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The Buckeyes and Spartans have played some tough games over the years, especially in the last four years under Urban Meyer but even looking at the last 10 games, only two of the 10 have been decided by more than two scores. The last time? 2008 when the Buckeyes won 45-8.

In the four games between Meyer and Mark Dantonio, the largest margin of victory has been 12 points, in 2014. Ohio State has lost games by three (2015) and 10 (2013) and won by one-point in 2012.

What does that ultimately mean for the 2016 game? Probably not a whole lot. These are new teams, many players from 2015 and beyond are not on these rosters, the guys who will be counted upon to make plays either were in high school or on the scout team during some of the previous battles. But it does go to show that a 22-point line is very much an oddity in this series. The biggest line in those last 10 meetings has been 17 (Michigan State was getting 17 points and Ohio State won by seven, 24-17).

We are taking a deeper data dive into this game as we go to the Tale of the Tape to try and make sense of Saturday's game with so much on the line for the Buckeyes.

The Buckeyes will be the best pass defense that the Spartans have faced this year, at least in terms of Pass Efficiency Defense. Nobody is better than the Buckeyes in the nation with the top rated P-E defense. Ohio State's pass defense truly has been a team effort and there is no quarter anywhere on the field for teams to really focus on when the Buckeyes are playing up to their potential. Everyone went into the season figuring that it would be Gareon Conley carrying the defense with a young and inexperienced crew looking to replace three players who are on NFL rosters now. That is not the case with Malik Hooker and Marshon Lattimore both looking like potential first-round NFL type of players along with Conley. The Spartans are prone to throwing interceptions but have not thrown a pick in the last two games, granted Rutgers (106th in Pass Eff. defense) and Illinois (72nd in Pass Eff. defense) neither rank in the top half of the nation in that category. Michigan State is going to need to be efficient in the passing game but in a strange twist, the Spartans have not won a game this season where they have attempted more than 26 pass attempts. The Buckeyes will have to take advantage of every opportunity that they get since it does not appear that a heavy pass attack has worked yet for Michigan State.

The Spartans have had to try their hand with several quarterbacks this season but Tyler O'Connor is their main guy, having played in nine games and starting in eight of them. The Buckeyes remember O'Connor well, he was one of the two QBs that played in the 2015 upset of the Buckeyes. O'Connor's stat line? 7/12 for 89 yards and a TD in a torrential downpour. The point being, he has done something that few have accomplished, beat Ohio State in the last four-plus years. R.J. Shelton leads the Spartans in reception and yards with 47 and 710 respectively. The player that Ohio State needs to keep an eye on is tight end Josiah Price. The Buckeyes have seen teams through the years look to build attacks around getting the ball to the tight end and Price has 30 catches and is tied for the team lead with five touchdowns. One-time Ohio State recruiting target Donnie Corley represents the future for the Spartans and that future may be now as he has catches in all but one of Michigan State's games. Of every category in terms of looking at how the Spartans fare against a good schedule, this is their best because MSU has gone against four teams in the top-40 in passing efficiency defense so far this season and the Buckeyes will be the fifth. Their record going into this game against those foes? 0-4. In their three wins, the Spartans got rich off of teams that were ranked no better than No. 62 in the nation in P-E defense with two teams being ranked in the 100s (Rutgers and Furman who is No. 112 in the FCS rankings).

Advantage: Ohio State