Game Preview: Ohio State Faces First Road Test With Trip To Michigan State

Although they haven’t lost in East Lansing since 1999, the Buckeyes aren't overlooking the struggling Spartans.

After opening the season with five straight home games for just the second time in school history, Ohio State hits the road for the first time this fall with a trip to East Lansing to take on Michigan State (4 p.m. on ABC).

The Buckeyes have won eight straight games in Spartan Stadium dating back to a 23-7 loss in 1999, as well as 10 consecutive road openers, a streak that started with a 17-16 win against the Spartans in 2012. But that means nothing once the ball is kicked on Saturday.

“(It’s) a tough place to play,” head coach Ryan Day said this week. “Certainly a great stadium, a great environment and it’s going to be hard to win up there. It always is. This is the first time we’re going on the road, so it’s a new challenge for us, a new test.

“It’s been unique that we’re into Week 6 here and haven’t played a game on the road. It’s been great and we got into a good rhythm, but now we’ve got to get our first conference road win.”

Leadership was a point of emphasis for the team this offseason, and that will be tested in front of what figures to be a sellout crowd of more than 75,000 opposing fans, something the Buckeyes haven’t had to deal with since last season’s loss at Michigan.

“When you go on the road for your first road game, leadership is critically important. Our leadership will be challenged this week,” Day said. “The older guys who have been through this before have got to lead the way because, if you haven’t been through that before, it’s hard to simulate going into a hostile environment like we’re about to.”

General Info

Date: Oct. 8, 2022
Where: Spartan Stadium (East Lansing, MI)
Expected Weather: 55 degrees, mostly sunny
Kickoff: 4 p.m. ET

Current Betting Numbers

Spread: Ohio State (-27)
O/U Total: 64.5
Betting: Check out the new SISportsbook!

How to Watch/Listen

Television: ABC
Streaming: fuboTV (get a 7-day free trial)
Announcers: Chris Fowler (play-by-play), Kirk Herbstreit (analyst) and Holly Rowe (sideline)

Local Radio: Ohio State Sports Network from Learfield IMG College
Flagship: WBNS 97.1 The Fan
Announcers: Paul Keels (play-by-play), Jim Lachey (analyst), Matt Andrews (sideline reporter), Skip Mosic (pregame/halftime/postgame host and producer)

Series History

Ohio State leads Michigan State, 35-15
* OSU record on the road: 18-5

LAST TIME THEY MET
2021: Ohio State 56, Michigan State 7

Coaching Matchup

* Ryan Day
* At Ohio State: 4th Season, Record: 39-4
* Overall: Same

* Mel Tucker
* At Michigan State: 3rd Season, Record: 15-10
* Overall: 4th Season, 20-17

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Ohio State Capsule

While Ohio State played at Michigan State just two years ago, this actually marks Day’s first trip to Spartan Stadium as a head coach, as he, several assistants and 23 players missed that game after contracting COVID-19.

“When you watch your team play on TV like that in real time, it’s kind of surreal,” Day said. “I had to quarantine for 10 days, so I stopped by the store with my mask on, bought a case of beer and two pizzas, came home and said, ‘Daddy’s home.’”

Day watched from his basement as defensive line coach Larry Johnson, who became the first African-American head coach in school history that afternoon, led the Buckeyes to a 52-12 win in an empty stadium.

“It was in hand pretty quickly, but those first couple drives, I was screaming and yelling and walking around the basement,” Day said. “It was a wild experience, but the guys handled it really well. I thought the leadership was great and Larry and (strength and conditioning coach Mickey Marotti) stepped up in a big way.”

Some key contributors on this year’s team gained valuable repetitions or saw their first extended playing time that day, including quarterback C.J. Stroud, running back Miyan Williams, wide receivers Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Julian Fleming, offensive linemen Dawand Jones, Matthew Jones and Luke Wypler and safety Ronnie Hickman.

The levels of success varied, as Stroud had a 48-yard touchdown run, while Wypler snapped the ball over former quarterback Jack Miller’s head in the final minutes of the game. He recalled this week how it rolled 21 yards into the end zone, where Miller covered it up for a safety.

“A lot of things are different going back there, to say the least,” Wypler said. “It’s definitely something that won’t happen again.”

Meanwhile, only four current players – defensive end Tyler Friday, defensive tackle Taron Vincent, linebacker Teradja Mitchell and safety Josh Proctor – saw action when the Buckeyes last played in front of fans in East Lansing in 2018. Day hopes they’ll draw upon that experience, a 26-6 victory, when leading the team into Saturday’s game.

“I was hoping when I asked that question in Tuesday’s meeting that I’d see more hands raised,” Day said. “I think our guys have played in hostile environments before, but it’s been a while ... Anytime you go on the road, veterans have play veteran and leadership’s going to be critically important. We are going to have to lean on those guys and really challenge them to lead the way for us.”

Michigan State Capsule

After winning 11 games last season, including a Peach Bowl victory against Pittsburgh, Michigan State has had a disappointing start this fall. The Spartans opened with wins over Western Michigan and Akron, but have lost three straight to Washington, Minnesota and Maryland – and didn’t lead for a single second in any of those games.

Still, Ohio State isn’t overlooking Michigan State, especially considering the Spartans have the most wins over the Buckeyes of any program in the country in the last 11 seasons (2011, 2013 and 2015) and lost two others meetings in East Lansing by a combined two points (2012 and 2016).

“They’ve had a couple injuries here and there, but they’re still very much the same team they were last year. I know they’ve lost a couple games here, but we’re expecting a top-10 team,” Day said, referencing last year’s 56-7 win in Columbus. “We know what they did last year and what they’re capable of, so they’re probably the most skilled team we’ve played to date.”

Doak Walker Award-winning running back Kenneth Walker III is now playing on Sundays, but Michigan State returns quarterback Payton Thorne, who has completed 60.7 percent of his passes for 4,936 yards and 38 touchdowns in 22 career starts.

His favorite target is fifth-year senior wide receiver Jayden Reed, who was a first-team All-American last season after he caught 59 passes for 1,026 yards and 10 touchdowns and returned 12 punts for 238 yards and two scores. He’s been slowed by injury this year, but caught seven passes for 61 yards and one touchdown in last week’s 27-13 loss to the Terrapins.

“Reed is a playmaker, for sure,” Day said. “Really fast, really athletic. He’s a problem in man-to-man, so we’ve got to do a great job of knowing where he is, and Thorne’s played a lot of good football. Played in a lot of big games, won some big games.”

Perhaps the Spartans’ biggest weapon comes in the form of sixth-year senior punter Bryce Baringer, who is third in the country with an average of 53.3 yards per punt. Eleven of his 18 punts this season have gone for 50 or more yards, including four of 60-plus yards.

“We’ve got to do a good job in terms of holding them up,” Day said. “We’ve also got to put a little pressure on him and go after him a little bit to try to speed him up. Getting 10- to 15-yard returns is a first down on offense, and that’s the way we have to look at it in the battle of field position. It’ll be a good challenge for our team.”

Major Storylines

• Michigan State has five wins over Ohio State when the Buckeyes are ranked in the top five, including 1972, 1974, 1998, 2013 and 2015. The Spartans have lost the last four, however (2016, 2019-21).
• An Ohio State defensive tackle has scored a touchdown in two straight games in East Lansing, including a fumble recovery in the end zone by Dre’Mont Jones in 2018 and pick-six by Haskell Garrett in 2020.
• The Buckeyes have won the last five meetings with the Spartans by an average score of 43.2 to 7.6. That includes jumping out to a 35-0 second-quarter lead in 2017, 35-0 third-quarter lead in 2020 and 49-0 halftime lead in 2021.
• Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker was Ohio State’s defensive backs coach from 2001-03 and co-defensive coordinator in 2004. On the other side, Buckeyes assistant strength and conditioning coach Nico Palazeti played fullback for the Spartans from 2010-12.
• Ohio State has five players on the roster from Michigan, including running back Cayden Saunders (Northville), wide receiver Kai Saunders (Northville), long snapper Bradley Robinson (Troy), offensive lineman Grant Toutant (Warren) and safety Cameron Martinez (Muskegon).
• Robinson, who is a seventh-year senior this fall, actually began his career at Michigan State in 2016, but transferred to Ohio State and walked on to the football program the following season.
• The Spartans, meanwhile, have 12 players from Ohio, including wide receiver Montorie Foster (Cleveland); offensive linemen Matt Carrick (Minerva), J.D. Duplain (Strongsville) and Nick Samac (Mentor); defensive ends Avery Dunn (Shaker Heights), Jeff Pietrowski (Medina) and Brandon Wright (Euclid); defensive tackle Jacob Slade (Lewis Center); and safeties Angelo Grose (Mansfield), Isiah Henderson (Reynoldsburg), Xavier Henderson (Reynoldsburg) and A.J. Kirk (Columbus).
• Kirk is the younger brother of former Ohio State safety Mike Doss, who was a three-time All-American, team captain on the 2002 national championship team and soon-to-be College Football Hall of Fame inductee.
• The Buckeyes are tied with six other teams for first nationally with a 100 percent red zone success rate, with 23 touchdowns and two field goals on 25 attempts.
• Ohio State ranks fourth in the country in allowing just 18 combined sacks (15) and tackles for loss (3) on the season despite facing top-10 defenses in back-to-back weeks.
• The Buckeyes have scored a touchdown in 18 of 20 quarters this season, including 12 straight quarters. Its the fourth-longest streak of Day’s tenure, seven shy of the 19 quarters in a row set in 2019.
• Ohio State is one of just two schools (Alabama) ranked in the top 10 nationally in both total offense (529.6 yards) and total defense (263.8 yards). That’s good for third and 10th, respectively.
• The Buckeyes are outscoring opponents 84-20 in the first quarter and 70-13 in the third quarter. They’re also averaging a nation-leading 48.8 points per game and are the only team in the country averaging 300 yards per game passing and 200 yards rushing.
• Ohio State has now scored 20 or more points in 65 straight games, which is just four games shy of tying the Football Bowl Subdivision record set by Oklahoma from 2016-21. Interestingly, that dates back to a 31-16 loss to the Sooners in 2017. The Buckeyes could tie that mark at Northwestern on Nov. 5 and break it against Indiana on Nov. 12.

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