Talent will be abundant on Saturday when No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Oregon meet for the first time as conference foes. On both sides of the ball, each team poses a massive challenge its opponent hasn’t seen this season, and how the sides fare in those matchups could ultimately prove to be the deciding factor in the game.

For the Ohio State defense, secondary play will be critical against an Oregon offense predicated on getting the ball out of quarterback Dillon Gabriel’s hands quickly and into the hands of a dangerous group of receivers still waiting to fully break out this season.

After hauling in 86 catches for 1,182 yards and 10 touchdowns a season ago, senior receiver Tez Johnson is off to another strong start this season as Gabriel’s favorite target. Through five games, Johnson has 43 catches for 395 yards and a team-leading five touchdowns.

While Johnson may be Oregon’s steadiest playmaker on the perimeter, he’s hardly the only one capable of turning in big plays that could ultimately swing a game. Traeshon Holden, also a senior, has found the end zone three times and is well on his way to surpassing the 452-yard, six-touchdown stat line he posted a season ago in his first year at Oregon.

Evan Stewart, a former five-star recruit who was one of the prizes of the offseason transfer market after two seasons at Texas A&M, has been quiet but still brings elite athleticism and a vertical threat to the field.

Add in one of the game’s better tight end targets in Terrance Ferguson and Ohio State will have its hands full. However, speaking with the media on Wednesday, Buckeye senior cornerback and All-American candidate Denzel Burke said it’s a challenge he and the rest of the secondary are looking forward to meeting.

“It’s going to be a great matchup,” Burke said. “This is something I always wish for. I go against the best receivers every day in practice, but to be able to go good-on-good is exciting for me. I’m a really big competitor so it’s going to be really fun. They have a good group of guys over there, so we’ll see.”

“They’re really good,” senior safety Lathan Ransom said of the Oregon receivers. “It’s a really talented receiving core and the best one we’ve seen so far this year. We’re all excited for the challenge.”

To combat Oregon’s quick-hitter offensive approach, Burke believes the secondary must excel at getting off blocks, playing fast, and tackling well.

“They’re good in space, so we have to have great eyes and really just play downhill with tenacity and have fun,” he said.

Ransom added, “We gotta win on the perimeter, gotta make open-field tackles, and communicate.”

For both Ransom and Burke, Saturday will mark their second matchup against the Ducks. In Burke’s case, he was making just the second start of his career as a true freshman in 2021 when Oregon came to Columbus and left with a 35-28 win in a game the Buckeye defensive struggled mightily to get stops.

While Burke said he felt he played well in the game and remembers it as one of his better performances that season, the outcome was all that mattered. “I’m kinda sad we didn’t get that win back then, so we’re looking forward to one this weekend,” he said.

That lowly performance by the Silver Bullets played a large part in head coach Ryan Day ultimately making changes to the defensive staff and hiring defensive coordinator Jim Knowles the following winter. Ransom noted the defense is entirely different than it was in 2021, and with Oregon also having undergone coaching changes since that game, there isn’t much to take away from their last meeting.

Neither Burke nor Ransom seem overly fueled by that past failure, and nobody in scarlet and gray will need any additional sources of motivation in a game that will have the attention of the entire country on Saturday.

“You definitely come to Ohio State dreaming of moments and playing in games like this, and I’m ready and really excited to show what the Buckeyes are doing,” Burke said. “It’s our first matchup game, so I’m ready to go.”

Reach Dillon Davis at 740-413-0904. Follow him on X @DillonDavis56.