THE PERTINENT INFO
When: Saturday, November 28, 2020
Where: Memorial Stadium, Champaign, IL
TV: Noon // FS1
Announcers: Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt and Jenny Taft
This will be the 104th time Ohio State and Illinois have battled on the gridiron. The Buckeyes lead the series 69–30–4* and are 37–12* in Champaign. The Illini are 1–13 against ranked opponents with Santa Claus Lovie Smith as head coach. The lone win was against No. 6 Wisconsin in 2019.
Last week, Illinois defeated Nebraska and enters this contest with a 2–3 record.
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 UI was 2017. The Scarlet and Gray won 52-14.
- The Buckeyes played in Memorial Stadium was 2015...Ohio State won 28-3
- Ohio State played on November 28th was 2015. The team traveled to a smelly state to the north and beat That Team 42-13.
- The Buckeyes lost to Illinois in Champaign was 1991, 7-10.
- The Scarlet and Gray lost the fifth game of the season was Oct. 1, 2011. Michigan State won a battle of unranked teams, 10-7.
ON THE HORIZON
- If Garrett Wilson gains 100 yards receiving, he will tie Cris Carter for the program record of five consecutive games with 100+ yards receiving.
- A victory will earn the Buckeyes the program's 941st* all-time.
- Justin Fields is 13 yards away from passing Craig Krenzel for 11th on Ohio State's career passing yards list.
- The program single-season record for receiving yards per game is David Boston's 119.5 in 1998. Wilson is currently averaging 128.3 yards per game.
- The Buckeyes are going for their 20th straight regular-season win. The longest active streak in the country
*NCAA sanctions be damned.
LET'S GO STREAKING
- Justin Fields has thrown a TD pass in 18 consecutive games.
- Ryan Day is 15–0 against Big Ten opponents.
- Until last week, all of Day's conference wins had been by double digit margins.
- Fields has thrown for 300+ yards in three consecutive games
- Garrett Wilson has broken the 100-yard receiving mark in four straight games..
- The Buckeyes have 20 won straight regular-season games.
- Ohio State has defeated the Illini in 9 straight games and 11 consecutive in Champaign.
*NCAA sanctions be damned
University of Illinois
GET TO KNOW ILLINOIS
- The University of Illinois is located in Champaign, IL.
- The university was established in 1867.
- The Illini are 2–3 this season.
- Illinois is 48–81 (.372) since 2010.
- Lovie Smith's shocked the Big 10 and Nebraska, winning 41-12 last week.
- The win secured Illinois' first back-to-back B1G road wins since 2007.
- All-time, the Illini are 614–603–51 (.504).
- Notable alumni are Roger Ebert (movie dude and Pulitzer Prize winner) Robert Johnson (BET, owner of the Charlotte Bobcats), Steve Chen (co-founder of YouTube), John Cioffi (created DSL/broadband internet), Max Levchin (PayPal co-founder), Suze Orman (financial adviser), Gene Shalit (mustachioed movie guy), Gene Hackman (Hoosiers), Ang Lee (Oscar winning movie director), Nick Offerman (Parks and Rec), Andy Richter (Conan) Jerry Colangelo (owned the Phoenix Suns and Diamondbacks) Derek Harper (11th on NBA steals list) Dick Butkus (NFL Hall of Fame, awesome name) Red Grange (NFL Hall of Fame), Steve Sticker (PGA) and Hugh Hefner (tasteful photographer).
ILLINOIS IN MUSIC AND FILM
Musician Herbie Hancock best known for the song "Rockit" was born in Chicago. "Unforgettable" singer, Nat King Cole, grew up in the Windy City. Some other bands from Illinois you might have heard of: Styx (Come Sail Away), Veruca Salt (Seether), Disturbed (Down With The Sickness), Local H (Bound For The Floor), Urge Overkill (Sister Havana) and also did a cover of Neil Diamond's "Girl You'll Be A Woman Soon" for Pulp Fiction, Burl Ives (Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer), Curtis Mayfield (Pusherman), industrial metal band Ministry, Cheap Trick (I Want You To Want Me), Chicago (You're the Inspiration), REO Speedwagon (Can't Fight This Feeling), Survivor (Eye Of The Tiger) and You're Smashing Pumpkins (1979, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness).
There are more bands and musicians from Illinois, but carpal tunnel is starting to set in.
Like the music category, Illinois is a popular state to base movies...especially Chicago. A list of the movies most of you have heard of: The Blues Brothers, Halloween, The Fugitive, Home Alone, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, National Lampoon's Vacation, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Bad Boys, Sixteen Candles, Mean Girls, Uncle Buck, Wayne's World and Weird Science.
A movie you might not have heard of, but has rave reviews is Minding The Gap. It is described as Hoop Dreams on wheels.
TODAY'S TRIVIA QUESTIONS:
- The Buckeyes and Illini play for a trophy called the Illibuck. What animal is the Illibuck?
- When was the last time Illinois left the field with the Illibuck?
- What year did Ohio State and the Illini first play for Illibuck?
Answers at the bottom of today's article.
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| OFFENSIVE LEADERS | ||||
| JUSTIN FIELDS | 1,208 YDS // 13 TD // 3 INT | PASSING | BRANDON PETERS | 292YDS // 1 TD // 0 INT |
| MASTER TEAGUE III | 380 YDS // 5.2 YPC // 6 TD | RUSHING | CHASE BROWN | 357 YDS // 5.9 YPC // 2 TD |
| GARRETT WILSON | 513 YDS // 16.5 YPR // 4 TD | RECEIVING | JOSH IMATORBHEBHE | 215 YDS // 14.3 YPR // 2 TD |
| DEFENSIVE LEADERS | ||||
| PETE WERNER | 24 | TACKLES | JAKE HANSEN | 37 |
| TOMMY TOGIAI | 3.0 | SACKS | OWEN CARNEY JR. | 4.5 |
| MARCUS HOOKER /// SHAUN WADE | 1 | INTERCEPTIONS | JAKE HANSEN | 2 |
| SPECIAL TEAMS | ||||
| GARRETT WILSON | 10.7 | PUNT RETURNER | DONNY NAVARRO | 16.0 |
| DEMARIO McCALL | 14.0 | KICKOFF RETURN | KHMARI THOMPSON | 19.4 |
| DRUE CHRISMAN | 41.6 | PUNTING | BLAKE HAYES | 43.5 |
| 3 | EDGE | 6 | ||
THE COACHES
Ryan Day
- 20–1 (.950) at Ohio State
- 20–1 (.950) overall
Day's hometown is Manchester, NH. He attended Manchester High School and attended college at New Hampshire. Day has been in coaching for 19 years and is Ohio State's 25th head coach.
Last season, Ryan Day and the Buckeyes outscored their opponents 656-192. That is an average victory of 47-14.
After 21 games with Day as head coach, Ohio State is beating teams by an average score of 48-17. He has the program record for points scored after his first 21 games with 1,006. The Buckeyes are outscoring their opponents by a whopping 648 points under Day.
Ryan Day and Urban Meyer are the only coaches in program history to start their careers with 16 straight consecutive victories. Meyer won 24 straight between 2012 and 2013.
Lovie Smith
- 17–37 (.315) at Illinois (5th year)
- 17–37 (.315) overall as a college head coach (5th year)
- 10–31 (.323) against Big Ten opponents
Lovie Smith was born in Gladewater, TX and played football at Big Sandy High School. The Wildcats won three state titles with Smith on the team and he earned a scholarship at Tulsa at Tulsa for John Cooper. Yes, Ohio State's John Cooper. While playing for Tulsa, Smith was a two-time All-American linebacker and defensive back.
He started his career as the linebackers coach at Tulsa in 1983. Smith was with the Golden Hurricane for four seasons with the first two being with John Cooper. After assistant coaching stints at Wisconsin, Arizona State, Kentucky and Tennessee, Smith found himself on the sidelines with Cooper yet again. This time it was as coach of the defensive backs for the 1996 season at Ohio State.
He used his time with the Buckeyes to springboard to the NFL. In 1996 he was hired by Tampa Bay and Tony Dungy. Smith and Dungy brought the Tampa 2 defense to the Buccaneers. Mike Martz called upon Smith to be the defensive coordinator of the St. Louis Rams in 2001. Following three successful seasons with the Rams, the Chicago Bears hired Smith as head coach in 2004. In nine seasons, he guided the Bears to two NFC Championship games and lost to the Indianapolis Colts (Tony Dungy) in Super Bowl XLI.
After a brief hiatus from coaching, Tampa Bay hired Smith in 2014, but he was fired in 2015 after accumulating an 8-24 record. A couple months later, Illinois reached out and Smith agreed to a six-year $21 million contract. To date, the Illini's only win over a ranked team with Smith at the helm was over No. 6 Wisconsin in 2019. Illinois is 17–37 since Smith was hired. That's just over 1.2 million dollars per victory.
CLIFF CLAVEN'S LITTLE KNOWN FACTS CORNER
- 1.......Justin Fields leads the Big Ten in Passing Efficiency.
- 2.......100-yard rushing games by Master Teague III.
- 3.......Interceptions thrown by Fields last week.
- 6.......Career interceptions for Fields.
- 11.....games in which Justin Fields has rushed and passed for a touchdown.
- 16.....night game victories for the Buckeyes in Ohio Stadium.
- 17.....straight wins for OSU over Big Ten AP ranked opponents.
- 18.....times Ohio State has finished a season with at least 11 wins.
- 19.....consecutive conference wins for Ohio State.
- 22.....consecutive regular-season wins for the Scarlet and Gray.
- 23.....straight home wins for the Buckeyes.
- 24.....bowl wins for Ohio State.
- 25.....Ryan Day is the program's 25th head coach.
- 34.....victories for the Buckeyes when GameDay is at the game.
- 35.....true road game victories for the Scarlet and Gray since 2012.
- 36.....Yards Shaun Wade ran on for his pick-six against Indiana.
- 38.....the number of Big Ten titles the football team has won.
- 40.....points scored by Day's teams in 15 of his 21 games.
- 46.....returning letterman are on the 2020 roster.
- 48.....number of times Ohio State has been at the site of College GameDay.
- 55.....yards Sevyn Banks ran on his scoop and score against Nebraska.
- 56.....B1G wins for the Scarlet and Gray since 2014.
- 84.....Buckeyes selected in the first round of the NFL Draft.
- 87.....consensus All-Americans.
- 89.....consecutive seasons the Buckeyes and Illini played between 1914 and 2002.
- 90.....times Ohio State has played in a night game.
- 99.....this is the 99th season the Scarlet and Gray have played in Ohio Stadium.
- 151...the number of years The Ohio State University has been in the education business.
- 300...Fields has thrown for over 300 yards in six of his last nine games.
- 302...OSU's average passing yards per game...school record for a season is 273.2 (1981).
- 378...total yards by fields against Indiana, a career high.
- 460...victories for the Buckeyes in Ohio Stadium.
- 612...offensive TDs by the Scarlet and Gray since 2012.
- 902...receiving yards for Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson this year.
- 907...times Ohio State has been ranked in the AP poll.
- 928...number of official wins for the program (we know it's actually 940).
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| OFFENSE | ||||
| 45.2 | 7th | POINTS FOR | 21.8 | 101st |
| 233.2 | 16th | RUSHING OFFENSE | 222.4 | 20th |
| 302.0 | 22nd | PASSING OFFENSE | 159.4 | 113th |
| 535.2 | 16th | TOTAL OFFENSE | 381.8 | 79th |
| .544 | 5th | 3rd DOWNS | .412 | 59th |
| .792 | 83rd | RED ZONE | .700 | 114th |
| DEFENSE | ||||
| 26.0 | 42nd | POINTS ALLOWED | 32.0 | 78th |
| 98.5 | 12th | RUSH DEFENSE | 194.2 | 94th |
| 291.0 | 115th | PASS DEFENSE | 256.6 | 88th |
| 145.7 | 85th | PASS EFFICIENCY DEFENSE | 159.9 | 111th |
| 389.5 | 51st | TOTAL DEFENSE | 450.8 | 98th |
| .367 | 41st | 3rd DOWNS | .475 | 109th |
| .857 | 80th | RED ZONE | .875 | 94th |
| SPECIAL TEAMS | ||||
| 7.2 | 68th | PUNT RETURN | 12.0 | 24th |
| 12.5 | 124th | KICKOFF RETURN | 18.5 | 86th |
| 34.3 | 116th | NET PUNTING | 40.9 | 28th |
| MISCELLANEOUS | ||||
| +1.0 | 11th | TURNOVER MARGIN | +2.0 | 2nd |
| 6.0 | 56th | PENALTIES | 6.2 | 70th |
| 13 | EDGE | 5 | ||
TODAY'S TRIVIA ANSWERS
The Buckeyes and Illini play for a trophy called the Illibuck. What animal is the Illibuck?
Answer: A turtle. The original trophy was a live turtle. It was chosen because of the expected longevity of the reptile. The original Illibuck died in April of 1926. Since then, Bucket and Dipper (Ohio State) and Atius-Sachem (Illinois) have exchanged wooden turtles.
When was the last time Illinois left the field with the Illibuck?
Answer: 2007. Isaih "Juice" Williams and the Illini stunned No. 1 Ohio State in Columbus. In the fourth quarter, Williams converted 2,456 third downs and ran out the clock.
What year did Ohio State and the Illini first play for Illibuck?
Answer: Nov. 21, 1925. Robert Zuppke and Illinois defeated John Wilce's Buckeyes 14-9 in Ohio Stadium.
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Did you know?
This year, Ohio State's passing game has 90 completions for 1,208 yards, 13 TDs and 3 INTs. The Buckeyes' defense against the pass? 95 completions for 1,164 yards, 9 TDs and 2 INTs.
I wonder what Fields would do against the Buckeyes' defense? Draw your own conclusions from the numbers above...
