The other day I was talking to a colleague of mine who covers Ohio State’s football program and he mentioned that the Buckeyes have a major concern.

Brace for the horror.

The kicking game.

It turns out Ohio State’s freshman kicker missed a couple of field goals in the spring game. He only made one successful field goal all of last season. The Buckeyes were so concerned they went to the transfer portal and brought in a graduate transfer kicker from North Carolina. The whole thing has generated some angst in the event that Oregon plays the Buckeyes close on Sept. 11 in Columbus.

Talk about first-world football problems.

I want to giggle at the absurdity of it. But I wonder if what Oregon has here is a chance to make Ohio State uncomfortable in a way it hasn’t been lately. The Buckeyes haven’t lost a regular-season game under head coach Ryan Day. They really haven’t even been challenged. He’s officially 23-2 overall with his only losses coming to Clemson and Alabama in bowl season.

I’ve been thinking a lot about that. Wonder if Day has, too. Because in his 25 games as the acting head coach in Columbus he hasn’t been made uncomfortable in the months of September, October or November. In fact, during his tenure as head coach Ohio State has played in only one regular-season game that was decided by a touchdown or less — a seven-point win at home over Indiana last season. In that game, the Hoosiers trailed 28-7 at half and came back to make it a one-score loss.

The Buckeyes’ kicking worries? Oregon needs to make it matter on Sept. 11.

Not just because the Buckeyes have some concerns there. But because nobody really knows how Ohio State’s entire program, top to bottom, will react to seeing its season placed in jeopardy in week two against a Pac-12 opponent. There are no more moral victories for Oregon. The Ducks need to beat Ohio State. It was all over Mario Cristobal’s face at conference media day in Hollywood.

“I never lie to myself,” Cristobal told me. “I just love the way this team works. I love the way it’s coming together, the way it’s galvanizing, the way they’ve pushed each other and the way they’ve allowed us to push them. Conflict and adversity is part of football, it’s part of life.

“I’m fired up.”

When Cristobal was hired, I wrote that he’d take the Ducks to the College Football Playoff within his first five seasons. He’s sniffing around it as that marker approaches. He’s addressed his biggest early nitpick — game management — by hiring offensive (Joe Moorhead) and defensive (Tim DeRuyter) coordinators who have previously served as head coaches. Cristobal’s exes (Marcus Arroyo and Andy Avalos) had no in-game experience as a program CEO. I like that he’s been willing to make improvements.

Former Oregon offensive lineman Nick Cody reached out to me this week with an interesting point. He played a decade ago on a team that challenged Auburn for the national title under Chip Kelly. Cody pointed out that Oregon’s offensive line in that national title game would be pile driven by Cristobal’s current line. Only Mark Asper, who went 6-foot-7 and 323 pounds, could have played on the Ducks’ current offensive line.

“The guys Oregon has now,” Cody said, “would maul us over.”

I spoke to one of the new guys, center Alex Forsyth, a couple of weeks ago in person. He said that it was a blessing to play in a program that had a head coach who was a former offensive lineman himself. Forsyth told me that Cristobal always seems to find his way into the offensive-line meetings.

“We have a bunch of people who are invested in making the O-line better,” he said.

Whenever I talk to a quarterback or running back or receiver in the offseason, I ask them what play they like to see called in a game. Their eyes always dance. They don’t have to think. They blurt it out immediately. Given that Oregon’s offensive line is the face of the franchise, for the first time I asked one of the big guys up front what he likes to see called in game.

Forsyth’s eyes widened.

“I like inside zone the best,” he said. “That’s where it gets muddy and bloody. That’s fun.”

Oregon has the season opener against Fresno State. Then, it’s onto Columbus for a game we’ve all been waiting for more than a year to see played. Yet, I don’t think there’s any pressure on the Ducks. They’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain. Nobody is picking them to win on the road against a Day-coached Ohio State operation. But I keep looking at the Buckeyes’ regular-season schedule and there just isn’t a new test for them anywhere on it except for the game against the Ducks.

My sportswriter colleague in Columbus, Joey Kaufman, told me, “Oregon is the biggest game on the schedule for the Buckeyes.”

Read: It’s the scariest game. Because losing it at home puts Ohio State on the outside of the playoff, looking in, for the first time in Day’s tenure. They could scratch and claw back in. But nobody in Columbus wants to be in that position with this roster.

The kicking game?

I’m sure Ohio State is working on it. But I just like that the Buckeyes are worried about something that would only matter in a pinch. Their young kicker shanked a couple of field goals in the spring. Day immediately went in search of a backup plan with more experience. Oregon must make that matter.