Extra crossover opponent as the tenth game
Ohio State fans thought 2020 was rough enough before they saw "at Purdue" on the schedule the Big Ten announced this morning. https://t.co/8ZnxX8aibL
— Ari Wasserman (@AriWasserman) August 5, 2020
There was some speculation that the tenth game added to the schedule would come as a double-up of a division opponent. Was it possible that Ohio State could play a team like Michigan or Penn State twice? If not, would the league reach across to the other division and select a highly competitive game between two powers?
The answer is no, and no.
It simply never made sense to play a division opponent more than once because of equitable competition principles. But I am a little surprised that the league didn’t try to add a team like Wisconsin as the additional cross-division opponent. Instead, it’s one against Purdue on the road.
Still, that’s a bit of a win for Ohio State because this schedule is going to be a grind anyway. Then again, no program has given OSU more fits at their place in the last few years than the program with the world’s biggest drum.