One week and one-day folks. That’s how close we are to the start of the Ohio State football season. If you want to get a fix sooner though, you can watch Big Ten brethren Nebraska and Illinois do battle at 1 p.m. EST on Saturday, along with a handful of other games.
Ohio State has historically scheduled pretty tough games in the nonconference (no matter what the national narrative is), and makes a run at some pretty special things no matter which teams are in front of them. For others though, a schedule can go a long way to making and breaking a season.
To that end, Bill Connelly of ESPN released the SP+ schedule rankings for FBS teams and Ohio State is a respectable No. 25 overall. It’s not a murderer’s row by any means, but when you are the top dog, Michigan is perpetually in a down cycle, and the rest of the Big Ten is slouching a wee bit, there’s not a whole lot the Buckeyes can do. Unless — of course — they could play themselves to boost the optics.
Here’s a closer look at where OSU falls among the rest of the teams.
SP+ SOS rankings for AP top-20 teams:
7. Indiana
8. LSU
10. Penn St
16. Alabama
18. Iowa
25. Ohio St
35. Notre Dame
36. Oregon
37. Miami
41. Iowa St
42. Wisconsin
44. Florida
47. Georgia
48. Texas A&M
53. USC
55. Oklahoma
62. UNC
64. Washington
70. Clemson
79. Cincy— Bill Connelly (@ESPN_BillC) August 24, 2021
Notice the teams in the Big Ten that have a difficult schedule play Ohio State. Nebraska (No. 2), Purdue (No. 5), Michigan (No. 6), Indiana (No. 7), and Penn State (No. 10) — all play the Buckeyes. That should probably tell you something.
Get ready. The season kicks off next Thursday in prime time. It’s almost here.
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