Ohio State Football: A glance at the 2020 schedule

As college football fans start focusing on the 2020 campaign we take a look at the Ohio State football schedule for the upcoming season.

The 2020 season will be here before you know it and nobody could be more excited than Ohio State football fans everywhere.  Unfortunately with everything surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic we still aren’t sure if, when or how the season will be impacted completely.

Setting all of that aside I decided to take a look at the Buckeyes’ schedule as a whole with the hopes we get to see all the games play out.

Ohio State is scheduled to open the season on September 5th in Columbus against in-state opponent Bowling Green before heading to Eugene, Oregon in week two.  That will be the first game between the two schools in a home and home.

This will clearly be the first test for the Buckeyes as the Ducks have put a good product on the field recently, and not to mention it is always tough to play a game on the other side of the country in someone else’s house.

Weeks three and four puts Ohio State back in the Horseshoe to face Buffalo and Rutgers.  Those look to be warmup games and the first Big Ten game of the season to prepare for the meat part of the schedule.

I would rather play those games early in the season instead of week 10 or 11 to dummy down the schedule like some conferences do.  Ohio State gets a bye week a little earlier than normal as it will hit after the week four game against Rutgers.

On October 10th the Buckeyes welcome in the Iowa Hawkeyes who always play them tough.  The positive coming out of this year’s game is we get to avoid heading into Kinnick Stadium that is one of the toughest places to play in the Big Ten.

Then it is back on the road for a possible season defining back to back road games.  Ohio State will first take a swing at Michigan State in East Lansing and then off to State College to face Penn State.

The Nittany Lions are the one team recently in the conference that has put the Buckeyes through battle after battle.  If Ohio State can come out of those two games still unscathed, it might be time to start talking about a run to the very end again, and hoisting some trophies.

The eighth and ninth games Nebraska and Indiana get to take place in front of the Buckeye faithful before heading on the road for two more.  Then it’s on to Maryland on November 11th and then to Champaign, Illinois to face the Fighting Illini the following week.

November 28, 2020 time…THE GAME!  The Ohio State Buckeyes are back in Columbus to face arch-rival Michigan.  They will be looking to win their ninth straight against that team up north, and the second time in a row with head coach Ryan Day at the helm.

Or will they have to worry about a pesky Northwestern Wildcats’ team, the Minnesota Gophers who are really starting to come into their own in the Big Ten or the Wisconsin Badgers this season.  If the Buckeyes can continue their dominance in the East, and I have seen no signs that they can’t, they will most likely face Wisconsin, Minnesota or Iowa in the Big Ten title game.

Unless a dark horse surprises everyone out of the  Big Ten West.

The Buckeyes went 13-1 last season and was ousted in the College Football Playoffs by Clemson.  They will look this season to eliminate that one in the loss column and put another National Championship Trophy in the case.