No. 5 Notre Dame travels to Columbus Saturday Sept. 3 for a matchup with the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | For The Lantern
No. 2 Ohio State’s road to the College Football Playoff begins Saturday.
The Buckeyes will finally take the field to begin the 100-year anniversary of Ohio Stadium against No. 5 Notre Dame in their first-ever top-five-matchup season opener. Even with expectations high, head coach Ryan Day said Ohio State went through a “gritty” offseason after falling short of its standard last season.
“I think coming off of last year, there’s no big heads. This team is hungry. This team has been hungry,” Day said. “We got to go win this first game, and they know that, so there’s no big heads on this team right now. We got a lot to prove.”
Ohio State finished 11-2 and captured a Rose Bowl victory over Utah to end the 2021 season. However, the Buckeyes missed the playoff for the first time under Day and since 2018.
They’ll face a Fighting Irish team entering a new era under former Buckeyes linebacker and current head coach Marcus Freeman. Notre Dame also named second-year Tyler Buchner as its starting quarterback.
Buchner played in 10 games last season, flashing his ability to both run and throw the ball behind 336 rushing and 298 passing yards. Day said Buchner will present the Buckeyes with a number of traits when the two teams meet Saturday.
“Very athletic, very talented, highly recruited,” Day said. “Seen his ability to throw, his ability to run, so, we got to do a good job. We’re expecting a high level of play.”
Notre Dame finished 11-2 last season, but fell 37-35 in the Fiesta Bowl to then-No. 9 Oklahoma State Jan. 1. The Fighting Irish finished No. 43 in total defense last season, allowing 359.5 yards per game.
Defensively, third-year defensive end Isaiah Foskey will present a challenge up front. He finished with a team-high 11 sacks and forced six fumbles. Junior offensive lineman Paris Johnson Jr. said Foskey is a talented opponent, but his Buckeye teammates have helped prepare him for the task.
“He is a great player, like, generational-type of player,” Johnson said. “But I feel like the type of guy like he is, I think we have a lot of guys like him in this building here. I feel like I’m blessed to play for a program that has the same type of talent ability across the board. I feel like we have the best preparation here.”
Ohio State’s defense was among the focuses Day looked to revamp during the offseason. The Buckeyes brought in Jim Knowles as their new defensive coordinator, Perry Eliano as their safeties coach and Tim Walton as their cornerbacks and secondary coach.
Knowles will debut a new-look Buckeye defense Saturday, and he’s incrementally installed his ideas over the preseason. Now approaching his Buckeye coaching debut, Knowles said leadership will guide Ohio State to a favorable outcome.
“It’s living that and showing them that this is how we operate under pressure also by putting the pressure on them during practice,” Knowles said. “What I tell them on game day is all their mistakes are on me, so during the week I make sure they know about their mistakes, and I’m hard on them. But on game day, all their mistakes are on me because if they’re not ready, it’s my fault.”
The Buckeyes return a bulk of their offense, which ranked No. 1 in college football last season. Third-year quarterback C.J. Stroud returns as Ohio State’s signal caller after finishing as a Heisman Trophy finalist last season, topping the 2021 season by becoming the program’s first 500-yard passer in the Rose Bowl.
Third-year wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba also returns as a Buckeye starter alongside second-year running back TreVeyon Henderson. Both posted record-breaking seasons through the air and on the ground last season.
Fourth-year Cade Stover committed to playing tight end this season after totaling six tackles in the Rose Bowl. Named one of Ohio State’s six captains in 2022, Stover said Saturday’s game boasts plenty of tradition between Notre Dame and the Buckeyes but also plenty of stakes.
“As a kid growing up, I mean, these are blue bloods,” Stover said. “I used to grow up and idolize James Lauriniatis. That’s who I was going to be. That’s who I was supposed to be, you know what I mean? With all the ties over there now, Ohio State ties with Notre Dame, I mean, there’s a lot of stuff riding on this.”
ESPN College GameDay will be on-site in Columbus, and Ohio State will recognize its 2002 national championship team during the game Saturday. The Buckeyes kick off against the Fighting Irish under the lights at Ohio Stadium beginning at 7:30 p.m. on ABC.
