THE PERTINENT INFO
When: Saturday, December 1, 2018
Where: Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN
TV: 8:00 /// FOX
Announcers: Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt and Jenny Taft
This will be the 77th time Ohio State and Northwestern have faced each other in football. The Buckeyes are 61–14–1 all-time against the Wildcats, and are 28–6–1 when the game is not played in Columbus.
Last week, Pat Fitzgerald's team defeated Illinois (24-16) and currently has a seven-game conference winning streak.
THE LAST TIME...
- Ohio State played Northwestern was 2016, the Buckeyes beat the Wildcats 24-20 in Columbus.
- The Buckeyes played a ranked Northwestern team was 2013. Ohio State won 40-30 in Evanston.
- These schools faced each other at a neutral location was 1991. The Buckeyes won 34-3 in Cleveland.
- Ohio State was ranked No. 6 and faced a ranked Northwestern team was 1962. The No. 8 Wildcats pulled off the upset and won 18-14 in Ohio Stadium.
- The Buckeyes lost against Northwestern was 2004. The Wildcats celebrated a 33-27 overtime victory on Ryan Field.
ON THE HORIZON
- J.K. Dobbins is 39 rushing yards away from his second straight 1,000 yard season. He will become the first Buckeye to eclipse the thousand yard mark in his freshman and sophomore seasons.
- Ohio State has a six-game winning streak against Northwestern and has won 30 of the last 31 against the Wildcats.
- The Buckeyes are a victory away from their 37th Big Ten title.
- With 81 victories, Urban Meyer is tied with Earle Bruce for 4th on the all-time win list at Ohio State.
- Parris Campbell currently has 72 receptions this season. He needs 3 catches to pass Curtis Samuel for second on the single season receptions list.
- Johnnie Dixon is 10 yards away from 1,000 career receiving yards. Ohio State has a chance to have four 1,000 yard career receivers on the team for the first time in program history.
Northwestern University
GET TO KNOW NORTHWESTERN
- The campus is located in Evanston, IL.
- The university was founded in 1851.
- The team is playing its 135th season of football.
- The school's first mascot was a caged bear cub named Furpaw. The team blamed the Lincoln Park Zoo bear for a losing season and banished the animal from the sidelines. Willie the Wildcat made his debut as a logo in 1933.
- Northwestern's first football game was in 1876.
TODAY'S TRIVIA QUESTIONS:
- Since 1950 how many Ohio State coaches have lost to Northwestern? Can you name the losing coach(es)?
- Ohio State blocked a punt for a touchdown against Northwestern in 2013. Who was the player that scored on the play?
- In seven seasons as Ohio State's head coach, Urban Meyer has 55 wins in the Big Ten. How many conference wins does Pat Fitzgerald have in 13 years as Northwestern's head coach?
Answers at the bottom of today's article.
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| OFFENSIVE LEADERS | ||||
| DWAYNE HASKINS | 4,081 YDS // 42 TD // 7 INT | PASSING | CLAYTON THORSON | 2,675 YDS // 14 TD // 12 INT |
| J.K. DOBBINS | 961 YDS // 4.7 YPC // 8 TD | RUSHING | ISAIAH BOWSER | 736 YDS // 4.6 YPC // 6 TD |
| PARRIS CAMBPELL | 903 YDS // 11 TD | RECEIVING | FLYNN NAGEL | 746 YDS // 2 TD |
| DEFENSIVE LEADERS | ||||
| MALIK HARRISON | 64 | TACKLES | BLAKE GALLAGHER | 112 |
| DRE'MONT JONES | 7.5 | SACKS | JOE GAZIANO | 6.0 |
|
KENDALL SHEFFIELD SHAUN WADE |
2 | INTERCEPTIONS |
NATE HALL JR PACE |
3 |
| SPECIAL TEAMS | ||||
| DEMARIO McCALL | 10.7 YPR | PUNT RETURNER | RILEY LEES | 5.6 |
| DEMARIO McCALL | 19.0 YPR | KICKOFF RETURN | KYRIC McGOWAN | 24.1 |
| DRUE CHRISMAN | 42.3 | PUNTING | JAKE COLLINS | 40.7 |
| 6 | EDGE | 3 | ||
THE COACHES
Urban Meyer
- 81–9 (.900) at Ohio State
- 185–32 (.853) overall
Meyer was born in Toledo and grew up in Ashtabula. He attended the University of Cincinnati where he played football. He started his coaching career as a defensive backs coach at St. Xavier in 1985. Meyer then took a GA position with Ohio State between 1986 and 1987. His next stops were Illinois State (1988-89), Colorado State (1990-95) and Notre Dame (1996-2000).
Bowling Green (2001-02) was his first stop as a head coach. He then had stints in Utah (2003-04) and Florida (2005-10) before coming back to the great state of Ohio.
Urban Meyer is the only Ohio State coach to start his career 7–0 in The Game.
Pat Fitzgerald
- 95–69 (.579) at Northwestern (13th year)
-
95–69 (.579) overall as a college coach (13th year)
Fitzgerald was born in Orland Park, Illinois. He grew up on the south side of Chicago is an avid supporter of the city's teams (Bears, Blackhawks and White Sox). Fitzgerald played linebacker for Northwestern and led the team to a 10-1 record in 1995 and the school's first Rose Bowl appearance since 1949. He made his mark in upset victories over No. 9 Notre Dame and No. 7 Michigan. The Wildcats won Big Ten titles in 1995 and 1996 with Fitzgerald on the team. However, the team did not face Ohio State during either of those seasons.
After graduating, Fitzgerald joined Maryland's staff as a graduate assistant. He then spent time with Gary Barnett at Colorado and had a stint with Idaho before returning to Northwestern as coach of the linebackers in 2002. Fitzgerald was named the head coach after the sudden death of Randy Walker in the summer of 2006.
Fitzgerald has the second-longest tenure of any coach in the Big Ten. His teams have been to eight bowl games and he owns three of the school's four bowl game victories.
CLIFF CLAVEN'S LITTLE KNOWN FACTS CORNER
- 0. Pat Fitzgerald has never defeated Ohio State as a player or a head coach.
- 1. Tuf Borland is the only player on the Buckeyes' roster from Illinois.
- 2. Dwayne Haskins set two Buckeye records in The Game. He has the most passing yards (396) and touchdown passes (6) in a single game against Michigan.
- 3. In three games against That Team, Mike Weber rushed for 179 yards and three TDs.
- 4. Haskins has four games with 400+ passing yards this season.
- 5. The Buckeyes rank fifth nationally in number of plays offensive plays of 10 yards or more.
- 6. Haskins earned six Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week awards this season, breaking Troy Smith's record of five.
- 7. Ohio State has won at least 10 games in a program record seven consecutive seasons.
- 8. Haskins is tied with J.T. Barrett and Joe Germaine for 300-yard career passing games. However, Haskins is the only QB in team history to accomplish this feat in one season.
- Ohio State is 7–0 when scoring first this season.
- The most points scored by the Buckeyes in the Big Ten Championship was the 59 scored against Wisconsin in 2014.
- Anderson Russell was the last Buckeye to force two fumbles in a game. He did it in 2008 against Minnesota.
- Mike Weber is 14 yards away from passing Jim Otis and 48 yards away from passing Calvin Murray for 15th on Ohio State's career rushing list.
- In 2018, Haskins is averaging 340.1 passing yards per game.
- Ohio State has scored 474 touchdowns since 2012, that is the most in the Big Ten during that time frame.
- The team is 16–0 when J.K. Dobbins or Mike Weber rushes for 100 yards.
- For the first time in program history, the team has two running backs with 2,000 career rushing yards on the same team.
- The Buckeyes are ranked second nationally in number of 1,000-yard rushers (69).
- Northwestern's last Big Ten title was in 1996.
- In the history of NU football, the Wildcats have only played in two Rose Bowls.
- Northwestern has 18 players from the great state of Ohio on its roster.
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| OFFENSE | ||||
| 43.3 | 7th | POINTS FOR | 23.7 | 107th |
| 187.9 | 52nd | RUSHING OFFENSE | 114.8 | 119th |
| 359.7 | 2nd | PASSING OFFENSE | 237.0 | 61st |
| 547.6 | 2nd | TOTAL OFFENSE | 351.8 | 110th |
| .468 | 16th | 3rd DOWNS | .404 | 57th |
| .767 | 117th | RED ZONE | .825 | 77th |
| DEFENSE | ||||
| 25.8 | 57th | POINTS ALLOWED | 21.7 | 29th |
| 164.9 | 69th | RUSH DEFENSE | 134.7 | 32nd |
| 237.6 | 77th | PASS DEFENSE | 238.0 | 79th |
| 123.9 | 46th | PASS EFFICIENCY DEFENSE | 126.5 | 53rd |
| 402.5 | 72nd | TOTAL DEFENSE | 372.7 | 48th |
| .314 | 10th | 3rd DOWNS | .347 | 31st |
| .889 | 104th | RED ZONE | .829 | 64th |
| SPECIAL TEAMS | ||||
| 8.3 | 72nd | PUNT RETURN | 6.3 | 95th |
| 17.5 | 114th | KICKOFF RETURN | 22.3 | 37th |
| 41.7 | 7th | NET PUNTING | 37.7 | 60th |
| MISCELLANEOUS | ||||
| +0.4 | 35th | TURNOVER MARGIN | +0.3 | 44th |
| 8.2 | 123rd | PENALTIES | 2.8 | 1st |
| 11 | EDGE | 7 | ||
TODAY'S TRIVIA ANSWERS
Since 1950 how many Ohio State coaches have lost to Northwestern? Can you name the losing coach(es)?
Answer: Two. Woody Hayes (1958, 1962, 1963, 1971) and Jim Tressel (2004).
Ohio State player blocked a punt for a touchdown against Northwestern in 2013. Who was the player that scored on the play?
Answer: Bradley Roby.
In seven seasons as Ohio State's head coach, Urban Meyer has 55 wins in the Big Ten. How many conference wins does Pat Fitzgerald have in 13 years as Northwestern's head coach?
Answer: 56. Meyer will tie Fitzgerald in Big Ten victories if Ohio State can defeat the Wildcats Saturday night.
ICYMI
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