— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Oddsmakers believe Saturday’s game in Columbus, Ohio between No. 3 Ohio State and Marshall won’t be close.
Don’t tell that to the Buckeyes’ sixth-year head coach Ryan Day, who believes Marshall head coach Charles Huff will have his team geared up for one of the toughest challenges possible.
“They have a very good staff,” Day said. “Coach Huff is very well respected and does a great job with recruiting and with his team. He gets his guys to play hard. They’re athletic. They’re going to come in here and play open and free and we’ll have a great environment, so they’ll be jacked up for that. I have a lot of respect for the program and what he does.”
The Herd and Buckeyes clash at noon Saturday from Ohio Stadium.The matchup will mark the third all-time meeting between the programs and the first time since 2010 that the teams have met. Ohio State won both previous contests.
The Herd (1-1) and Buckeyes (2-0) are coming off bye weeks.
“Our approach was that it is what it is and we’re going to have to handle it, so we went out there and had an improvement week and I felt like we had three hard physical days out there,” Day said. “We told the guys to relax on Saturday and watch some games and even learn from what they saw. We tried to keep the same rhythm as a game week as we rolled through it.”
The Buckeyes have outscored Akron and Western Michigan 108-6 in a pair of blowout wins to start the season. They’re No. 8 nationally in total offense at 543.5 yards per game and No. 1 in total defense by allowing only 138 yards per game.
The OSU offense is led by Kansas State transfer quarterback Will Howard. He is boosted by bruising running backs TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins and talented receivers such as Emeka Egbuka and freshman standout Jeremiah Smith.
The Buckeyes’ stingy defense is led by defensive linemen Jack Sawyer and Tyliek Williams as well as strong defensive backs Lathan Ransome and Denzel Burke.
One Marshall starter with plenty of knowledge about the Buckeyes is linebacker Jaden Yates, who played his high school football at Gahanna Lincoln High near Columbus. Yates’ father, Max, was also a standout defender at Marshall.
Currently, the sophomore is tied for the team lead in tackles with 20.
Yates is warning his teammates not to get too caught up in the impact of a crowd of more than 100,000 fans, but rather to concentrate on the job before them.
“I feel like a big part we need to do in order to get comfortable and settle into the game and understand that we have some good guys on our side of the ball who work just as hard if not harder,” Yates said. “You respect how talented they are, but at the end of the day, you still have to play ball at the end of the day.
“On a personal level, being from there it’s fun going back home. I’m sure there will be a lot of familiar faces in the stands and even on the other sideline. It’s still an opportunity to create value for ourselves and play the game we love.”
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There are plenty of ties between individuals involved with both Marshall and Ohio State. Marshall First Lady Alys Smith is an Ohio State alumnus as is the daughter of Alys and MU President Brad Smith, Devon.
Marshall baseball coach Greg Beals spent a dozen seasons at Ohio State.
Former Marshall head coach Frank Ellwood was a Buckeyes’ quarterback from 1954-1956 and was later an assistant to legendary OSU head coach Woody Hayes.
Another former Marshall head coach, George Chaump, coached under Hayes in Columbus for 11 seasons. Ellwood’s granddaughter Jordyn is married to Ohio State men’s basketball coach Jake Diebler.