The Ohio State Buckeyes may have to reconsider what Big Ten matchup to label "The Game" on their football schedule. As CBS Sports' Chris Hummer framed it, TTUN is not the program OSU needs to worry about in 2026.
As Hummer said of the Wolverines, "(Kyle) Whittingham is one of college football's top coaches. He's just never worked in the Big Ten or on a stage quite like Michigan. How the Wolverines adjust this spring -- and the early recruiting returns -- should be fascinating. Michigan would probably just like a few normal, quiet months this offseason. That would be a change for a program that once prided itself on its culture and academic focus."
Not a glowing endorsement in the slightest. If anything, the state of TTUN reads like a punchline under 66-year-old Kyle Whittingham; a program not to worry about or even take seriously. He had a much different take on the Indiana Hoosiers.
Even with Curt Cignetti losing his core of transfers from the James Madison Dukes, Hummer said of Indiana, "It's a more talented one on paper, given Indiana just signed a top-30 high school class and a top-10 transfer class. But it's one without the glue of veteran Cignetti holdovers. Will that matter? Likely not. Cignetti has proven to be a coach who gets the most out of his roster. Mostly, my curiosity lies with the idea that Indiana could actually be better. Indiana has had multiple seasons to recruit out of high school and is signing much higher-quality transfers. We'll get our first clues to how good the Hoosiers' new-look roster can be this spring."
Ohio State can end the Indiana hype and further pulverize TTUN in 2026
Ohio State is facing a gauntlet during the 2026 season, between the Texas Longhorns at DKR Stadium in Week 2 and facing the Oregon Ducks, USC Trojans in LA, and Iowa Hawkeyes in Iowa City, among other tough B1G matchups.
If the Buckeyes can win most of those games, OSU will face moments of truth against TTUN and Indiana. Ohio State can prove that the Wolverines are entering their Auburn Tigers era, and won't be relevant, nor will "The Game" be, until they can find a culture-changing head coach. The Buckeyes can also prove that the Hoosiers have changed and aren't the same dominant team that shocked the world in 2025/2026.
Then, they won't need to be worried about either and can laugh at both.