Get ready. Now that the Ohio State football schedule is out, you’re going to see a lot of predictions. But what people aren’t asking is if that same strength of schedule will help or hurt the Buckeyes’ playoff chances. Michigan defensive end Kwity Paye’s comments, while funny since he said the schedule is easy and the Wolverines are on the schedule, does ask for examination on how easy OSU’s schedule is. I don’t think the answer is a simple one.
Just looking at the newly released schedule, Ohio State should be favored in all of its games. However, without playing other conferences there’s the unkown common opponent factor. Sure, this could be said of any conference, but the Big Ten is starting late and some consider it very top-heavy.
The strong teams on the schedule will be Penn State and Michigan — maybe Nebraska. The unknowns will be Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan State. However, none of the teams the Buckeyes will face will be perceived as a major test, except for maybe Penn State, which happens early in the season. Michigan is always a rivalry game, but if the past 3,220 days (as of writing this) are a predictor, the Maize and Blue isn’t the challenge some might think they are.
So does this schedule really hurt the Buckeyes? Well, not so fast. The Big Ten is a Power Five conference, and while it could be seen as a little top-heavy, looking at the bowl games from last year, there are some signs that could help the Buckeyes. Michigan State beat Wake Forest, Indiana hung tough and lost by one to Tennessee, and for a while, Illinois hung with Cal and played them well in the second half.
Now, that was last year, but perception year-to-year, no matter what anyone says, does play into things, even though it’s not supposed to.
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Ohio State football 2020 schedule: Predicting every game on new fall restart slate https://t.co/M01vGOoeAc
— Buckeyes Wire (@BuckeyesWire) September 19, 2020
Without inter-conference play, the College Football Playoff Committee will have to get creative to judge who the four best teams are. How a team did in the bowls last year and what kind of “style points” the Buckeyes are able to muster might play into it. So while on the surface there could be questions about the Buckeyes schedule, they can only play the cards they are dealt, and in the Big Ten, those cards are are a little more stacked than other decks.
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