The Falcons’ football team will take on the Ohio State Buckeyes on the road for their season opener on Saturday afternoon.

“We’ve got a football team that’s done what they need to do to put themselves in a position to not only go out and compete,” Falcons head coach Mike Jinks said. “But also give themselves a chance to take care of business and win the ballgame.”

The team will come into the game as underdogs against Ohio State, who are nationally ranked as the sixth best team in the National Collegiate Athletic Association. However, the coaches and players are not fazed.

“It’s not about who you’re playing or what people think… it’s about where we are internally,” Jinks said. “My job right now is to make sure that the 70 men that get on that bus understand that there’s things out there greater than one’s self.”

The team also feels that they won’t have a hard time in working out a game plan, despite Ohio State having several new players.

“The good teams, you look at them schematically, it’s not rocket science, it’s not tough to figure out,” Jinks said. “They’re going to do what they do and those are the ones that are scary.”

The team is also looking to play the same as they would against any other opponent.

“We’ve got to have the same mindset,” Jinks said. “We can’t try to go out and change who we are, we’ve got to believe in what we do, we’ve got to do what we do and we’ve got to execute at a high level.”

The team is also looking to work on their defense’s consistency throughout the season, as well as begin with a good showing against Ohio State.

“We flashed at times last year,” Jinks said. “One of the things we try to do is simplify things for them and allow them to use that athleticism.”

The team is also excited to see what this year’s team will look like, as well as learning about the opposing teams throughout the season.

“No one knows anything about their team at this point, because that’s always evolving,” Jinks said. “That’s a process as you go through the season and that’s one of the things that excites me about going into this opening game.”

Despite the pregame predictions, the team is looking forward to the challenge of facing a nationally ranked opponent for the first game of the season.

“These are the games that we all want to be in,” Jinks said. “These are the opportunities that don’t come too often.”

The Falcons go in this game as an underdog, but have an opportuniy to set the tone for the rest of the season. With the Vegas spreads predicting the Buckeyes to win by 28 points, the only side with something to lose is Urban Meyer and Ohio State.