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It is always fun to go back and look at the Tale of the Tapes from previous seasons (2018, 2017, 2016) and look at how the numbers change from season to season but the identities of these teams never really change all that much.

This 2019 edition of the game is the earliest that these two teams have met since the 2012 season when the Buckeyes and Spartans played the final weekend of September as Ohio State held on for dear life in a 17-16 win in Urban Meyer's first season with the Buckeyes as Braxton Miller passed for 179 yards and rushed for 136 in a winning effort.

All of the meetings since then have taken place in November, much later in the season. During the last two seasons, the Spartans had a top-five rushing defense by the time that the Buckeyes drew them but Ohio State was able to overcome that each time, in 2018 rushing for 120 yards against the nation's No. 1 run defense and then in 2017 rushing for 335 yards and four touchdowns against the nation's No. 3 run defense.

This year the Spartans have the No. 4 run defense at this point of the season and have not had a team go for more than 140 yards in a game (Northwestern) after starting off the season by holding Tulsa to an astonishing minus-73 yards on the ground in a game that saw six Michigan State sacks.

The Buckeyes will bring in their highest scoring offense in memory to this game after being anywhere between the 42 to 46 point range in the past three. How close were those numbers to the final results? Ohio State only broke beyond its average PPG (at the time) one time, in 2017 with 48 points. In those three games combined, the Buckeyes averaged a tick beyond 30 points per game however Michigan State could only muster 8.3 points per game.

We have not even gotten into the whole discussion about "will this be the test finally for Ohio State" after week-in and week-out we have seen the Buckeyes pass the test of the week, only to be told that was not the real test and for everyone to wait to pass judgment on this team.

This week we will get to see Ohio State go against an elite defense with an inconsistent and maybe not even all that good of an offense, the reverse image of what Ohio State faced last week at Nebraska. Except this game is at home. Against a team that has been a dream crusher for the Buckeyes before.

Don't expect Ohio State to ever come into a Michigan State game looking at the next opponent, especially with the first open week on the other side of this game.

There is a lot to unpack on this game in advance and we are going to the Tale of the Tape in what promises to be one of the more detailed deep dives we do all season long.

The Buckeyes continue to be efficient in the passing game with no huge passing outbursts in the same vein of what Dwayne Haskins did but the Buckeyes have not needed that with where the rest of the offense has been at. Now, that does not mean that the Buckeyes don't put up points via the pass, Justin Fields has completed 16 passing touchdowns through five games, only three behind the pace of Haskins just a year ago. Fields is ahead of Haskins pace by three touchdowns when it comes to total touchdowns with seven on the ground so far through five games for Fields and that number certainly would be higher if the Buckeyes allowed Fields to use more of that part of his game. Again, everything will happen in good time and the good times that the Buckeyes have had through 20 quarters of football have not necessitated anything like that. Passes are being spread out pretty evenly with four in double-digits, paced by KJ Hill's 20 receptions on the season but Hill also finds himself third in yardage with Chris Olave and Binjimen Victor leading the way by 40-50 yards. No receiver for the Buckeyes has more than 300 receiving yards but once again, Ohio State's doing just fine with its 1,270 yards of passing offense through five games, checking in just a little north of 250 yards. It was not all that long ago that the goal was to be at 250 rush/250 pass. The Buckeyes are there and then some and everything is fine. How efficient has Garrett Wilson been this year? He has eight receptions and three touchdowns and less than 80 receiving yards. You have to figure that there is a breakout game somewhere on this schedule. Getting back to Fields for one last thing, he may be 8th in the league in terms of passing yards per game but his efficiency is No. 2 in the conference only trailing Tanner Morgan of Minnesota and Fields has maintained his number playing in one more game than Morgan and throwing six more touchdowns.

For only allowing 198 yards per game via the pass, the Spartans surprisingly have allowed six touchdown passes through the air, something that you would not expect out of a MSU defense. Michigan State also has six interceptions to go with those six scores but last season the Spartans only allowed 14 total over the season and 15 the year before. Now before anyone gets all concerned with my math and tries to point out that the numbers are not that far off five games through the season, take into account that Michigan State has only played two league games and is sitting at six already with games against Ohio State, Wisconsin, Penn State, Michigan and Maryland still on the schedule. You would have to believe that the number of touchdowns allowed per game would trend up against much more stout offenses than Arizona State, Western Michigan and Tulsa. There are some familiar names in the secondary with Josh Butler and David Dowell playing in their fifth and final seasons while the newcomer of the group is Xavier Henderson, a Pickerington (Ohio) native and more evidence that Ohio State just can't keep everyone in-state. The last time the Spartans allowed a 300-yard passer to Ohio State was JT Barrett in 2014. Weather and situation kept those numbers down, way down in 2015 and 2016 as 15 saw the torrential downpour and curios decision not to use Zeke Elliott more, 16 saw the Buckeyes have a pair of 100-yard rushers with Barrett and Mike Weber. The Buckeyes will see some opportunity with the throw game against this Spartans' defense but they likely will not hit the 300-yard mark in this game but should match the 2014 300-yard game of Barrett in terms of throwing three touchdown passes (if not more).