Ohio State vs. Minnesota Preview: Buckeyes Host Golden Gophers to Conclude 2023 Home Slate

Ohio State will play at home for the sixth and final time this season when it hosts Minnesota at Ohio Stadium on Saturday.

With just one week to go until the rivalry game against Michigan that has become more and more anticipated by the week, it’s hard not to think ahead to the season-defining matchup that looms in Ann Arbor. But the message inside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center all week has been to focus on taking care of business against the Golden Gophers first

While Ohio State hopes to still play as many as five more games this season, it is already known that this week will be the final time Ohio State plays in the Shoe this year. For some Buckeyes, it will be the final time they ever play in Ohio Stadium. So Ryan Day is encouraging all of his players to appreciate the opportunity to play in front of their home crowd while they still can.

“One of the things that I talk to our guys about a lot is every game when you play in the Shoe, you have to appreciate it because nothing's guaranteed moving forward,” Day said. “Make sure you recognize how much you have to appreciate when you run out into that stadium. There's only so many of those.”

With that in mind, the Buckeyes will be determined to put their best foot forward in their penultimate game of the regular season as they look to improve to 11-0 before traveling up north to play for the Big Ten East title next weekend.

“It’s special. Truly special to look up there and see your family in the stands and run out there with all the boys that you've been through a lot with here,” said fifth-year senior tight end Cade Stover. “Knowing that these times are coming to an end very quick, you try and make the most of them.”

The Headlines

Seeking another fast start

Ohio State has often had to battle for wins in second halves this season after slow starts offensively in first halves, but the Buckeyes had a first-half breakthrough last week against Michigan State. Ohio State took a 35-3 lead into halftime after scoring on five of its six first-half possessions, which allowed the Buckeyes to take most of their starters out of the game by the end of the third quarter.

With a war against the Wolverines looming next week, Ohio State would certainly love to be able to do that again as the Buckeyes look to bring momentum into The Game while coming out of the Minnesota game as healthy as possible.

“Our second goal of the season – first goal was to win the first one, second goal was the one the next 10. So we have to complete that goal here on Saturday. And we have to stay focused on that. And that's the bottom line,” Day said Tuesday. ‘Have to play really hard, really fast, really physical like we did this past Saturday.”

Minnesota is better than Michigan State, so the Buckeyes might not be able to cruise to a blowout quite as easily as they did last week. The game still shouldn’t be close if Ohio State plays well, considering Minnesota is just 5-5 this season, a below-average Big Ten team on both sides of the ball and coming off a 49-30 loss to Purdue in which the Boilermakers ran for a whopping 353 yards.

The final tuneup

Assuming Ohio State is able to pull out to a convincing lead, the Buckeyes will want to get their backups in the game not only to keep their starters fresh for The Game but also because it will likely be the final opportunity for Ohio State to give its reserves some valuable game reps this season.

More importantly, this is the final opportunity for Ohio State to work through its own issues in game action before its defining games of the season begin. The Buckeyes will need to be sound in all areas of the game to beat Michigan, who is also unbeaten; after The Game, only the postseason will remain for Ohio State.

Ohio State shouldn’t need a complex game plan to beat the Golden Gophers, especially on defense, as Minnesota ranks 111th in total offense this season. The Buckeyes could choose to keep things as basic as possible this week in order to keep as many tricks up their sleeves as they can for next week. But if there’s anything they want to experiment with before trying it in a game where every play could make the difference between winning and losing, this week would be the time to do it.

The Buckeyes have had a mindset of focusing on themselves and continuing to improve every week, and that approach could be especially important this week as they look to get the most out of their final game before The Game.

“They're gonna come in here and play really hard, so we have to match that,” Day said. “It's a Big Ten game here in November, so we have to do a great job of preparing for it like any other game. It has no bearing what's coming on coming down the future, we got to be on point right now, and continue to build on our future.”

Buckeyes celebrate Senior Day

One of the highlights of Saturday’s final home game of the season will come before the game kicks off as the Buckeyes will recognize their seniors with a pregame Senior Day ceremony.

This year’s honorees will include 21 seniors, though that doesn’t necessarily mean all of them will play their final home game as Buckeyes on Saturday, as most of them still have the additional year of eligibility all players received in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The only Buckeyes who will fully exhaust their eligibility this season are sixth-year seniors Xavier Johnson, Matt Jones and Josh Proctor and seventh-year senior Tristan Gebbia.

RELATED Full List of Senior Day Participants

That said, Saturday is expected to be the final game in Ohio Stadium for some of Ohio State’s other prominent seniors, such as Stover and linebackers Steele Chambers and Tommy Eichenberg. There are also a multitude of juniors projected as potential early draft entrants who could play their final game in the Shoe on Saturday, such as wide receivers Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka, running back TreVeyon Henderson, cornerback Denzel Burke, defensive end JT Tuimoloau and defensive tackle Tyleik Williams.

Projected Starters

Ohio State	Pos	Minnesota
OFFENSE
KYLE MCCORD	QB	ATHAN KALIAKMANIS
TREVEYON HENDERSON	RB	JORDAN NUBIN
MARVIN HARRISON JR.	WR	ELIJAH SPENCER
JULIAN FLEMING	WR	DANIEL JACKSON
EMEKA EGBUKA	WR/TE	NICK KALLERUP
CADE STOVER	TE	BREVYN SPANN-FORD
JOSH SIMMONS	LT	AIREONTAE ERSERY
DONOVAN JACKSON	LG	TYLER COOPER
CARSON HINZMAN	C	NATHAN BOE
MATT JONES	RG	MARTES LEWIS
JOSH FRYAR	RT	QUINN CARROLL
DEFENSE
JT TUIMOLOAU	DE	JALEN LOGAN-REDDING
TYLEIK WILLIAMS	DT	DEVEN EASTERN
TY HAMILTON	DT	KYLER BAUGH
JACK SAWYER	DE	DANNY STRIGGOW
STEELE CHAMBERS	LB	MAVERICK BARANOWSKI
TOMMY EICHENBERG	LB	DEVON WILLIAMS
JORDAN HANCOCK	NB	JACK HENDERSON
DENZEL BURKE	CB	JUSTIN WALLEY
DAVISON IGBINOSUN	CB	TRE’VON JONES
JOSH PROCTOR	FS	TYLER NUBIN
SONNY STYLES	SS	DARIUS GREEN

Day is looking forward to sharing a moment with every player who chooses to participate in Senior Day because he knows what they’ve all had to overcome during their respective Ohio State careers.

“When you see that player come across the field, they come with a history of adversity, almost all of them. They have their own story, their own journey along the way, whether it is an injury, whether it's losing a family member, whether it's someone was diagnosed with cancer, whether it was just something along the way that they have to work through, and that's life,” Day said. “And the fact that they've started off as recruits, and then they get here as a freshman and they work through and then they graduate, and along the way, they have their own story. And each guy has their own story, which I think that's the one thing that I recognize as those guys run across the field.”

Keep An Eye on These Guys

Ohio State WR Marvin Harrison Jr.

Including Harrison in this section last week proved to be prescient as Harrison scored three touchdowns in three drives to propel Ohio State to a 21-0 lead en route to a comfortable 38-3 win, so we’re highlighting him again this week. With his Heisman Trophy campaign now in full swing, Ohio State will have just as much incentive to get him involved early and often.

Minnesota has only allowed three receivers to top 100 yards against it this year, but all three of those receivers had huge games against the Gophers. Northwestern’s Bryce Kirtz caught 10 passes for 215 yards and two touchdowns. North Carolina’s Nate McCollum caught 15 passes for 165 yards and one touchdown. Illinois’ Isaiah Williams caught 13 passes for 131 yards and two touchdowns.

As consistently dominant as Harrison has been this season, it would be a surprise if he doesn’t join that list with his eighth 100-yard receiving game of the season. In what will almost certainly be his final home game as a Buckeye, Harrison has a chance to break multiple school records; he is currently tied with David Boston for the most 100-yard games in school history and also has a shot to become the first Buckeye ever to catch multiple touchdown passes in four straight games.

Minnesota S Tyler Nubin

Graded by Pro Football Focus as the best safety in the entire FBS this season, Nubin is the player to watch on Minnesota’s defense. A projected early-round pick in the 2024 NFL draft, Nubin is a standout in both coverage and run defense; he has accumulated four interceptions, four additional pass breakups, one forced fumble, 49 total tackles and a sack this season.

If Minnesota is going to have a chance at upsetting Ohio State on Saturday, it’s likely going to need a big play or multiple from its standout fifth-year senior safety.

Minnesota WR Daniel Jackson

The player to watch when Minnesota has the ball is Jackson, who ranks as the Big Ten’s third-leading receiver this season with 681 receiving yards and seven touchdowns on 45 catches.

Ohio State has faced only two wide receivers this season who have more receiving yards than Jackson in 2023 (Western Kentucky’s Malachi Corley and Youngstown State’s Bryce Oliver), and neither of them is facing Big Ten defenses on a weekly basis, so the 6-foot, 200-pound senior from Kansas City will be one of the best wideouts Ohio State has faced all season. Keeping him covered will give the Buckeyes’ cornerbacks a test this week.

Game Week Talk

“I feel like I learned a good deal from being around Coach Fleck, and I appreciate our relationship. To this day, when I see him, it feels like we're just picking up where we left off, so I appreciate that.”– Brian Hartline on P.J. Fleck

Hartline was a wide receiver at Ohio State when Fleck was a graduate assistant for the Buckeyes in 2006, so Minnesota’s head coach and Ohio State’s offensive coordinator have known each other for a long time. Both had good things to say about each other this week, with Fleck saying he is unsurprised by the development of Ohio State’s receivers because Hartline “was such a student of the game, and it was so fun to coach him and be around him.”

“I’ve got so much respect for Ryan, and I know Ryan very well. I consider Ryan a friend. He gets them to play really hard and keep them focused. And Coach Knowles does a really good job on defense.”– P.J. Fleck on Ryan Day

While Fleck and Day have never worked together, both of them had good things to say about each other and their respective programs this week, too. Day says he has “a lot of respect for P.J. and just the way he coaches this team,” describing them as “always fundamental” and “always tough.”

“As a kid growing up, I’ve always seen Ohio State, always been a very high-powered team, and it’s really going to be an honor just to be on the field with them. It’s going to be really just like a dream come true.”– Minnesota defensive tackle Kyler Baugh

While players from underdog opponents often say they’re treating the challenge of playing Ohio State like any other team, Baugh – a starting defensive tackle for Minnesota who started his college career at Houston Baptist, an FCS school – didn’t hide his excitement for getting to play against the Buckeyes during his press conference at Minnesota this week.

Get Smart

• Including the vacated win in 2010, Ohio State has won its last 12 straight games against Minnesota and is 47-7 all-time against the Golden Gophers.
• Ohio State is 39-2 all-time in games played on the Big Ten Network. This is Ohio State’s second game on BTN this year; the first was the Buckeyes’ 35-7 win over Youngstown State.
• Minnesota’s roster includes three players from Ohio: starting linebacker Devon Williams (Dublin), backup kicker Jacob Lewis (Delaware) and backup offensive lineman Phillip Daniels (Cincinnati).
• Ohio State’s roster includes no players from Minnesota.
• With a win on Saturday, Ohio State would secure its fifth undefeated season at home in the last six years. This is the first time since 2004 – excluding 2020, when the Buckeyes played only five total regular-season games due to COVID-19 – that Ohio State has played only six home games in a season.

How It Plays Out

Line: Ohio State -27.5, O/U 49.5

If all goes according to plan, this week’s game should look a lot like last week’s game for Ohio State.

Ohio State has yet to allow more than 17 points in a game this year and the Buckeyes have only faced three teams who have scored fewer points per game than Minnesota this season, so there’s no reason to think the Golden Gophers should score more than two or three times.

The Buckeyes’ offensive performance hasn’t been as consistent, but the Golden Gophers’ defense looks plenty vulnerable after they gave up 49 points on more than 600 yards to Purdue last week. With Ohio State’s offense as healthy as it’s been since September, this week should be another prime opportunity for the Buckeyes to start fast and put up a big number on the scoreboard – at least in the first half.

Ohio State is likely to take its foot off the gas pedal and let its backups play again if it is able to build a commanding lead, which should be factored into any score prediction. Even still, nearly all of our staff members expect the Buckeyes to cover the spread. All 13 of our writers expect Ohio State to score between 35-45 points and Minnesota to score between 6-14 points in a decisive victory for the home team in this year’s final contest at Ohio Stadium.