Two of college football's most storied programs meet Saturday night at Ohio Stadium.
Sixth-ranked Ohio State hosts No. 10 Nebraska for a primetime showdown that has quite a bit at stake. The Buckeyes and Cornhuskers are both battling for spots in the Big Ten championship game and hope to keep their College Football Playoff hopes alive.
All eyes will be on Columbus.
"It's Nebraska, a tradition-rich program," Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer said Wednesday. "I remember the first time I coached against them was our first year here. Just see the white helmets of Nebraska, I grew up watching Coach [Tom] Osborne."
"Ohio State versus Nebraska, obviously the whole country will be peeking in on that one because it's two top-10 teams. We have a slew of recruits coming in and it's going to be a busy weekend."
Let's dive a little deeper and look at some numbers and storylines that may help us figure out who will win this clash of college football titans.
Ohio State is 15-4 in night games at Ohio Stadium
And the Buckeyes are 13-1 in their last 14 night games overall. This will be the first night game at Ohio Stadium this season, but Ohio State already has three under its belt this year — all on the road.
Despite being a storied program, Nebraska hasn't had as many big-time matchups of late. The Huskers went through a few down seasons before resurfacing to the national spotlight this season under Mike Riley.
This is the first top-10 matchup for Nebraska since 2011
Which is rather surprising when you think about it. It was in October of 2011 when the Huskers were ranked eighth in the country and they played No. 7-ranked Wisconsin.
That, of course, won't have much of an impact on who wins Saturday night, but what will is Nebraska's defense. Ohio State poses the No. 2-ranked scoring offense in the Big Ten at 42.6 points per game, but...
Nebraska's defense allows only 18.4 points per game
That ranks fourth in the Big Ten and 15th nationally. You can gain yards on the Huskers — they give up over 340 per game — but it's tough to score points.
In a lot of ways, that's similar to Ohio State. The Buckeyes allowed Northwestern to rack up over 400 yards of total offense last week, but the Wildcats found the end zone just twice.
Where Ohio State's defense was so dominant early in the season was in the turnover department. The Buckeyes slowed down a bit there, but will look to get back on track against the Cornhuskers. Opportunities could be there, too, because Nebraska quarterback Tommy Armstrong is a bit turnover prone and has...
43 career interceptions
And that's a ton. Through eight games this season, Armstrong has thrown seven interceptions against 11 touchdowns. Ohio State will certainly look to attack the Huskers' dual-threat signal caller.
A Nebraska victory Saturday puts the Huskers in prime position to claim the Big Ten West title. Nebraska controls its own destiny right now as it has just one conference loss, but falling to Ohio State would mean the Huskers need some help to get to Indianapolis.
For the Buckeyes, they need to keep winning — and hope archrival Michigan continues to win, as well. If those two teams win out until their Nov. 26 showdown at Ohio Stadium, that game will determine the Big Ten East champion.
This is how it should be. Two of the sport's top programs battling with so much on the line. Exactly how big is this matchup?
Nebraska has 887 wins all time; Ohio State has 882
Those both rank in the top-five all time for FBS schools.
One will add another victory to its impressive resume Saturday night.
