THE PERTINENT INFO
When: Saturday, December 19, 2020
Where: Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN
TV: Noon // FOX
Announcers: Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt and Jenny Taft
This will be the 79th time Ohio State and Northwestern have faced each other in football. The Buckeyes are 63–14–1 all-time against the Wildcats, and are 30–6–1 when the game is played outside of Columbus.
Ohio State has won 32 of the last 33 contests against Northwestern. You read that correctly, 32 out of 33. The loss, as most of you remember, was in overtime.
Last week, Pat Fitzgerald's team defeated Illinois, 28-10, in Evanston.
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 Northwestern, the Scarlet and Gray won 52-3.
- The Buckeyes played The Game in Columbus was 2018...Ohio State won 62-39.
- Ohio State played on December 19th was...never.
- The Buckeyes played the Wildcats for the Big Ten title, OSU won 45-24 in 2018.
- The Scarlet and Gray lost the sixth game of the season was Oct. 8, 2011. No. 14 Nebraska defeated unranked Ohio State, 34-27 in Lincoln. Insert a certain passing chart here.
- An Ohio State quarterback threw for over 300 yards in the Big Ten Football Championship Game was 2018. Dwayne Haskins torched Northwestern for 499 yards. In 2019, Justin Fields finished with 299 passing yards against Wisconsin.
ON THE HORIZON
- A victory will earn the Buckeyes the program's fourth straight Big Ten Title and 39th overall.
- Pete Werner is 3 solo tackles away from 100 career solo stops.
- Justin Fields is one touchdown pass away from tying Bobby Hoying (57) for second on the program's all-time career list.
- Chris Olave is three receptions away from 100 career catches.
- The program single-season record for receiving yards per game is David Boston's 119.5 in 1998. Wilson is currently averaging 114.4 yards per game.
- A win on Saturday will be Ohio State's 942nd* all-time.
- A victory over Northwestern will give the Buckeyes their fourth consecutive Big Ten Title. No other Big Ten team has accomplished this.
LET'S GO STREAKING
- Ohio State has defeated the Wildcats in eight straight games.
- Justin Fields has thrown a TD pass in 19 consecutive games.
- Ryan Day is 15–0 against Big Ten opponents.
- The Buckeyes have won 3 straight Big Ten Titles...and 10 since 2002.
*NCAA sanctions be damned.
Northwestern University
GET TO KNOW NORTHWESTERN
- Northwestern is located in Evanston, IL.
- The university was established in 1851.
- The Wildcats are in their 137th season of playing football.
- Willie the Wildcat, the team's mascot, made its debut in 1933.
- Northwestern has won eight Big Ten/Western Conference championships. however, six of them are as co-champions.
- Notable alumni are Charlton Heston ("Damn dirty apes" dude), John Paul Stevens (Supreme Court dude), Jerry Reinsdorf (owner of the Bulls and White Sox), Jerry Springer (white trash talk show host), Meghan Markle (Duchess of Sussex dudette) a crap ton of actors: Warren Beatty, Zach Braff, Stephen Colbert, Zooey Deschanel, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Cloris Leachman, Ann-Margret, Garry Marshall, Megan Mullally, Shelley Long, Tony Randall, Jeri Ryan, David Schwimmer, Brent Musberger (broadcaster and degenerate gambler) ESPN schills: J.A. Adande, Kevin Blackstone, Mike Greenberg, Rachel Nichols, Steve Weissman and Michael Wilbon, Joe Girardi (MLB) and Otto Graham (NFL).
TODAY'S TRIVIA QUESTIONS:
- How many times has Ohio State played in the Big Ten Football Championship Game?
- Before this year, how many times have the Buckeyes played the Wildcats in the Big Ten Football Championship Game?
- When was the last time Ohio State did not play in the Big Ten Championship Game?
- Before 2013, when was the last time the Buckeyes played a game in Indianapolis?
- Entering this game, how many consecutive Big Ten Football Championship Games has Ohio State won?
Answers at the bottom of today's article.
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| OFFENSIVE LEADERS | ||||
| JUSTIN FIELDS | 1,407 YDS // 15 TD // 3 INT | PASSING | PEYTON RAMSEY | 1,218 YDS // 9 TD // 6 INT |
| MASTER TEAGUE III | 426 YDS // 4.9 YPC // 6 TD | RUSHING | DRAKE ANDERSON | 256 YDS // 4.1 YPC // 2 TD |
| GARRETT WILSON | 513 YDS // 16.5 YPR // 4 TD | RECEIVING | RAMAUD CHIAOKHIAO-BOWMAN | 347 YDS // 11.2 YPR // 4 TD |
| DEFENSIVE LEADERS | ||||
| PETE WERNER | 32 | TACKLES | PADDY FISHER /// BLAKE GALLAGHER | 65 |
| TOMMY TOGIAI | 3.0 | SACKS | ANDREW LEOTA | 4.0 |
| SHAUN WADE | 2 | INTERCEPTIONS | BRANDON JOSEPH | 5 |
| SPECIAL TEAMS | ||||
| GARRETT WILSON | 8.5 | PUNT RETURNER | RILEY LEES | 9.5 |
| DEMARIO McCALL | 15.6 | KICKOFF RETURN | KYRIC McGOWAN | 26.8 |
| DRUE CHRISMAN | 45.2 | PUNTING | DEREK ADAMS | 41.4 |
| 4 | EDGE | 5 | ||
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.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/46808216/GettyImages-179601007.0.jpg "Pat Fitzgerald")
Pat Fitzgerald
- 104–80 (.565) at Northwestern (15th year)
- 104–80 (.565) overall as a college head coach (15th year)
- 62–60 (.508) against B1G opponents
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 is the second-longest tenure of any coach in the Big Ten. His teams have been to nine bowl games and he owns four of the school's five bowl game victories. Fitzgerald has the most wins and Big Ten wins in Northwestern history.
CLIFF CLAVEN'S LITTLE KNOWN FACTS CORNER
- 1.......Haskell Garrett touchdowns.
- 2.......100-yard rushing games by Master Teague III.
- 3.......defensive scores for Ohio State.
- 6.......career interceptions for Fields.
- 7.......total KO returns for OSU.
- 8.......number of Buckeye national titles.
- 10.....combined TD receptions for Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson.
- 12.....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.
- 20.....consecutive conference wins for Ohio State.
- 23.....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.
- 36.....true road game victories for the Scarlet and Gray since 2012.
- 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.
- 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.
- 103...straight years The Game has been played.
- 151...the number of years The Ohio State University has been in the education business.
- 200...career tackles for Tuf Borland.
- 281...OSU's average passing yards per game...school record for a season is 273.2 (1981).
- 300...Fields has thrown for over 300 yards in six of his last ten games.
- 378...total yards by fields against Indiana, a career high.
- 460...victories for the Buckeyes in Ohio Stadium.
- 618...offensive TDs by the Scarlet and Gray since 2012.
- 908...times Ohio State has been ranked in the AP poll.
- 929...number of official wins for the program (we know it's actually 941).
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| OFFENSE | ||||
| 46.6 | 4th | POINTS FOR | 25.3 | 90th |
| 251.0 | 7th | RUSHING OFFENSE | 170.6 | 60th |
| 281.4 | 24th | PASSING OFFENSE | 180.9 | 106th |
| 532.4 | 6th | TOTAL OFFENSE | 351.4 | 100th |
| .536 | 5th | 3rd DOWNS | .385 | 78th |
| .815 | 76th | RED ZONE | .815 | 76th |
| DEFENSE | ||||
| 23.2 | 35th | POINTS ALLOWED | 14.6 | 2nd |
| 95.0 | 6th | RUSH DEFENSE | 121.9 | 21st |
| 268.8 | 111th | PASS DEFENSE | 192.0 | 21st |
| 134.7 | 60th | PASS EFFICIENCY DEFENSE | 93.3 | 1st |
| 363.8 | 39th | TOTAL DEFENSE | 313.9 | 13th |
| .318 | 14th | 3rd DOWNS | .309 | 11th |
| .875 | 95th | RED ZONE | .722 | 9th |
| SPECIAL TEAMS | ||||
| 6.4 | 71st | PUNT RETURN | 7.6 | 61st |
| 13.3 | 126th | KICKOFF RETURN | 24.2 | 22nd |
| 39.6 | 43rd | NET PUNTING | 39.1 | 51st |
| MISCELLANEOUS | ||||
| +1.4 | 4th | TURNOVER MARGIN | +0.6 | 30th |
| 6.2 | 73rd | PENALTIES | 5.1 | 31st |
| 9 | EDGE | 10 | ||
TODAY'S TRIVIA ANSWERS
How many times has Ohio State played in the Big Ten Football Championship Game?
Answer: This will be the sixth time for the program to play in the Big Ten Championship Game. The team is 4–1 in the previous five contests.
Answer: Once. Urban Meyer's last team defeated the 21st ranked Wildcats 45-24.
When was the last time Ohio State did not play in the Big Ten Championship Game?
Answer: 2016. Penn State held the tie-breaker as both teams finished with 8–1 conference records.
Before 2013, when was the last time the Buckeyes played a game in Indianapolis?
Answer: 1917. The Scarlet and Gray played the Hoosiers on Jordan Field in Indianapolis. John Wilce's Buckeyes defeated Ewald Stiehm's Hoosiers 26-3.
Entering this game, how many consecutive Big Ten Football Championship Games has Ohio State won?
Answer: Three. 2019, 2018 and 2017. The Buckeyes defeated Wisconsin (34-21), Northwestern (45-24) and Wisconsin (27-21). Book your tickets now for next year's title game against the Badgers.
