The Ohio State Buckeyes are not expected by everyone to win the Big Ten during the 2026 College Football season. Some think OSU might not even be the second-best program in the B1G this coming fall.
CBS Sports' Brad Crawford projected the Indiana Hoosiers to repeat as Big Ten champions and enter the field as the College Football Playoff's No. 3 overall seed behind the Miami Hurricanes at No. 1 and Notre Dame Fighting Irish at No. 2.
Crawford had the Oregon Ducks at the No. 7 seed in the 12-team CFP field, just ahead of the Buckeyes at No. 8. Ohio State would play Lane Kiffin's LSU Tigers for a chance to get revenge on Miami in the second round. The USC Trojans were Crawford's No. 11 seed.
Crawford predicted several losses for the Buckeyes during the 2026 regular season, likely meaning they don't make the B1G title game for a rematch with Indiana, instead being beaten out by a team like Oregon.
"Ohio State, as the No. 8 seed this time around, means the Buckeyes will take a couple of losses during the regular season. Their schedule is the Big Ten's most daunting. Depending on where Indiana and Texas fall in the preseason AP Top 25, no other program in the country has two road games against potentially the nation's two best teams next season," Crawford wrote.
Despite not meeting 2025 pace, Ohio State still expected to be in CFP mix
Looking back, an undefeated regular season is overrated. Beating TTUN down on the road, which was projected to play in the Citrus Bowl against the Alabama Crimson Tide in 2026/2027 in Kyle Whittingham's first year in Ann Arbor, by the way, was a must. Most would trade a regular-season loss for at least one CFP win, though. Not sure which one in hindsight, though, since the Texas Longhorns game was the only close matchup and was an important tone-setting win.
Either way, 12-0 is not important besides the Wolverines and nine others. Dropping a game or two, particularly to a highly-projected Ducks or Trojans, wouldn't be the worst thing in the world during their upcoming gauntlet of a schedule.
Maybe such losses would snap Ryan Day, Arthur Smith, and/or Matt Patricia back into it long before their season is on the line.