Ohio State Football: Ranking the top 5 upcoming non conference games

The Ohio State football team added Alabama to its schedule for the 2027 and 2028 seasons respectively. But it’s not the only big opponent set to square of with the Buckeyes.

The Ohio State football team and the Alabama Crimson Tide announced a massive home-and-home series between the two schools for the 2027 and 2028 football seasons. It’s a huge change in philosophy for Alabama’s schedule makers as they are now in favor of doing the home and home games between top programs as opposed to playing at a neutral site.

The Buckeyes have been doing this for years now and it’s brought some fun games and great memories along the way, most recently with the Oklahoma Sooners in 2016 and 2017.

Ohio State Deputy Director of Athletics Diana Sabau said this, via cleveland.com:

"“Building a non-conference schedule with tradition-rich programs is important to the competitive excellence of our program and the department, and it is great for our fans. We are excited for both schools and pleased to be able to share in this announcement today with the University of Alabama.”"

While the Alabama home-and-home series is most certainly the most notable of the non-conference games that are coming up for Ohio State, it’s not the only one. Here are the top five non-conference opponents ranked for the Buckeyes’ upcoming seasons.

Honorable Mention: Washington Huskies, 2024 and 2025 seasons

The Buckeyes have a home-and-home series with the Washington Huskies that begins in 2024 at Washington. These two schools met most recently during the 2018 Rose Bowl which just so happened to be Urban Meyer’s last game as coach of the Scarlet and Gray.

Washington is a solid upper-tier Pac-12 team that should provide Ohio State with a solid test for a couple of games. While Washington is expected to be competitive, these are two games that Ohio State should win if both programs continue on its current trajectories.