Ohio State vs. Illinois: Start time, live stream, TV, info, and more

The Illibuck trophy is on the line Saturday as the #4 Ohio State Buckeyes (4-0) travel to Champaign, Illinois, for the first time since 2015 to take on the Illinois Fighting Illini (2-3). Ohio State is coming off of a seven-point win over #12 Indiana, while Illinois is coming off an 18-point win over Nebraska.

Viewing Information:

Date: Saturday, Nov. 28 | Time: Noon ET

Location: Memorial Stadium, Champaign, IL

TV: Fox Sports 1 (FS1) | Live Stream: Fox Sports App/fuboTV

Announcers: Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt, and Jenny Taft

Weather: 50 degrees, sunny.

Storylines:

Friday afternoon it was announced that Ohio State Head Coach Ryan Day has tested positive for COVID-19 and will not travel with the team. Associate Head Coach/Defensive Line Coach Larry Johnson will serve as interim head coach.

Big Ten protocol will mean Day will miss this weekend’s game, as well as next week’s match-up with Michigan State. Day should be able to resume coaching duties prior to Dec. 12th’s match-up with The Team Up North.

Despite beating an AP top-10 team last week, Ohio State certainly has some worries. Justin Fields had his worst game in an Ohio State uniform with three interceptions, and the Buckeyes defense struggled as well, giving up 491 passing yards and five touchdowns last week.

Most of the defensive woes were the result of poor play within the secondary unit. Head Coach Ryan Day hinted the team may look into different personnel packages against Illinois, but feels like the game plans have been solid “schematically we’re right where we need to be, we just need to execute better” said Day.

It is expected that Josh Proctor, who earned special teams player-of-the-week honors, will get more reps at safety this week, as Marcus Hooker has struggled. Perhaps freshman CB/S Lejond Cavazos could also see some playing time, as he conveniently lost his black stripe in practice this week.

Luckily for the Ohio State secondary, Illinois has the worst passing offense in the Big Ten, averaging just 159.4 yards-per-game. The bright spot for the Illini is their rushing offense, which ranks second in the conference behind OSU with 222.40 yards-per-game. Chase Brown and Mike Epstein have both rushed for over 330 yards this season, good for seventh and eighth-best in the Big Ten, respectively.

Ohio State may have a few different personnel packages this weekend due to COVID-19 issues. It has been confirmed that there are a number of positive cases within the OSU program, but the number of cases, and players impacted, is unknown. More will be known at 10 AM on Saturday when the team releases its weekly availability report.

Not only will the team look a bit different, but the uniforms as well. The Buckeyes will be donning all-white uniforms for the first time since 2017. This uniform will be a bit different than past all-white combinations, as it will feature the traditional away white jersey, and traditional helmet, but paired with white pants instead of the standard grays.

Series History:

The Buckeyes lead the all-time series 68-30-4 and have won nine-straight over Illinois. The last Illini win came in 2007 when the #1 Buckeyes were handed their lone regular-season loss. The Buckeyes would still go on to play for the BCS National Championship, however. The average margin of victory during Ohio State’s nine-game winning streak has been 24.4 points.

Odds:

Ohio State currently sits as a 28-point favorite over Illinois, with an over/under of 71.5, according to ESPN.