Ohio State will look to start a new home winning streak on Saturday when it welcomes in Tulsa to Ohio Stadium for a 3:30 kickoff.

The game against Tulsa is Ohio State’s Scarlet & Gray game. In addition to those colors, the color lavender, which is the designated color for all cancers, will be prominently featured. Ohio State Athletics and The James are coming together this week to promote awareness for all cancers.

Saturday’s forecast: low 80s and partly sunny.

#3 Ohio State vs. Tulsa • Saturday, Sept. 18 • When: 3:30 p.m. • Where: Ohio Stadium • TV: FS1 • Radio: 97.1 The Fan

• The Buckeyes, ranked No. 9 in this week’s Associated Press poll, possess the nation’s No. 4-ranked passing offense and No. 8 total offense
• C.J. Stroud has been named the Big Ten’s Freshman of the Week following both of his performances so far this season
• For the first time in school history, Ohio State finished with three 100-yard receivers last Saturday vs. Oregon. True sophomore Jaxon Smith-Njigba led the way with 146 yards and two TDs on seven receptions followed by Chris Olave (12 catches, 126 yards) and Garrett Wilson (eight receptions, 117 yards, one TD).
• Freshman punter Jesse Mirco, from Fremantle, Australia, has averaged 43.2 yards per punt so far with a long of 62. He dropped two consecutive first-half punts against Oregon on the 1 yard line.

DOUBLE DIGIT TACKLERS

• Senior linebacker Teradja Mitchell and third-year sophomore safety Ronnie Hickman have stuffed the defensive stat sheet through two games.
• The duo has led the Buckeyes in tackles in back to back games, racking up double digits in contests against both Minnesota and Oregon.
• Mitchell made 10 stops with one tackle for loss against the Gophers and followed that up with an 11-tackle outing last week vs. Oregon.
• Hickman led the team with 11 stops against Minnesota and then made 10 (six solo) versus Oregon on Saturday.
• The last set of teammates to have double digit tackles in back to back games was Ryan Shazier and Jonathan Hankins, who did it vs. California and UAB in 2012.

A FAST START THROUGH THE AIR

• Ohio State’s passing offense ranks among the top 10 nationally through two weeks in both total yards (778 – seventh) and yards per game (389.0 – fourth).
• 778 is the most passing yards for Ohio State through the first two games of the season, topping the previous high of 700 in 2018.
• That year, Ohio State went on to set school and conference records for total passing yards (5,100), yards per game (364.3) and passing touchdowns (51).

2,000 RECEIVING YARDS FOR OLAVE

• Last week, senior wide receiver Chris Olave set a new career high with 12 receptions while also adding 126 yards receiving.
• His yardage total gave him 2,018 for his career and made him the 10th player in program history to surpass 2,000 career receiving yards.
• f Olave needs 73 yards to pass Dee Miller (1995-98) for ninth place on the all-time receiving yardage list.
• f Olave also has eight 100-yard receiving games in his career, which is fourth most behind only David Boston (14), Michael Jenkins (10) and Cris Carter (nine)

BY THE NUMBERS

1st

Head coach Ryan Day’s teams experienced their first regular season loss last week. Day’s teams were 21-0 in the regular season. Overall, Day’s collegiate head coaching record is 24-3.

2

Two long Ohio State winning streaks were snapped at Ohio Stadium vs. Oregon: 23 consecutive home games (Oklahoma, 2017) and 22 consecutive regular season games (Purdue, 2018).

3

QB C.J. Stroud established the second-highest single game passing totals (to Dwayne Haskins) in school history vs. Oregon in three categories: passing yards (484), attempts (54) and completions (35).

1:09

The Ohio State / Tulsa game at Ohio Stadium in 2016 experienced a 69-minute weather delay which started at halftime because of lightning. The entire second half was played through torrential rain.

GET TO KNOW THE GOLDEN HURRICANE

SERIES HISTORY

• The only other previous meeting between Ohio State and Tulsa came in 2016, a 48-3 Buckeye victory that was highlighted by back-to-back “pick sixes” by Ohio State’s Malik Hooker and Marshon Lattimore late in the second quarter and during a heavy rainstorm.
• Ohio State is 31-3-1 all-time against current members of the American Athletic Conference and 17-0-1 since its last loss to an AAC team (vs. No. 10 SMU, 32-27, in 1950). Ohio State and SMU tied in 1978

SCOUTING TULSA

• Tulsa has started the 2021 season with a pair of close losses, falling in Week One at home to UC Davis, 19-17, before suffering a 28-23 setback to Oklahoma State last Saturday.
• Quarterback Davis Brin is completing nearly 62 percent of his passes for 425 yards through two games. He’s yet to throw a touchdown pass.
• f At the running back position, Deneric Prince and Shamari Brooks have shared carries (Prince has 30 attempts and Books 20) while combining for 286 total yards and an average of 5.7 yards per carry.
• f Wide Receiver Keylon Stokes in averaging a team-best 19.0 yards per reception and has 114 yards on six catches.
• f The Golden Hurricane defense ranks 13th nationally and No. 1 in the AAC in tackles for loss, having registered 18.0 through two games.
• f Head coach Philip Montgomery is in his seventh year leading the Golden Hurricane and has his best season in 2016 when Tulsa went 10-3 and won the Miami Beach Bowl. He had previously been the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Baylor.

COURTESY OHIO STATE ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS