By Danielle Daniels

TUESDAY OCTOBER 8, 2024 PRESS CONFERENCE INTERVIEWS WITH THE BUCKEYES

•  Ryan Day Press Conference 10.8.2024.mp4
•  Chip Kelly Press Conference 10.8.2024.mp4
• Will Howard Press Conference 10.8.2024.mp4

FIRST AND TEN

• Ohio State and Oregon meet for the first time as Big Ten member institutions Saturday at 4:30 p.m. PDT (7:30 p.m. EDT) in Eugene, Ore. Ohio State will travel to Eugene Friday afternoon.
• It is a huge game among huge games this weekend but certainly not a season-smashing game for the non-prevailing in this inaugural    12-team CFP season that has only nine Power 4 teams still left undefeated.
• NBC will broadcast the game that features two of those nine unbeatens: Ohio State and Oregon are each 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the Big Ten Conference, with each team also ranked in the Top 3 of both the AP and football coaches polls.
• The coaches have terrific records: Ryan Day is 61-8 overall for an .884 winning percentage while Dan Lanning is 27-5 for a winning pct. of .843.
• Ohio State was the second team to play Oregon in Autzen Stadium, which opened in 1967. Oregon played Colorado Sept. 23 that year in its first game in its new stadium and then hosted Ohio State Oct. 7 in front of 25,000 fans.
• Ohio State and Oregon will next meet in the regular season in 2026 at Ohio Stadium and again in 2027 at Autzen Stadium. Dates TBD.

BY THE NUMBERS
95: Ohio State’s offense is a perfect 21-for-21 in red zone scores – 100 pct. – with an even more impressive 95 pct. of those scores TDs (20-for-21) … coming off a 5-for-5 effort vs. Iowa’s Top 20 defense.

18-8: Ryan Day’s Ohio State teams are 18-8 against teams ranked in the Top 25 polls for a .692 win percentage that is second-best to Kirby Smart (34-13; .723). Day’s Buckeyes are 9-7 vs. Top 10-ranked teams.

Top 5: Ohio State’s defense, DC Jim Knowles’ third as a Buckeye, is in the national Top 5 in all four major categories: No. 1 in scoring (6.8), No. 1 in total defense (202.4), No. 3 in rushing (72.6) and No. 4 in passing (129.8).

203: The 203 yards rushing Ohio State generated vs. Iowa’s No. 4 rush defense was a 15-game high vs. the Hawkeyes. Ohio State has three 200-plus rushing games already in 2024 after having just two in 2023.

BUCKS VS. DUCKS: THE SERIES

• The game will be the 11th meeting between Ohio State and Oregon and only the second played in Eugene, Ore.
• Ohio State leads the series, 9-1, having won the first nine games with Oregon winning most recently: 35-28 in 2021 at Ohio Stadium.
• The first meeting in the series came in the 1958 Rose Bowl, a 10-7 Ohio State win that capped Woody Hayes’ first national championship.
• The teams met in Columbus in back-to-back years – 1961 and 1962 – with Ohio State winning 22-12 and 26-7, respectively.
• A home-and-home series occurred in 1967 and 1968 with Ohio State winning 30-0 and 21-6, respectively.
• The series was then renewed twice in the 1980s – both times at Ohio Stadium – with a 31-6 win in 1983 and a 24-14 triumph in 1987.
• It would be 23 years before the programs met again, on Jan. 1, 2010 in the Rose Bowl. Ohio State won that game, 26-17, and then won again on Jan. 12, 2015 in the first-ever College Football Playoff National Championship Game in Dallas.
• On the strength of a 246-yard rushing effort by Ezekiel Elliott, Ohio State won its eighth national championship with that 42-20 victory in the CFP title game.

TEAM TIES…

• Ohio State OC Chip Kelly was Oregon head coach four years, from 2009-12, and led the Ducks to a 46-7 record and a 33-3 conference record while winning two Pac-10 crowns and one Pac-12 title.
• Kelly guided the Ducks to the 2011 BCS championship game, a 22-19 loss to Auburn.
• This isn’t necessarily a homecoming for Kelly: he’s coached in Eugene against Oregon three times since his departure as head coach at UCLA: in 2018, 2020 and 2022.
• Ohio State RB coach Carlos Locklyn joined the staff in April after spending the past two seasons in the same capacity at Oregon under Dan Lanning. Locklyn and Lanning were both at Memphis in 2017.
• Oregon TE coach Drew Mehringer was an Ohio State graduate assistant in 2012-13.
• Oregon equipment manager Devin Cramer was a student assistant in the Ohio State football equipment office from 2016-19.

SCOUTING OREGON

• Ranked No. 3 in this week’s Associated Press poll, Oregon improved to 5-0 on the season last Friday with a 31-10 win over Michigan State.
• The Ducks have the nation’s No. 35-ranked scoring offense and are averaging 35.0 points per game.
• Led by quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who spent three seasons at UCF and two at Oklahoma, Oregon has the nation’s 19th-ranked passing offense (294.2 yards/game).
• Oregon features top-25 units in scoring defense (21st – 17.0 points allowed per game), passing defense (18th – 162.0 yards allowed per game), rushing defense (24th – 101.4 yards allowed per game) and total defense (10th – 263.4 yards allowed per game).
• Dan Lanning is in his third season as Oregon’s head coach. He’s led the Ducks to a 27-5 record in that time with appearances in the Holiday Bowl and Fiesta Bowl.

BUCKEYES’ 60TH GAMEDAY GAME

• College GameDay will be on site in Eugene.
• This will mark Ohio State’s 60th game at a College GameDay locale.
• Ohio State is 40-19 at GameDay locals, the most wins of any program.

COLUMN NOTES

• It’s not a night game. Kickoff in Eugene is 4:35 Pacific Daylight Time. A 5 p.m. local start is considered a night game.
• Oregon (Sept. 11, 2021) is the only team to defeat a Ryan Day team before Thanksgiving. His teams have otherwise started 13-0 (2019), 7-0 (’20), 11-0 (’22) and 11-0 (’23).
• Ten Buckeyes are at or near 30 career starts: CB Denzel Burke (40), RB TreVeyon Henderson (34), QB Will Howard (33), DE JT Tuimoloau (31), WR Emeka Egbuka (29), LT Josh Simmons (31), RG Donovan Jackson (28), C Seth McLaughlin (29), CB Davison Igbinosun (28) and SAF Lathan Ransom (27).
• Ohio State’s offensive line is T11th nationally allowing just 4.0 sacks this season.
• Ohio State players have been tackled behind the line of scrimmage just 13 times which is tied for third-fewest nationally.
• Congrats! That interception vs. Iowa was Davison Igbinosun’s first career INT.
• Denzel Burke leads all Buckeyes with four INTs with Lathan Ransom, Jordan Hancock and Caleb Downs each having two.
• JT Tuimoloau (26 TFLs for 132 lost yards) leads all Buckeyes in that category with Jack Sawyer (22-106), Tyleik Williams (21-81) and Cody Simon (12-50) following.
• Sawyer leads in sacks (16.5) with Tuimoloau (14) and Williams (10.5) right behind.
• Will Howard’s four rushing TDs are the most by a Buckeye QB in five seasons, or since Justin Fields had five in 2020 (after scoring 10 times in 2019).
• 15 punts by the Buckeyes are T19th nationally for fewest this season.
• Ryan Day’s teams have scored 40 or more points 42 times. The Buckeyes are 41-1 in those games with the 2022 CFP semifinals against No. 1 Georgia the only loss.
• Day’s Buckeyes are 20-1 vs. the Big Ten in Columbus; 21-2 in road games.
• Ohio State lost 25 scholarship players to the transfer portal while picking up seven.
• Ohio State football was one of just two programs nationwide with an Academic Progress Rate score of 1,000 (Harvard). The APR accounts for academic eligibility, retention and graduation.

COURTESY OHIO STATE ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS