Ohio State will wrap up its 2018 non-conference against a team it has never played before. On September 22, the Buckeyes will return home from Arlington, Texas to take on Tulane for the first time in school history. Here is a look at what the Green Wave could look like when they come to Columbus for the first time in school history.

After winning only one of eight total conference games and a last place finish in the AAC West in 2016, Tulane looked to improve in head coach Willie Fritz’s second season.

The Green Wave’s schedule at the beginning of the season proved for success to be hard to come by. After a win over Grambling State in Week 1, Tulane began conference play in Week 2, falling to Navy 23-21. It did not get much easier in Week 3 as the Green Wave lost to No. 2 Oklahoma, one of three ranked teams they would face all season.

Things started to look up for Tulane with two straight wins over Army and Tulsa. However, starting with a 23-10 loss to FIU on October 14th, the Green Wave lost four straight games, including losses to No. 16 USF, No. 24 Memphis and Cincinnati.

With five losses in their final seven games of the 2017 season, Tulane finished with a 3-5 record in conference play, finishing in fifth place in the AAC West behind Tulsa.

For an offense that averaged 27.5 points per game and averaged 391.5 yards of offense per game, which was No. 10 in the AAC, Tulane will not be losing much heading into 2018. However, the Green Wave will lose half of its fourth-ranked rushing offense from a year ago.

In his senior season for Tulane, running back Dontrell Hilliard recorded his first 1000-yard season of his career, averaging 5.2 yards per carry and 90.9 rushing yards per game. In the passing game, he also had eight catches for 115 yards. Most importantly, he had 14 all-purpose touchdowns for the Green Wave, leading the team with 12 rushing touchdowns.

Without many losses on the offensive side, Tulane will suffer the majority of its losses on the defensive side of the ball. Recording the sixth-best scoring defense a year ago, giving up an average of 29.2 yards per game, the Green Wave had the third-best pass defense in the AAC, allowing opposing quarterbacks to complete 56.7 percent of their passes for an average of 225.7 yards per game, giving up 19 touchdowns through the air.

Much of that had to do with cornerback Patty Nickerson. In his redshirt senior season, he recorded 55 tackles with two tackles for loss. However, the eye-popping stat that the Green Wave will be losing is his team-leading six interceptions and eight broken up passes in 2017.

The Green Wave will also be losing linebacker and leading tackler Rae Juan Marbley, who also led the team with 9.5 tackles for loss, and defensive end Luke Jackson, who led the team with 3.5 sacks.

The Tulane offense will look a lot similar from 2017 to 2018 with the return of quarterback Jonathan Banks. Completing 56.6 percent of his passes, the senior signal caller threw for 1797 yards last season, throwing 12 touchdowns and five interceptions. He was also a major factor in the ground game. As the second-leading rusher behind Hilliard, Banks averaged four yards per rush recorded 53.8 yards per game. Along with the 12 touchdowns in the air, Banks had seven rushing touchdowns in 2017.

Banks will also have both of the Green Wave’s top receivers to throw to again in 2018. Going into his fifth season, wide receiver Terren Encalade led the team with 39 catches for 730 yards, averaging 60.8 yards per game. Also, Darnell Mooney, who had 34 catches for 599 yards last season, will be back for Tulane. Mooney and Encalade tied for the team with four touchdown receptions apiece.

On defense, fifth-year linebacker Zachery Harris, who recorded 69 tackles with three tackles for loss, will return for Tulane in 2018. He will be joined by fifth-year cornerback Donnie Lewis Jr., who led the team with 11 broken up passes and added three interceptions in 2017.

Who will be at running back?

With Hiliard leaving a spot to be had in the backfield, it looks like, going into 2018, that it will be Darius Bradwell’s for the taking.

Coming into his college career as a dual-threat quarterback, the junior running back was the third-leading rusher for the Green Wave last season, recording 411 yards on 66 rushes, averaging 6.2 yards per carry. In his limited amount of playing time last season, he scored four times on the ground.

There is also an element of his game in the passing game as well. He added three catches for 31 yards in his limited action.

With Banks as a dual-threat option at quarterback, there is no question whether or not Tulane will utilize the running game as a vital part of their offensive scheme. It is just a matter of who it is alongside Banks. It seems like Bradwell has it locked up.

Can the defensive line step up?

Much of the attention on the defensive side of the ball for Tulane was on Nickerson and the pass defense. However, the defensive line and the rush defense did not do very well in 2017.

Averaging 5.4 yards per carry against the Green Wave in 2017, their rush defense gave up 210.4 yards to opposing backs, allowing 26 total touchdowns.

Even with a solid defensive presence in the secondary, the defensive line did not do much help in terms of a pass rush. Tulane was No. 9 in the AAC in sacks, recording just over one per game. No player on the roster eclipsed four sacks last season, with Weaver, who was a senior last season, leading the way with 3.5.

For Tulane, Robert Kennedy and the rest of the defensive line will have to step up to give their defense, as a whole, a chance to succeed.

How will the young guys do?

With Fritz going into his third season as head coach, Tulane does have some young talent coming in for the 2018 season. The Green Wave’s Class of 2018 was the highest ranked class for the school in its history, adding 13 three-star recruits to its roster.

Some have already been practicing with the team since January. Defensive tackles Jeffery Johnson and Davon Wright were each early enrollees along with cornerback Chris Joyce and quarterback Christian Daniels.

With a need on the defensive line, Johnson and Wright are just two examples of who could fill an immediate need once the 2018 season begins. With a highly touted recruiting class for this AAC team, there could be many players from the Class of 2018 that could fill spots if needed.

Ohio State should end its non-conference schedule on a high note. Coming back home, the Buckeyes should not have any trouble running against what is a mediocre at best defensive line. If Ohio State’s quarterback struggles against TCU in Week 3, J.K. Dobbins and Mike Weber will have a chance to show off a little bit before Big Ten play revs up.

On defense, Ohio State should not have trouble against Banks. Facing No. 13 USF last season, he completed 47.4 percent of his passes and was sacked twice while averaging 1.7 yards per rush.

For a team that gave up 56 points to Oklahoma in the second game of the season last year, Tulane should see a similar game against Ohio State in Week4.

Way too early score prediction: Ohio State 52, Tulane 14