LINCOLN, Neb. - As the game approached kickoff, there was a nervous energy among the crowd as the home team, the Nebraska Cornhuskers, prepared to take one of the biggest benchmarks tests so far in the Scott Frost era.

The early bird crowd watched North Carolina nearly upset Clemson on the north video board with less than an hour to kickoff, and they cheered. Their team marched onto the field pre-game, and they cheered. This was an exciting, raucous atmosphere for the Cornhusker fans who haven’t experienced this big of a game in recent memory with College GameDay opting to come to their city for the first time in over 12 years. The team was pumped, the fans were ready to go, and the Cornhuskers were ready to show the world what they and Scott Frost have been building.

Then, it all came to a screeching halt on the first drive of the game.

Just over three minutes into the game on a pivotal 3rd and 7 for Nebraska, Chase Young came off the left side and forced Adrian Martinez to roll out to his right. From there, he stared down true freshman Wan’Dale Robinson, and with pressure bearing down, threw it into the welcoming arms of Ohio State cornerback Jeff Okudah.

Then the Buckeyes scored. Nebraska punted on their next drive. The Buckeyes scored again. Martinez threw another interception on Nebraska’s third drive, this time a tipped pass that fell once again into the arms of Okudah, who this time made the play on his back. Ohio State scored again to make it 17-0.

Three worthless offensive drives by Nebraska and three ensuing scoring drives by the Buckeyes were all it took to evaporate the energy in the stadium.

Okudah may not have expected that he would have the performance he did, but he knew the Buckeyes would have to mitigate the home crowd’s energetic atmosphere, and he almost did it single handedly.

“I think that Nebraska -- I mean, that's like one of the craziest environments. Like, their fans are really loyal because this is a storied football program. And I kind of compare their fans to the ones up there at Penn State, like these guys like they're riding, they're riding for this team 100 percent,” Okudah said. “You could even see, we got up, they were still there, cheering on first down. So I think we have a crowd like that, I mean you have to let all the other guys know we're going to a dog fight...so just block the noise.”

Okudah’s big game comes after securing his first career interception last week against Miami (Ohio), a milestone you assume he would have reached before this point in his third season. This influx of interceptions couldn’t have come at a better time for Ohio State, though.

With this being the first real road test of the season, Okudah taking the wind out of the Nebraska fans was an important reason why the Buckeyes were able to get off to such a hot start like they have in almost every other game this season.

Co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach Jeff Hafley was happy to see Okudah have such a big game, and acknowledged that his sudden turnover production in the last couple weeks has been a big deal for the junior.

“I just think it's a big, it's a big monkey off his back,” Hafley said. “I just kept telling him, let it come to you. You know what I mean? Once you get that one, you kind of relax and you don't try to go force things, so you have to ask him but I would say so.”

Co-defensive coordinator Greg Mattison attributed Okudah’s big game to a lot of things, but didn’t give more credit to anyone than Hafley. A big story throughout the offseason was the impact that Hafley was making in a short time on the defense and in the secondary, and through five games, there have been some seriously impressive results from the BIA.

“You know, I think it's probably a combination of a lot of things. You know, I mean, [Jeff Okudah]’s older, he's working really, really hard practice, he's - Jeff [Hafley’s] done a great job with him, Coach Hafley. I mean, that whole secondary’s done a great job, and our defensive line has gotten great pressure, which, which the ball comes out a little different. And so I mean, that's a possibility”

Regardless of how and why Okudah was able to come up with those interceptions against Nebraska, there’s no doubt this game won’t have an impact on him in the future. After finally securing that first pick and suddenly finding himself with two more against the Cornhuskers, Okudah’s confidence is through the roof moving forward.

“I think it did give me some confidence just to be able to show myself that I can do it,” Okudah said. “So coming out here and then following up with a pretty good performance, I think that just kind of speaks to, like, the confidence that I came into the game.”