are 40 other FCS schools squaring off against Fiesta Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams (the subdivision to which Ohio State belongs).

Plenty of notable pairings are among those FCS-vs-FBS contests, including No. 7 Penn State vs. Delaware, No. 9 Tennessee vs. Austin Peay and No. 10 Notre Dame vs. Tennessee State.

Ohio State and Youngstown State being their third-ever game at noon on Big Ten Network. Follow along with BuckeyesNow for in-game updates and a full day of content before, during and after the contest.