Ohio State concluded its spring practices on Saturday, April 12th, and with that, we look at how the Buckeyes 2025 schedule plays out. Ohio State’s quest to repeat as national champions starts on August 30th. The picture is slightly clearer now than it was on January 22nd .
Game #1 August 30th, 2025. Ohio State vs. Texas at Ohio Stadium.
Ohio State will have a playoff semifinal rematch with a fellow final-four team and Cotton Bowl foe, the Texas Longhorns. The last game the Longhorns played was a loss deep in the heart of Texas, and you know they’ll be champing at the bit to return the favor as they come north to Ohio.
Both teams will trot out new, highly recruited, five-star quarterbacks in Arch Manning and Julian Sayin. Manning is a junior and has a few collegiate starts under his belt, while Sayin is a redshirt sophomore with no starting time. While that edge goes to Manning, it’s not as heavy in their favor as I thought it was in January. Sayin definitely has the better cast around him to throw to and to protect him. It will come down to who can better protect their quarterback. Buckeyes protect Sayin and the Shoe.
1-0
Game #2 September 6th, 2025. Ohio State vs. Grambling State at Ohio Stadium.
Grambling should present no problems for the Buckeyes. Playing an FCS team isn’t ideal, but you’d rather do it in the first three weeks of a season as a warm-up than as a lazy late-season layup. It’s also good to have right after a big matchup like Texas so you can have a reasonable amount of certainty that you’ll start your season 1-1 and not risk a 0-2 start. Ohio State defeats this prestigious HBCU.
2-0
Game #3 September 13th, 2025. Ohio State vs. Ohio at Ohio Stadium.
Playing an instate opponent is another good matchup in September. It's another one to sharpen your team, but you should absolutely walk away from it with a win and with your team trending in the right direction. The Buckeyes win.
3-0
Game #4 September 27th, 2025. Ohio State at Washington at Husky Stadium.
Seattle isn’t an ideal place to have a young quarterback make his first career road start. Especially these days. The Huskies haven’t lost at Husky Stadium since November 26th, 2021. None of the Buckeye road games are easy this year, but the Ohio State offense should prove to be just too much for Washington.
4-0 (1-0)
Game #5 October 4th, 2025. Ohio State vs. Minnesota at Ohio Stadium.
The second in a dangerous set of a five-game stretch for Ohio State and the Big Ten home opener. Minnesota may be in the best shape they’ve been as a program in 20 years or better. P.J. Fleck has Minnesota play their own version of Tressel-ball. As long as they don’t beat themselves, the Buckeyes should weather it just fine.
5-0 (2-0)
Game #6 October 11th, 2025. Ohio State at Illinois at Memorial Stadium.
Speaking of weather, the wind is always wild in Champaign, Illinois, when Ohio State comes to visit. Illinois is returning a lot of talent and is one of the top four teams Ohio State will play in the regular season. They will be the Indiana of 2025. It’ll come down to defense and special teams, and the Buckeyes will get an ugly win in Illinois.
6-0 (3-0)
Game #7 October 18th, 2025. Ohio State at Wisconsin at Camp Randall Stadium.
Madison is always a dangerous place to visit. Ohio State had repeat efforts take a serious hit there on a rainy October night in 2003. Luke Fickell had a rough 2024 at Wisconsin and will have that program playing well or playing for his job when the Buckeyes come to town. If the starting quarterback for Ohio State (Sayin, Kienholz, or St. Clair) is progressing as expected, he should lead Ohio State to victory in their seventh game.
7-0 (4-0)
Game #8 November 1st, 2025. Ohio State vs Penn State at Ohio Stadium.
Arguably the biggest game of the season in 2025 will be these two old foes, battling it out one last time before a hiatus from each other that won’t resume until 2028 (or in the Big Ten Championship). This game is an even bigger one than Texas because Penn State will have a much more balanced offense.
Drew Allar in the passing game and Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton in the running game will keep the Buckeye defense from keying on one facet or another. The Buckeyes take this one in a shootout.
8-0 (5-0)
Game #9 November 8th, 2025. Ohio State at Purdue at Ross-Ade Stadium.
In getting his team ready, Ryan Day should just show the 2018 game on a loop to keep his guys from overlooking Purdue. Can’t let that West Lafayette voodoo beat you. The selection committee will be more than happy to use it against you, even if it’s your only slip-up of the season. Like with Penn State lately, a Big Noon Kickoff game could help take some magic out of this building. Buckeyes win.
9-0 (6-0)
Game #10 November 15th, 2025. Ohio State vs. UCLA at Ohio Stadium.
This will be Ohio State’s first Big Ten game against a team from Los Angeles. UCLA has played spoiler to Ohio State on more than one occasion in their history and Bruin players will be hungry to beat the team their former head coach left them to go be the offensive coordinator for. Ohio State prevails in a Midwest November against a team from sunny SoCal.
10-0 (7-0)
Game #11 November 22nd, 2025. Ohio State vs. Rutgers at Ohio Stadium.
Rutgers isn’t a team that can be counted out when Greg Schiano is their coach. You can’t sleep on them. That being said, they’re a team the Buckeyes have never lost to for a reason, and that won’t change on Ohio State’s Senior Day of 2025.
11-0 (8-0)
Game #12 November 29th, 2025. At That Team Up North.
While Ryan Day proved Ohio State doesn’t need The Game to be great in this era of college football, short of winning back-to-back national championships, nothing would make him happier than to walk into the Big Outhouse on November 29th and give the cheaters up north a big L.
His national championship run will have the Buckeyes playing not only furious like they did to win it all in December and January of 2024 but loose and confident in a way that had eluded them from January 11th, 2021, until December 21st, 2024. Come this December, the Buckeyes will be undefeated and Indianapolis-bound in their campaign to win two national titles in a row.
12-0 (9-0)
While the only game projection that is different from January is the opener against Texas, Ohio State showed even more reasons to be confident in them in their Spring Game. The schedule is as tough as last year (maybe even more so), but their experience and leadership from their 2024 National Championship help them be even stronger in the regular season this year.