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The season is here and not a moment too soon for Ohio State fans. It was a quiet offseason until it was not quiet any longer. Joe Burrow transfers, Urban Meyer suspended for the first three games of the season, the collective ire of the college football world was pointed directly at Ohio State, even if most people really did not even understand what was truly going on, only seeing a chance to speak ill of a program that most of the nation outright hates.

Once the ball is kicked, that will all not matter, at least for that moment in time. It is game week and the Buckeyes are ready to open the season against another OSU, Oregon State. Believe it or not, Oregon State was established two years before Ohio State was. Ohio State on the other hand has nearly four-times the annual endowment of Oregon State but that does not mean anything in terms of the purposes of this particular Tale of the Tape.

Oregon State has been a sub-.500 team for the past four seasons and has not won (or tied for the conference lead) since the 2000 season when Dennis Erickson was still at the helm. The Beavers found a nice little place in the middle of the league under Mike Riley for a dozen years before he left to take over the Nebraska Cornhuskers (briefly) and since his departure, things have gone from mediocre to terrible over the past few seasons.

It is a new year but will it be a different outcome for the Beavers, as Jonathan Smith steps into the head coaching role and looks to take a team that was near the bottom of most major statistical categories and looks to build them back to a team that is competitive in the Pac-12? It will take some time to see if that is a realistic goal but they are Ohio State's first opponent this season in a battle of P5 teams and the Buckeyes will be a heavy favorite going into this one.

This is what everyone wants to see, how the Dwayne Haskins-era starts for the Buckeyes. He will have his full roster of wide receivers and even though the team loses its starting 2017 TE with Marcus Baugh, there is a deep roster of players at that position too. Will there be any breakdown with Ryan Day having to wear the hat of acting head coach in addition to being quarterback coach and offensive coordinator and how will he work with Kevin Wilson without having Urban Meyer on the offensive channel to to make a final decision? Do the Buckeyes come out in this game and showcase the pass and give the next 11 defensive coordinators on the schedule a lot to think about or do they ease into the season with the running game, Ohio State's DNA will always be thick with a power running game. I would expect to see Ohio State to try and take advantage of an Oregon State team that was No. 124 in the nation last year in pass efficiency defense and try and make them stop the Buckeyes and get some confidence for Haskins and the receivers moving forward with a top-20 match-up awaiting the Buckeyes in week three and of course that huge Penn State game in week five, both away from Ohio Stadium. Who will emerge as Ohio State's deep threat this year? Parris Campbell has shown that he can take the short pass a long distance with his world-class track speed but can he become more consistent on the deep pass? Will Terry McLaurin and Johnnie Dixon be rewarded for their decision to stay another season with the Buckeyes with bigger numbers? K.J. Hill had shown to be Ohio State's most complete receiver last season, will that continue? With all of that, if you look back at last season, it seems that Austin Mack may be the receiver who is most on the same page with Haskins and he could be the early recipient of a lot of attention as the season gets underway.

There is not much to build on for a 1-11 team and that is what the Beavers were last season. The pass efficiency defense was 124th in the nation (out of 129 teams playing Division 1-FBS) and there were only two teams allowing more points per game than Oregon State in 2017. Oregon State brings over Tim Tibesar from Wisconsin to take over the role of defensive coordinator and even though he worked with the linebackers, the hope is to fix everything. Last year the Beavers gave up 29 passing touchdowns in 12 games, meaning that Oregon State gave up 2.4 touchdowns per game, and that included a D1-FCS win over Portland State and non-con games against Minnesota and Colorado State. Safety Jalen Moore is very solid in the run game and can deliver punishing hits but is not where he needs to be in the passing game, something that the Buckeyes will look to test early and often with their new quarterback. Oregon State will be rolling a R-Freshman corner out with Kaleb Hayes along side a fifth-year senior Dwayne Williams. Williams put up stats in the first three games of last season while Hayes will be seeing his first action of his collegiate career. Ohio State would have some success feasting on this duo if they decide to take this game vertical.