The Ohio State Football team kneels while head coach Ryan Day speaks before preseason practice on Aug. 6. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
After a 2020 campaign that only saw the Buckeyes stray from Columbus twice in the regular season, Ohio State gets its first true road test in two years Thursday against Minnesota.
The Buckeyes’ regular-season away games had a combined 1,500 people in attendance last season, as the pandemic largely kept fans out of Big Ten stadiums. On Thursday, Ohio State heads into a hostile environment at Huntington Bank Stadium — where an expected 50,805 fans await them.
With head coach Ryan Day’s bunch preparing for their first road trip of the 2021 season, they’re entering with a new quarterback at the helm –– redshirt freshman C.J. Stroud. As Stroud is yet to attempt a pass at the collegiate level, Day said he’s a little nervous heading into Minneapolis with youth at the position.
“Yeah, I’m nervous about playing in any game right now with a young quarterback, especially one that hasn’t thrown a college pass,” Day said July 23.
While Stroud progresses towards his first career start, Day said he and the coaching staff have tried to get him used to the hostile nature of a Big Ten game.
“It’s hard to be quarterback around here, so it’s our job as coaches to make sure that the practices are a lot harder than the game,” Day said. “If you can survive practice then the game is easy.”
Similar to the quarterback position, the Buckeyes sport a young linebacking corps heading into the season — another important positional group with limited experience in opposing territory.
Senior linebacker Teradja Mitchell, the most veteran member of the linebackers, emphasized the Buckeyes’ ability to block out the noise and create their own energy.
“It’s not something we think about because at Ohio State we bring our juice,” Mitchell said. “It’s a blessing to be able to play in front of fans because obviously they haven’t seen us in a long time, haven’t seen us play in person, so to get that opportunity, it’s going to be fun.”
Although bringing energy will be key Thursday, Mitchell added that the Buckeyes can’t get overly excited.
“You can’t be too hyped,” Mitchell said. “Can’t ride the rollercoaster, can’t be too high or too low. You just have to stay even-keeled.”
The Buckeyes have also had issues against Big Ten West opponents on the road in recent years, with blowout losses to Purdue and Iowa in the last five seasons. But Day has yet to lose a regular-season away game since taking over as head coach in 2019.
Senior tight end Jeremy Ruckert, a member of the 2018 team that lost at Purdue, pointed to similarities between Ohio State’s upcoming trip to Minneapolis and that rough night in West Lafayette, Indiana.
“Any time you go on the road against a quality opponent like Minnesota, it’s important because of the fact that anything can happen. We’ve been there. I was there for the Purdue game so I know what it feels like,” Ruckert said.
With an opportunity to kick off the season on the right foot Thursday, redshirt junior offensive tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere said the Buckeyes will need to just focus on themselves in unfriendly territory.
“Once we get into a game atmosphere, it may be a little bit loud and it may be a little more raucous, which is fun. It’s a great atmosphere. College football is probably one of the greatest atmospheres in all of sports,” Petit-Frere said. “But in terms of us playing through it, as long as we do what we did when we practice and we revert back to our training, I think we’ll be fine.”
