Remember the last time Ohio State opened on a Thursday? It also happened to be a conference game on the road. It also felt like an anomaly, being the first (non-postseason) non-Saturday game the Buckeyes had played since 2010.
That time, the Buckeyes traveled to Bloomington, Ind. to open the 2017 season. Heading into the Aug. 31 kickoff, Ohio State had a lot that was going wrong. Most notably, Mike Weber, the feature back from the 2016 season, was out with an injury. In his place was a true freshman back from Texas.
As per usual with Ohio State, because of its epic ability to get players into the NFL, questions remained with the departures of key players.