Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day rolled the dice a bit by bringing in Arthur Smith as offensive coordinator for the 2026 season. It's always good to bring in an NFL mind, but Smith's specialties are with running backs. His offense isn't always the most explosive, but OSU has a number of big-play weapons in the receiving corps and the tight end room who need Julian Sayin to air the ball out to.
Day and Smith have major expectations this season, probably more so than any head coach/offensive coordinator combo at a contending level. The money is being spent by the tens of millions. The Buckeyes won it all in 2024 and then had a dominant, undefeated regular season. That was followed by a poor postseason showing, with some blame on the timing of Brian Hartline's exit.
Of course, Day shoulders some blame for taking the clipboard and not getting much out of a previously efficient offense against the Indiana Hoosiers and Miami Hurricanes. And Day will take some blame again if things go south, as he'll be helping Smith install the Ohio State University's system.
While we know the Buckeyes will be battling arguably the league's toughest schedule, Ohio State could only afford to lose so many games. Losing three and still making the CFP may be possible, but it can't happen to any of these teams.
Ball State
If the unthinkable happens and the Ball State Cardinals somehow win the ultimate trap game of all time, a week ahead of OSU's trip to Austin to take on the Texas Longhorns, Smith would be fired on the spot. This won't happen, but losing this game would have to be considered the most shocking and horrid thing to happen in the program's history. Again, this is not possible, but the game still needs to be played, silly as it sounds.
Kent State
This would be even more ridiculous. It'd be an in-state embarrassment to a team that's won six games over the past three seasons. If anything, Ohio State could be coming off a loss and lay its greatest beatdown of the season back within the friendly confines of the "Shoe" in Week 3. There's just no universe in which the Kent State Golden Flashes beat the Buckeyes.
Maryland
Now we're getting to more plausible games. This just isn't very likely either, though. The Maryland Terrapins are stubbornly sticking with Mike Locksley, and there was no improvement in the transfer portal. How the Terps establish momentum is anyone's guess. This one is at the "Shoe," so losing in front of a home crowd would be more stunning than any result during the 2025 season across the sport. Less so if Locksley is replaced by an interim, but still more shocking than anything we saw last year.
Northwestern
This would be a stain on Smith's debut season with Ohio State. The Buckeyes'taking a loss to the Northwestern Wildcats, with none other than Chip Kelly calling plays for NU, would make the Scarlet and Gray yearn for Kelly to rip the seat back from Smith. Coming off the Indiana/USC Trojans/Oregon Ducks swing over a month, this could be a season-ending loss if there are any battle scars from that stretch. It'd be the end of anyone thinking the Buckeyes could win it all, at a minimum.