COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Five reasons the No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes (7-1, 4-1 Big Ten) will beat the No. 10 Nebraska Cornhuskers (7-1, 4-1) on Saturday night in Ohio Stadium.
1. Ohio State's NFL secondary: Cornerbacks coach Kerry Coombs didn't want to brag. But then he kind of bragged.
He's had cornerbacks selected in three straight NFL drafts, two in the first round -- Bradley Roby in 2014 and Eli Apple last year.
Some projections have him with two more possible first-round draft picks this year in Marshon Lattimore and Gareon Conley.
That's a lot of NFL production.
"I love those two kids," Coombs said. "I love the entire unit right now. The development at this position is extraordinary, and it's because we've had great players here. Bradley was AFC Defensive Player of the Week this week. Eli was back last week."
Let me pick up those two names you just dropped. Sorry, continue not bragging.
"We've got a really nice little progression going in our room and those guys have seen what it takes and they're just following the lead of others," he said. "We've got a good group of guys."
Coombs should brag. Ohio State has hammered its "developed here" slogan this year. That doesn't always hold up when you look at position units across the team. Some spots are coming along better than others.
Cornerback is one of the spots where it appears to be working. Factor in that Ohio State safety Malik Hooker has come on so strong this year that he's also considered a first-round talent, and the Buckeyes have a starting secondary featuring three guys who could all reasonably be in the NFL next season.
That's a nice little security blanket as they prepare to host a Nebraska passing attack on Saturday that has explosive potential. Ohio State gave up some plays in pass coverage last week. Northwestern found a soft spot and found success against slot corner Damon Arnette and safety Damon Weeb.
"We gotta get better," Coombs said. "Those are challenging throws, and challenging positions."
But from the standpoint of collection of secondary talent, there are few teams right now rivaling what Ohio State has.
Consider that Conely (No. 15), Hooker (No. 16) and Lattimore (No. 18) are projected first-round picks this spring in Bleacher Report draft analyst Matt Miller's most recent mock draft. Michigan and Florida each have two secondary players projected as first-rounders in that mock, but nobody has three. Three is pretty crazy.
Also consider that CBS Sports analyst Dane Brugler has Hooker No. 13 in his most recent mock, and ESPN's Mel Kiper has Lattimore No. 15 (that's the 15th best overall prospect regardless of his position) on his most recent big board.
"The cornerback class for the 2017 draft could be special, and Lattimore is in the top tier," Kiper wrote. He's higher on him than he is on Conley.
That Lattimore, who is really in just his first season of playing full-time as a redshirt sophomore, has made this kind of jump this quickly is impressive.
"Let them think that," Lattimore said. "I'm just gonna keep trying to show them that I'm that good. All that, first round and all that stuff I don't really feed into that. I just stay locked in to what I gotta do."
What he's done is pick off three passes this season. Hooker has four, Conley two.
Nebraska quarterback Tommy Armstrong has thrown 43 interceptions in his career.
Ohio State's NFL secondary could have a big day on Saturday.
2. No brown helmets: Is there anything to the adage "look good, feel good, play good?"
Ohio State will wear some cool throwback jerseys on Saturday night honoring the 1916 Buckeyes team. The helmets will have an almost black matte finish. They were almost brown to mimic the old leather helmets guys used to wear. Brown? Gross.
"You can put me in pink, and I'm gonna go play," offensive lineman Billy Price said. "Uniforms don't really matter to me. If I was worried about uniforms, I'd go elsewhere."
Luckily someone changed the plan and settled on these new helmets.
So the Buckeyes will look good on Saturday. Maybe they'll feel good and play good, too.
3. 16 plays, 123 yards and a boost to Ohio State's confidence: This is how the Buckeyes produced on their final two offensive possessions in last week's win over Northwestern.
One drive was a quick-strike series of plays that went 60 yards in less than three minutes to give Ohio State a 24-17 lead. The last one was a slow but effective (10 plays, 60 yards) game-sealer that helped seal the win.
That's something to build off with the Buckeyes looking for anything to spark their offense.
"The offensive line was executing pretty well on those last two possessions," Price said. "We had some pretty big runs, putting the ball in playmakers' hands is all we can ask for. Going into this week we just try to continue to build off that kind of execution and see what we can do this week."
The first drive was good because Ohio State may have found a little something with a wheel route to K.J. Hill that picked up 34 yards. If the Buckeyes can't get big passing yards throwing downfield, then maybe they can do it with play-action short passes to guys who can create big plays with their athleticism.
The second drive, though, might have been more important. Things were far from over with only a four-point lead. The Buckeyes picked up two key third downs -- one on a strike from J.T. Barrett to Noah Brown, and the other on a big Barrett run. They made plays, which is something that didn't happen the week before in a loss to Penn State.
"I do see some very good positives. I like the fact that you get in a street fight and you win it," Urban Meyer said. "So I guess I'm much more positive. Do I wish that we were that 56 points and all those kind of things? Sure, but we're a work in progress."
That looked a little bit like progress. The game as a whole may not have been the complete offensive rebirth fans were hoping for. Those last two drives could mean that rebirth is coming.
4. Meyer's record in November: Ohio State's loss to Michigan State last year was shocking for a couple of reasons. One of which was Meyer suffering his first November loss at Ohio State. He's now 15-1 in November, and 47-8 in November in his career.
Now is the time that teams need to start playing their best. Meyer is usually pretty good at getting his team there.
5. Tyler Durbin is perfect: There are two kickers in major college football with at least 10 field goal attempts who haven't missed. Ohio State's Durbin is one of them. He's 11-for-11 this season (a blocked field goal against Penn State doesn't count against him). Ohio State has been playing tight games lately. Durbin needs to stay perfect on Saturday.