Husky Stadium has a reputation.
“It’s known to be loud,” Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline said. “So if you give them the opportunity to be loud, it will be loud. ... We will operate like we won't be able to hear ourselves, that's for sure, because that place is known for it. And it's a great environment. I think that's one of the best environments on the West Coast that you can find.”
The Buckeyes get a break for now, enjoying their first of two off weeks during the 2025 regular season as their hunt to repeat as national champions continues. But for a team that entered the year with so many new pieces, a raucous Washington crowd will provide the first hostile environment that Ohio State’s 11 must face.
“This will be our first conference game here. This will be our first road game,” Day said. “Three of the next four will be conference road games. So we have to prepare to go on the road and play really, really good football. So we're going to look at the first three games, figure out the areas that we've done things well, where we need to get better at. Take a look at our self-scout, tendencies that the opponents will be looking at on our end. And then I do think it's good for these guys to get their legs back underneath them. August was a pretty physical month for us.”
Hartline knows firsthand about Washington’s environment, although he probably didn’t experience much of it at full throat. He played there while he was a receiver for the Buckeyes back in 2007, a game Ohio State won 33-14. He had six receptions for 88 yards and a touchdown.
“I remember catching a fish in the market, I think the Friday before the game, which was pretty cool,” Hartline said. “Todd Boeckman threw me a touchdown, which was awesome. I landed on somebody's foot, hurt the heck out of my back.”
Ohio State’s played the Huskies once since that meeting, in the 2018 Rose Bowl, a 28-23 victory in Urban Meyer’s final game as head coach. The Buckeyes are 9-3 against the Huskies all-time.
Communication will be key. As good as Julian Sayin has looked through three starts (minus a bad turnover or two), completing 78.9% of his passes for 779 yards and eight touchdowns, he will still be a redshirt freshman quarterbacking on the road for the first time. Making adjustments and getting the ball snapped through deafening noise will be new challenges.
The process for Ohio State’s defense will be different, too, per defensive coordinator Matt Patricia. Plus the Huskies have some offensive weaponry to cause him anxiety. And a majority of Ohio State’s starters on both sides of the ball are still spending their first seasons as starters.
“We've got to go on the road now,” Patricia said. “We have a whole operation there that'll be a little bit different than what we're used to communication-wise. And then certainly, Washington being in their home stadium and having that advantage for their offense, so that gives us some different challenges. And certainly, just teams get better each week, and Washington will be the next best team that we face, and their offense.”
Ohio State is treating its open week as a normal one until Friday, when the Buckeyes will take the first of two days off to recover before they hit a string of four consecutive games, three on the road, before their second off week.
“We'll practice today, tomorrow and Thursday, take Friday and Saturday off,” Day said on Tuesday. “Then come back in Sunday, have our practice, and do a normal game week. That's something that I think is important, to make sure we still continually stay on that schedule. We're going to work hard on fundamentals, on the areas that we need to get better at. We know the next four games are going to be a challenge.”
Ohio State’s off-week placement is a touch different this season than it was in 2024.
The Buckeyes also had two weeks to rest during last year’s campaign, but the first came after their second game of the season against Western Michigan, and the second came after their sixth, a West Coast trip to Oregon. Three games have been fit into 2025 before Ohio State’s first off week, and the Buckeyes’ second this season comes after they play at Wisconsin, the seventh game on their schedule.
“We will operate like we won't be able to hear ourselves, that's for sure, because that place is known for it. And it's a great environment. I think that's one of the best environments on the West Coast that you can find.”– Brian Hartline on the atmosphere in Husky Stadium
Last year, Ohio State got a break after it traveled to the Pacific Time Zone. This season, the break comes before. But Day is still reviewing the best course of action for load management with strength and conditioning coach Mick Marotti.
“Mick and I went through it yesterday, through every single day over these two weeks, last year during this week,” Day said. “What we did on each day, how much in terms of total yards, high speed yards, the workload, where we were coming into it at this point last year, where we are at this point this year, and then individually, some of the guys as well.
“And so that's the science of it. And then there's also just the coach and the common sense in you, just to see your team and what you need and where you feel like you're going, what the schedule looks like moving forward, the opponents, the travel. So we take all those things into consideration and want to make sure we have a fresh team.”
Then it will be time to test the team’s mettle in a tough road tilt.
