The Ohio State Buckeyes lost their first real test of the season Saturday. They entered Eugene with a perfect record and didn’t leave with one, losing to the Oregon Ducks 32-31.
While there were some controversial penalties, especially late in the game, the facts remain that the Buckeyes are not among the undefeated teams in college football any longer.
They are still among the best in the Big Ten though, and Ohio State is 2-1 in conference play with six more games on the schedule. It will take on Nebraska, Penn State, Purdue, Northwestern, Indiana and Michigan.
Of those six, the Nittany Lions, Hoosiers and Wolverines are ranked heading into Week 8. As for the Big Ten as a whole, there is only one team that has above a 15% likelihood to finish undefeated in conference play per KFord Ratings, and that’s Oregon.
Ohio State’s most likely to finish with seven conference wins per the updated projections which assumes it will lose one of its final six games. Here are the projections for the entire conference.
Projected Big Ten Standings pic.twitter.com/WfNrwx4eDx
— Kelley Ford (@KFordRatings) October 14, 2024
The Buckeyes have Penn State on the road and will have their other two top-25 conference matchups at home. If they can go into Beaver Stadium on Nov. 2 and come out with a win, that 58% chance to end with eight conference wins will get even more favorable.