Nebraska at Ohio State: Buckeyes look to keep series one-sided in season opener

Who: Nebraska at No. 5 Ohio State

When: 12 p.m., Saturday

Where: Ohio Stadium, Columbus

TV/Radio: FOX/1410

Series history: Ohio State leads 7-1. The Buckeyes are undefeated against the Cornhuskers in Columbus.

Last game: The Buckeyes crushed the Cornhuskers 48-7 last season in Lincoln. Two years ago in Columbus, Ohio State rallied from a halftime deficit to win 36-31.

Coaches: Ohio State’s Ryan Day is 16-1 overall and 10-0 against Big Ten teams. Nebraska’s Scott Frost is 9-15 at Nebraska and 6-12 in the Big Ten. He is 28-22 overall in four seasons as a head coach.

Ohio State notes: 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.

Nebraska notes: The Cornhuskers last played on 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…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… Quarterback Adrian 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… Because of its extensive walk-on program, Nebraska has 79 freshmen on its roster. That includes John Bivens, a running back from Alter High School… Nebraska has one Ohioan on its official roster — offensive lineman Matt Sichterman, a junior from who went to Kings High School… Frost and Day both cached under Chip Kelly earlier in their careers, Day at New Hampshire and in the NFL with Eagles and 49ers and Frost at Oregon.

Quoted: Frost on the matchup: "It’s two teams that I think that have wanted to play all along playing each other in the first game. I’ve got a ton of respect for them. I said after last season that was one of the best college football teams that I’ve ever been on a field with. I think they were one of the best teams in the country and could have easily won everything last year.

Next game: The Buckeyes go on the road for the first time to take on Penn State next Saturday night. Nebraska returns home to host Wisconsin.

Prediction: Ohio State 39, Nebraska 21

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