Ohio State vs Michigan St. Preview

4:00 Kickoff ABC PROJECTED STARTERS OHIO STATE POS MICHIGAN STATE OFFENSE C.J. STROUD QB PAYTON THORNE MIYAN WILLIAMS RB JALEN BERGER MARVIN HARRISON JR. WR KEON COLEMAN JULIAN FLEMING WR JAYDEN REED EMEKA EGBUKA WR TRE MOSLEY CADE STOVER TE TYLER HUNT PARIS JOHNSON JR. LT JARRETT HORST DONOVAN JACKSON LG J.D. DUPLAIN LUKE WYPLER C NICK SAMAC MATT JONES RG MATT CARRICK DAWAND JONES RT SPENCER BROWN DEFENSE ZACH HARRISON DE BRANDON WRIGHT JACK SAWYER DE JACOBY WINDMON TARON VINCENT DT SIMEON BARROW JR. MIKE HALL DT DERRICK HARMON STEELE CHAMBERS WLB BEN VANSUMEREN TOMMY EICHENBERG MLB CAL HALADAY KYE STOKES NB ANGELO GROSE DENZEL BURKE CB AMEER SPEED JK JOHNSON CB CHARLES BRANTLEY RONNIE HICKMAN S JADEN MANGHAM JOSH PROCTOR S KENDELL BROOKS Since its 17-14 loss to Michigan State in 2015, Ohio State has won its last six straight games against Michigan State by an average of more than 29 points. Ohio State has a 35-15 all-time record against Michigan State. Excluding 2020 (when the season did not start until late October), Saturday’s game will be Ohio State’s latest road opener since it played its first road game of the season on Oct. 8 in 2005, when it suffered a 17-10 loss to Penn State in its road opener. Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Holly Rowe will call Saturday’s game for ABC, marking the third time in six weeks that broadcast crew has called an Ohio State game. Michigan State’s roster features 12 players from Ohio, including its starting interior offensive line trio of J.D. Duplain (Strongsville), Nick Samac (Mentor) and Matt Carrick (Minerva) and five players who have started games on defense: Jacob Slade (Lewis Center), Jeff Pietrowski Jr. (Medina), Brandon Wright (Euclid), Angelo Grose (Mansfield) and Xavier Henderson (Reynoldsburg). Backup safety A.J. Kirk (Columbus) is the younger brother of legendary Ohio State safety Mike Doss. Michigan State backup linebacker Ma’a Gaoteote is the younger brother of Ohio State backup linebacker Palaie Gaoteote. Ohio State’s roster includes five players from Michigan: safety Cameron Martinez, long snapper Bradley Robinson, offensive lineman Grant Toutant, running back Cayden Saunders and wide receiver Kai Saunders. Michigan State will wear throwback helmets in Saturday’s game with the same triple stripe design the Spartans wore in 1998 when they beat Ohio State 28-24 as a 27.5-point underdog – a nearly identical spread to how much the Buckeyes are favored by this year.