First Down
Players to watch for Northwestern
1) Griffin Wilde
The main target in the passing attack for Northwestern is Griffin Wilde.
Through the first nine games of the season, Wilde has amassed 49 receptions for 813 yards and five touchdowns. This comes on the heels of the 2025 season where Wilde caught 71 balls for 880 yards and eight scores. Wilde has four games with at least 100 yards this year.
Wilde spent the first two years of his college career at South Dakota State before transferring to Northwestern following the 2024 season.
Even with Aidan Chiles
sidelined for this game, Wilde gives backup quarterback Nicco Marchiol a trusted target to try and help the former West Virginia thrower settle into a rhythm against an Ohio State secondary that has had some mixed results this season.
2) Joseph Himon II
Caleb Komolafe might be the feature running back for Northwestern, but the most explosive player in the backfield for the Wildcats is Joseph Himon II.
The senior is averaging over eight yards per carry this year, rolling up 411 yards on just 49 carries.
Along with the ability to break big runs, Himon has a nose for the end zone when thrown the football, scoring four touchdowns on his nine receptions. Three of those receiving touchdowns came in the win over Colorado earlier in the season.
Even though Himon’s yards per carry haven’t been as plentiful of late, his 162-yard performance against Penn State on just 10 carries shows he can crack a tough Big Ten defense.
Himon is 76 rushing yards away from surpassing his 2015 total.
3) Robert Fitzgerald
Patrolling the defensive backfield at safety for Northwestern is Robert Fitzgerald. Coming off a 2025 season where he recorded 114 tackles, Fitzgerald has 56 stops this year to go along with three interceptions and a fumble recovery.
After missing a couple of games in October, Fitzgerald returned to the lineup last week against Iowa. Fitzgerald intercepted a pass in the loss and has now picked off a pass in each of the last three games he has played.
Against a team with a quarterback making his third collegiate start, Fitzgerald will be licking his chops to extend the streak.
Second Down
Keys for Ohio State
1) Protect the football
Northwestern doesn’t beat themselves. The Wildcats are on if just six FBS teams to throw one interception or less this season. Because of how little Northwestern turns the football over, in combination with their defense forcing their opponents into mistakes, the Wildcats are +12 in turnover margin this year.
Since the Buckeyes haven’t forced a bunch of turnovers this year, Ohio State can’t afford to give the ball away on Saturday. The task becomes even more important with an inexperienced quarterback behind center.
If the Buckeyes give away the football and Northwestern is able to put some points on the board, it could do wonders for an offense coming off a rough performance against Iowa.
2) Target your best player
This week Ohio State started to put more fire under a Heisman campaign for Jeremiah Smith. The future first-round NFL draft pick has 69 catches for 1,200 yards and 14 receiving touchdowns through nine games in 2026.
Last week, the junior recorded his first 100-yard game since going for over 200 yards against Iowa.
Lately, there has been some frustration showing. After Ohio State lost Julian Sayin to injury, Smith hasn’t had quite as much of an impact on the field. Some of the struggles lately have been because Smith and Luke Fahey are still building timing and trust, while others can be attributed to calls from offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.
This week the Buckeyes have to get the ball to the best wide receiver in school history early and often. This needs to be a game that Smith takes over. Not only for his Heisman campaign, but to also try and save Ohio State’s season.
3) Let’s get weird
Whatever the Buckeyes are doing on offense isn’t really working. Julian Sayin and Luke Fahey are different quarterbacks. Right now it feels like Arthur Smith is trying to fit a square peg into a round hole and make Fahey run Sayin’s offense. Do more that plays to Fahey’s strengths.
It’s almost like Ohio State has become too predictable on offense. Shake things up. Step out of your comfort zone. They don’t have to run an offense of trick plays, but throw some new looks out there. In a time when their backs are against the wall, just play loose and have a little bit of fun.
Third Down
Notable Ohio State/Northwestern connections
1) Hunter Welcing
During the offseason, Ohio State looked to the transfer portal to add some depth and experience to their tight end room. Enter Hunter Welcing from Northwestern. Now in his seventh year of college football, Welcing caught 28 passes for 296 yards and two touchdowns last year.
Welcing hasn’t made it onto the field for the Buckeyes this year, only catching one pass for four yards against Illinois. With how much the Buckeyes love to use their tight ends, especially in the red zone, maybe they give Welcing a few more snaps this week against his former team.
2) Dominic Kirks
After starting his collegiate career at Ohio State, the defensive lineman from Cleveland entered the transfer portal after two seasons in Columbus. Dominic Kirks was part of the 2024 recruiting class, registering just two tackles in limited action as a Buckeye.
Kirks decided to join Northwestern, where he has 11 tackles, a sack, and a forced fumble as part of the rotation on the defensive line. Expect Kirks to be playing with some added fire in Saturday afternoon in his return to Ohio Stadium.
3) Chip Kelly
This feels like cheating since we used Kelly last week for his ties to both Oregon and Ohio State, but we couldn’t not include the Northwestern offensive coordinator since he will be calling plays on Saturday. A compromise was to put him lower on the list.
Kelly returns to face the team he helped win a national title in 2024. Along with battling the Buckeyes, Kelly will match wits with Ryan Day, who considers Kelly a mentor.
There’s no doubt Kelly will be reaching even deeper into his bag on Saturday afternoon.
& Out
Prediction: 35-17, Ohio State
