College Football Preview: Oregon State Beavers at Ohio State Buckeyes

Who: Oregon State (0-0) at No. 5 Ohio State (0-0)

When: Noon, Saturday

Where: Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio.

TV/Radio: ABC/1410

Series history: Ohio State leads 2-0. Ohio State won the first meeting 51-10 in 1974. Ten years later, the Buckeyes beat the Beavers again, this time 22-14. Both seasons ended with a Big Ten championship and Rose Bowl appearance for the Buckeyes.

Last game: N/A

Coaches: Ohio State's Ryan Day is making his debut as a head coach. He is filling for the suspended Urban Meyer for the first three games of the season. Oregon State's Jonathan Smith is also making his debut as a college head coach.

Ohio State notes: The Buckeyes are beginning their 129th season of college football… They are undefeated in season-openers this century, last having lost their first game in 1999 (23-12 to the Miami Hurricanes in the Kickoff Classic at the Meadowlands)… Ohio State has won 31 consecutive home-openers… Ohio State returns 10 starters from the 2017 Big Ten championship team that beat USC in the Cotton Bowl… The Buckeyes have seven captains this season: receivers Terry McLaurin, Johnnie Dixon and Parris Campbell, safety Jordan Fuller, defensive end Nick Bosa, offensive tackle Isaiah Prince and linebacker Tuf Borland… Ohio State will have a new starting quarterback (Dwayne Haskins) but returns two players who have rushed for 1,000 yards in a season — sophomore J.K. Dobbins and junior Mike Weber.

Oregon State notes: The Beavers return 16 starters from one of the worst teams in major-college football in 2017… Smith was a star quarterback for Oregon State at the turn of the century, where he set school records for passing yards and touchdowns passes. A 97-yard touchdown pass to Chad Johnson is still the longest in school history… Smith most recently was offensive coordinator at Washington… New defensive coordinator Tim Tibesar should have some familiarity with Ohio State after spending the last three seasons at Wisconsin. He brings the Badgers' 3-4 defense to Corvallis… Phil Steele has Oregon State No. 114 in his preseason rankings, and SBNation.com advanced statistics projected them to be No. 110.

Quotable: Bosa on how the Buckeyes dealt with the absence of Meyer during the preseason: "I don't know what other way it would be. We have amazing coordinators and amazing position coaches and they've taken their roles in stride. I think that's what Coach would want us to do, just to keep everything normal and keep the same routine, practicing hard and just focusing on getting better."

Next game: Ohio State remains home next week to face Rutgers at 3:30 p.m. at Ohio Stadium. Oregon State will host Southern Utah at 5 p.m. next Saturday.

Prediction: Ohio State 51, Oregon State 14

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