THE PERTINENT INFO

When: Saturday, October 5, 2019
Where: Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio
TV: 7:30 // ABC
Announcers: Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Maria Taylor

This will be the 48th time Ohio State and Michigan State (4–1) have faced each other in football. The Buckeyes hold a 32–15 advantage in the all-time series and are 15–9 when playing the Spartans in Columbus. 

Mark Dantonio's team trailed Indiana early in the 4th quarter and scored nine points last five seconds of the game to defeat the Hoosiers 40-31 last week. 

The Spartans' loss was to Arizona State in Week 3. It appeared that Michigan State tied the game when Matt Coghlin made a field goal. However, the Spartans were flagged for having too many players on the field. Coghlin missed the next attempt and the Sun Devils won 10-7 in East Lansing.

Below, you will find some interesting facts about the teams, key offensive player stats, coach information, and team stats.

THE LAST TIME...

• Ohio State played Michigan State, The Buckeyes beat the Spartans 26-6 in East Lansing.
• This game was played in Columbus, the Scarlet and Gray won 48-3.
• The Buckeyes played the sixth game of the season at home was last year. The team defeated Indiana 49-26. 
• Ohio State played on October 5th was 2013. The team defeated No. 15 Northwestern, 40-30, in Evanston.
• The Scarlet and Gray lost the sixth game of the season was 2011, Nebraska had a program record comeback and won 34-27 in Lincoln.
• Ohio State lost the sixth game of the season at home was 2000, Glen Mason and Minnesota defeated John Cooper's team 29-17.

ON THE HORIZON​

• Chase Young needs 2 sacks to become the second Buckeye to have back-to-back double digit sack seasons.
• K.J. Hill needs 30 receiving yards to pass Ted Ginn Jr. (1,943) for ninth on the all-time receiving yards list.
• Ohio State is looking for its fifth consecutive win of 40 or more points. Since WWI, the Big Ten record is four-straight victories by at least 40 points.
• The Buckeyes are going for their fourth straight win over Michigan State.
• This will be the third time Ohio State has worn black jerseys in a game. The team defeated Nebraska (36-31) last year and Penn State (38-10) in 2015.
• K.J. Hill needs 28 catches to break David Boston's program record for career receptions. He had five catches against Nebraska last week.

GET TO KNOW MICHIGAN STATE

• Michigan State is located in East Lansing, MI.
• The university was established in 1855. 
• The Spartans are in their 121st season of playing football. 
• Sparty, the team's mascot, made its debut as a six-foot tall papier-mâché Spartan head in 1955.  
• Michigan State football started as a club sport in 1885, but played its first varsity football game in 1896.
• Notable alumni are James Caan* (The Godfather), Dick Martin (half of Rowan and Martin) Tom Sizemore (Saving Private Ryan), Tom Bodett* (Motel 6), Chris Hansen (Tells pervs to have a seat), Jackie Martling (The Joke Man), Steve Garvey (Dodgers great), Kirk Gibson (Tigers great), Draymond Green (Warriors whiner), Magic Johnson (Lakers great, has HIV?), Zach Randolph (Grizzlies), Le'Veon Bell (Jets, Groveport Madison), Plaxico Burrress (heart breaker and poor shot), Bubba Smith (Colts, Police Academy and Married With Children)  Drayton McLane Jr. (owner of the Astros), Dan Gilbert (owner of the Cavs), Tom Gores (owner of the Pistons), John H. McConnell (former owner of the Blue Jackets)

*Attended, did not graduate.

​TODAY'S TRIVIA QUESTIONS:

1. The Buckeyes currently have a three-game winning streak over Michigan State, what is the program's longest winning streak over the Spartans? 
2. How many times has Michigan State had a three-game winning streak against Ohio State?
3. How many times have the Buckeyes won at least three straight games against the Spartans?

Answers at the bottom of today's article.

2019 Player Comparison

OFFENSIVE LEADERS
JUSTIN FIELDS	1,092 YDS // 16 TD // 0 INT	PASSING	BRIAN LEWERKE	1,325 YDS // 10 TD // 1 INT
J.K. DOBBINS	654 YDS // 7.1 YPC // 5 TD	RUSHING	ELIJAH COLLINS	413 YDS //  5.3 YPC // 3 TD
BINJIMEN VICTOR	269 YDS // 2 TD	RECEIVING	DARRELL STEWART JR.	556 YDS // 3 TD
DEFENSIVE LEADERS
JORDAN FULLER	25	TACKLES	JOE BACHIE	46
CHASE YOUNG	8.0	SACKS	KENNY WILLEKES	4.0
JEFF OKUDAH	3	INTERCEPTIONS	JOE BACHIE (5 MORE)	1
SPECIAL TEAMS
DEMARIO McCALL	8.7 YPR	PUNT RETURNER	BRANDON SOWARDS	16.0
DEMARIO McCALL	22.1 YPR	KICKOFF RETURN	DARRELL STEWART JR.	22.2
DRUE CHRISMAN	46.3	PUNTING	ISAAC ARMSTRONG	47.9
3		EDGE	6

 

THE COACHES

Ryan Day

• 8–0 (1.00) at Ohio State
• 8–0 (1.00) overall

Day's hometown is Manchester, NH. He attended Manchester High School and attended college at New Hampshire. Day has been in coaching for 18 years and is Ohio State's 25th head coach. 

After this season's first five games, Ryan Day and the Buckeyes are outscoring their opponents 262-43. That is an average victory of 52-9. The numbers stay fairly steady when you add in the three games Day coached last season.

After eight games with Day as head coach, Ohio State is beating teams by an average score of 54-13. The only teams not to lose to Day by more than 40 points are Oregon State, TCU and Florida Atlantic. He has the program record for points scored after his first eight games with 431.

Urban Meyer, Earle Bruce and Carroll Widdoes are the only other coaches in program history to start their careers with eight straight victories. However, none of them won their games as convincingly as Day.

Mark Dantonio

• 111–52 (.681) at Michigan State (13th year)
• 129–69 (.652) overall as a college head coach (16th year)
• 67–34 (.663) against B1G opponents

Mark Dantonio has won more Big Ten Championships (3), bowl games (5) and bowl appearances (10) than any other Michigan State head football coach. He joins Lloyd Carr, Urban Meyer, Joe Paterno, Bo Schembechler and Jim Tressel as the only Big Ten coaches to have at least six 10-win seasons*. 

Dantonio spent three years as the defensive coordinator at Ohio State (2001-03) where he served under Jim Tressel. During Dantonio’s tenure at Ohio State, the Buckeyes posted a combined record of 32–6 (.842), including the 2002 National Championship. Dantonio also was a graduate assistant at Ohio State under Earle Bruce in 1983-84. He is 3–6 when facing the Buckeyes as Michigan State's head coach.

Dantonio was born in El Paso, Texas. His family moved to Zanesville when he was one because his father took the vice principal and basketball coaching position at Zanesville High School. Dantonio graduated from Zanesville where he was an all-state safety for the Blue Devils. Earlier this year, he was honored by his hometown during the school district's 200th anniversary. Dantonio gave a speech that was also attended by former Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel.

He played college football at South Carolina where he earned three varsity letters for the Gamecocks as a DB between 1976-78. Upon graduating with a degree in education, Dantonio transferred to Ohio University where earned his master's degree and joined the football staff as a graduate assistant.

After many assistant positions, including Ohio State (2001-03) he was hired by Cincinnati as head coach in 2004. Dantonio won a bowl game with the Bearcats and was hired by Michigan State in 2006.

*For those wondering, Kirk Ferentz has five 10-win seasons over 21 years.

CLIFF CLAVEN'S LITTLE KNOWN FACTS CORNER

• 0......The fucks I give for the whole state of Michigan.
• 1......Justin Fields is the only quarterback in the country to have a passing and rushing touchdown in all five games this year.
• 2......Ohio State's rank in total defense and sacks per game.
• 3......Interceptions for Jeff Okudah in the last two weeks.
• 4......Of Ohio State's 25 head coaches, only four have started their career 8–0. Day is one of them.
• 5......Buckeye losses to Big Ten teams since 2012, two of the defeats are to MSU.
• 8......Chase Young's sacks after five games.
• 9......Points Ohio State is allowing per game.
• 10.....K.J. Hills rank for career receiving yards (1,914).
• 13.....True freshman have played this year, seven of them played last week. 
• 20.....Career sacks for The Predator.
• 24.....Consecutive wins is the program record set by Urban Meyer in 2012-13. 
• 28.....Ohioans on Michigan State's roster.
• 31.....Straight games the Scarlet and Gray has scored at least 20 points.
• 35.....Number of Big Ten leading receptions for the Spartans' Darrell Stewart.
• 36.....Night games for Ohio State since 2012, 26 were road games (21–5).
• 40.....The Buckeyes have defeated their last four opponents by more than that margin.
• 62.....Victories for the Buckeyes in night games (62–27).
• 62.....Punts Drue Chrisman has downed inside the 20 during his OSU career.
• 97.....Number of wins Ohio State has had this decade.
• 98.....Homecoming games in Buckeye history.
• 109...Touchdown passes thrown by Ohio State quarterbacks since 2017.
• 111....Wins for Mark Dantonio at Michigan State, the most for a coach in program history.
• 124...Unanswered points for the Buckeyes in the last two games (hot tip: Readnguy). 
• 173...Points scored by OSU in the first half this season, opposing teams have 22.
• 368...Rushing yards for Ohio State last week against Nebraska.
• 453...wins OSU has had in Ohio Stadium.
• 586...Buckeye football games played in Ohio Stadium. 
• 907...Times Ohio State has been ranked in the AP poll.
• 916...Number of official wins for the program (we know it's actually 928).

2019 Statistical Comparison

OFFENSE
52.4	3rd	POINTS FOR	31.4	60th
281.6	7th	RUSHING OFFENSE	144.6	83rd
254.0	56th	PASSING OFFENSE	269.0	44th
535.6	8th	TOTAL OFFENSE	413.6	71st
.566	3rd	3rd DOWNS	.446	35th
.893	36th	RED ZONE	.913	30th
DEFENSE
8.6	4th	POINTS ALLOWED	15.0	14th
85.0	15th	RUSH DEFENSE	55.8	4th
138.8	6th	PASS DEFENSE	198.0	37th
92.6	6th	PASS EFFICIENCY DEFENSE	116.2	30th
223.8	2nd	TOTAL DEFENSE	253.8	7th
.247	5th	3rd DOWNS	.342	47th
.538	3rd	RED ZONE	.733	24th
SPECIAL TEAMS
11.1	41st	PUNT RETURN	8.8	60th
21.3	63rd	KICKOFF RETURN	19.9	81st
41.4	27th	NET PUNTING	41.1	30th
MISCELLANEOUS
+1.2	15th	TURNOVER MARGIN	+1.2	15th
4.4	12th	PENALTIES	7.4	102nd
15		EDGE	3

TODAY'S TRIVIA ANSWERS

The Buckeyes currently have a three-game winning streak over Michigan State, what is the program's longest winning streak over the Spartans? 

Answer: Eight. Between 1975 and 1984, the Scarlet and Gray won every game against the team from East Lansing. The teams did not play in 1977 or 1978.

How many times has Michigan State had a three-game winning streak against Ohio State?

Answer: Once. The series started with Ohio State losing the first three games (1912, 1951 and 1953).

How many times have the Buckeyes won at least three straight games against the Spartans?

Answer: Five. The eight-game winning streak mentioned above, four straight between 1967-1970, five consecutive between 1991-1997 (did not play in 1995 or 1996), seven straight between 2000 and 2008 (did not play in 2001 or 2002) and the current three game winning streak (2016-today). 

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