Ohio State gets its first Big Ten test of the season at home, and Illinois is bringing enough firepower to at least make the Buckeyes pay attention.
The game also carries the Illibuck, the wooden turtle trophy that goes to the winner when Ohio State and Illinois meet. It will be the second time Illinois has faced the Buckeyes under Ryan Day, and Ohio State is trying to reach win No. 70 in the series.
For Illinois to have a shot at becoming just the third Big Ten program to beat Ohio State under Day, it will need a strong showing from Katin Houser. The quarterback already knows what Columbus can feel like.
He was at Michigan State in 2022, won the starting job the next year and got his chance against Ohio State late in the season. That trip went badly.
The Buckeyes rolled 38-3, and Houser completed 12 of 24 passes for 94 yards.
Houser transferred to East Carolina after that season and spent the next two years there as the starter. Now he is back in the Big Ten and looking for a much better result in his second crack at Ohio State.
His top target is Collin Dixon, and the third-year receiver has turned himself into one of the most productive pass catchers in the country. Dixon put together 53 catches for 812 yards and five touchdowns across his first two seasons. In just three games this year, he has already hauled in 25 receptions for 367 yards and a nation-best seven touchdowns.
Illinois leans on him heavily in the passing game. Dixon has 10 more catches than anyone else on the roster has targets, which tells you how much of the offense runs through him. That setup looks a lot like Ohio State’s with Jeremiah Smith.
On the other side of the ball, Illinois has a pair of safeties worth watching in Matthew Bailey and Xavier Scott. Bailey is the established headliner, while Scott returns after what should have been a bigger role last season but was cut short by a right foot and ankle injury three games into 2025.
Scott received a sixth year to come back, and together he and Bailey give Illinois one of the better safety tandems in the Big Ten. They can line up in different spots and switch roles, which gives the Illini flexibility. Bailey brings size at 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds along with the athleticism to move around the field, while Scott could create an interesting matchup in the slot against Brandon Inniss.
In Other News...
Ohio State Enters Big Ten Play With Its Playoff Path Already Tightening
Ohio State heads into Big Ten play already feeling the pressure that comes with a September loss, as the Buckeyes fell 24-23 to Texas in their second game of the 2026 season. It was their first nonconference loss since 2021, and the AP top 25 reflected the hit right away, dropping Ohio State from No. 1 to No. 7.
Now the margin for error gets much slimmer. The Buckeyes still have several ranked opponents ahead of them as conference play begins, which means every week carries added weight for a team that was built with playoff expectations from the start. The path is still there, but it is no longer wide open. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Has Two Injury Concerns Fans Will Watch Closely Saturday
Ohio States first availability report for Saturdays game at Illinois gave fans a clearer look at the early injury picture, and it included a mix of expected absences and a couple of names worth tracking. The Big Tens weekly reporting system put three Buckeyes out and three more in the questionable category, with the most attention naturally falling on Phillip Daniels and Zion Grady, two players whose status could affect the defensive rotation.
Kyle Parker is also listed as questionable after yet to make his season debut, adding another layer to the Buckeyes depth concerns. The players already ruled out are not key contributors, and Ohio State may be able to stick with a similar offensive line combination to the one it used last game, but the next update will be the one that really matters for anyone watching how the lineup settles in by kickoff. [Read more 🡒]
Joel Klatt Just Framed Ohio State's Arch Manning Problem Perfectly
Arch Manning has spent most of this college football season living under a microscope, and Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt recently put a sharper point on why. Klatt said the Texas quarterback has been okay overall, with one burst against Ohio State standing out from a body of work that has otherwise looked far more ordinary than the hype around his name.
For Buckeyes fans, that evaluation hits close to home because it frames the matchup in Columbus as the outlier in Mannings season rather than the rule. Since then, Manning has been productive but not overwhelming, and the spotlight only figures to get brighter with Tennessee next on the schedule, a game that could go a long way toward defining how his season is remembered. [Read more 🡒]