COLUMBUS, Ohio – Saturday will not only be an opportunity for the Buckeyes to earn a top-ten win, but it will be the last chance for Ohio State’s seniors to play in Ohio Stadium.

For Branden Bowen and Robert Landers, Ohio State has been home for five years, but they will soon run out of the tunnel in the Horseshoe for the final time against Penn State. For the two fifth-year seniors, however, they remain focused on the Nittany Lions despite the emotions of their looming final moments in front of the home crowd.

“Honestly, I don’t think it might hit me until after the game, just because right now, all eyes, all focus, all energy is on playing Penn State, not so much as this is my last go around in the ‘Shoe,” Landers said. “So, I think once the game is over with and the clock hits zero-zero it will set in.”

Both Bowen and Landers are part of the 2015 class that has been on this half-a-decade journey together. While there have been some bumps in the road for this group, the fifth-year seniors have watched each other grow into the players and men that they are today.

“The journey has been a blessing,” Landers said. “I wouldn’t want to do it with any other group, any other group of guys, and the relationship and the bond that we built here we will have it forever.”

Like Landers, Bowen has built relationships and bonds throughout his time at Ohio State. Bowen’s most significant relationships were built off the field, however.

Bowen has built a family since arriving at Ohio State. The campus has provided him the environment to not only meet his fiancé, but he has also had a son since being in Columbus.

When he is running out of the tunnel for the last time, his emotion will come from all the ways that Ohio State has changed his life on and off the field.

“Ohio State is the reason I have my son and the reason I have my fiancé, so I guess it’s super heavy,” Bowen said on his family being on the field for Senior Day. “My mother was the whole reason I’m probably here. She was the one who told me like ‘No, you can’t pass up this opportunity.’ So, Definitely very thankful for both of them.”

While Bowen, Landers and the rest of the seniors may be thankful for the program and the University as a whole, it is important to remember that the appreciation runs both ways.

This is the first senior class that Ryan Day has had in his tenure as Ohio State’s head coach, and they have helped him establish and maintain the culture that Day is hoping to have at Ohio State.

“There's no question, we have been through a lot in the last couple years and love these guys with all my heart and they have become family and so certainly for those guys who are having their last game in the stadium like that it is going to be emotional and they deserve everything that they get in terms of praise and admiration from everybody in Buckeye Nation for what they have done and that is a special group,” Day said on this group of seniors helping set the tone for his head coaching career.

As the seniors and the rest of the Buckeyes step onto the field Saturday, the moment will be surrounded by heightened energy. Between Senior Day and the top-10 matchup, it may be hard to appreciate how truly special the moment is while playing in it.

“I think it's easy to say, enjoy the experience and say that, I think it's harder to do,” Day said on the context that surrounds Saturday’s game. “But we will talk about that and we talk about that each week, you got to enjoy it, because time waits for nobody and you have to grab onto this thing and hold on as tight as you can because this is a special opportunity for all of us and we have to make sure we understand that.”