Never.

Not a single one.

Playing behind Jake Fromm at Georgia during his true freshman last season, Fields saw limited in action 12 games. No interceptions.

And in his fist five career starts for Ohio State this year — no picks. Just tons and tons of house calls.

Fields, however, hasn't been challenged yet this year by a defense like the one he will see Saturday night when the Spartans come to Columbus (7:30 p.m., ABC).

Michigan State will waltz into Ohio Stadium as the seventh-best defense in the country that has allowed less than four yards per play to opponents.

The closest defense to the Spartans that OSU's offense has faced was Cincinnati's 23rd-ranked unit. Next comes Indiana at 36. Nebraska at 77. Florida Atlantic at 86. And Miami (Ohio) at 101.

Michigan State is a totally different animal. But, Fields says, that won't change anything in terms of his preparation.

"They are a great defensive team and they do have a great scheme, great coaches on defense, great coaches on both sides of the ball," Fields said to Ohio State reporters during his Tuesday interview. "They have great players so I'm really not going to watch more film or do anything like that. Because I feel like I watch enough film throughout the week with the coaches. I'm not really going to do anything different in terms of routine.” 

The way Fields has played this season, that sounds like a good strategy.

The sophomore quarterback ranks 47th in college football with 1,092 passing yards this season. But as a collegiate starter, Fields hasn't faced a defense like MSU's.

So, how does Ohio State coach Ryan Day get his young quarterback ready?

"Do the best you can to teach him the style of defense and system of defense and give him a good clean game plan where he can play, and then he has to learn as time goes along, the adjustments they're making and anticipate what the defense is going to do the best you can," Day said during his Tuesday press conference. "But you don't have a whole bunch of time on that. You have a week. You have three practices, really, and that's the challenge of being a quarterback, is being able to take a whole new style of defense and put a game plan on the field in one week. That's going to be the challenge this week."

Michigan State's defense has talent at all three levels with junior cornerback Josiah Scott in the secondary, senior linebacker Joe Bachie in the middle of the field and defensive end Kenny Willekes causing havoc on the edge of the defensive line.

Day sees Willekes as somewhat of a focal point of the Spartan defense.

"He's really productive. I feel like he's in on every play when I watch a clip of film," Day said of Willekes. "His hands, he's got to be really, really strong because he gets off of blocks better than anybody I've ever seen in the last couple years on film in this conference. He plays really hard. His motor is off the chart. He's very difficult to block. A really good player, really tough and strong. I mean, he's in on every tackle it seems like."

Fields has exploded in his first season as full-time starting quarterback. But it will be strength against strength Saturday night when he is on the field, trying to decipher MSU's defense. Just a month into the season, he is firmly within the conversation of one of college football's best signal callers.

If he can beat the MSU defense — throwing his first career interception or not — it will only reaffirm that.

"They have a defensive system that has been challenged for years and years, so they have answers," Day said. "So if you run a play against them, they have the answer right away. They're really good at knowing what the defense is. They're not super complicated, but they have answers to everything that you do. So the minute you run a play, they're on top of it and they've got it defended the next play.

"These are guys who have played in this system for a while and there are coaches who have coached in this system for a while, so it's a tremendous challenge."