Two different Nebraska Cornhuskers said it about their upcoming Week One opponent on Monday.
“They don’t beat themselves.”
Cornerback Dicaprio Bootle and linebacker Collin Miller, both team captains for the Huskers, each uttered that same phrase in reference to the Buckeyes, and it’s easy to see why.
Ohio State played a near-perfect game on the road at Nebraska a season ago, an eye-opening 48-7 win in which the Buckeyes had 583 yards of offense, just two penalties and no turnovers.
The Huskers, on the other hand, turned the ball over three times in the first half alone.
By the 1:36 mark in the first quarter of the late-September 2019 matchup, Ohio State cornerback Jeff Okudah had picked off Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez twice, and Buckeye safety Jordan Fuller made it three with 9:23 left in the half.
“I thought we did a really good job of keeping the game close last year,” Nebraska head coach Scott Frost said tongue-in-cheek Monday. “For about five minutes.”
Finishing with just 47 yards passing, it was a down game in a down season for Martinez, which helped to fuel speculation that there might be some quarterback controversy entering 2020 with Luke McCaffrey coming on strong in the position room.
Frost said there might not be much separation between his two quarterbacks, but the Buckeyes will see Martinez start the game for the third straight season come Saturday.
“Adrian’s gonna be our quarterback. I feel like I got two guys that are playing at a really high level,” Frost said. “Seen a lot of improvement out of Adrian this year, seen a lot of improvement out of Luke this year. Both those guys are capable of moving our offense and doing a great job.”
The first time Martinez met the Buckeyes though, things went quite differently. In a hotly contested 36-31 2018 matchup, Martinez accounted for three touchdowns and more than 300 total yards with no interceptions.
Statistically speaking, Martinez outplayed then-Buckeye starter Dwayne Haskins, but Frost said Monday that Justin Fields is even better than his predecessor.
In fact, Frost went as far as to say that the 2019 Buckeyes were one of the best college football teams he’s ever been on a field with, and it’s a matchup that isn’t made easier for the heavy underdog Nebraska team in that it will have no new tape on Ohio State entering the contest.
“We just gotta go off of what we know,” Bootle said. “Things that they’ve done to us in the past, things that they've done to other teams as well, so you just take the film from the previous years. Obviously they’ll have some news things in there that we’ll have to adjust to.”
Ohio State may be on a five-game winning streak against the Huskers, but Frost said the events of the offseason have actually strengthened his relationship with Buckeye coach Ryan Day, and his overall respect for the program.
“We’re grateful to Ohio State,” Frost said. “It’s strange where you find allies in certain things, and I think we had an ally in Ohio State to try to get the season played.”
Both teams got their wishes, but now the two programs most vocal about keeping a fall season intact in the Big Ten will face off Week One.
By the time the game kicks off though, neither team will find an ally looking back at it on the other side.
