The Ohio State football team needs to take advantage of their easy schedule

The Ohio State football program is about to have one of the easiest schedules they've had in a while. Usually, they have a tough non-conference opponent to take on. They have the last two years against Notre Dame and they will next year when they take on Texas.

This year, they have Akron, Western Michigan, and Marshall. Not the hardest non-conference schedule to navigate. In fact, the Buckeyes have just two truly tough games on their schedule this season. They play at Oregon and at Penn State. Of course, they still have to contend with Michigan, but they will be significantly worse than they were last year.

Looking around the other contenders in the Big Ten, the Ohio State football team has the easiest schedule. Penn State has a brutal four-game stretch where they play at USC, at Wisconsin, home against Ohio State, and home against Washington. That's pretty tough.

Oregon has to take on Ohio State and Washington at home and faces Michigan and Wisconsin on the road. They, along with the Buckeyes, are the favorites to win the conference. Michigan has to play Texas, USC, Oregon, Washington, and Ohio State. They have the toughest schedule of all.

If the Buckeyes aren't one of the two teams playing in the Big Ten Championship this year, this season will be considered an epic failure. The schedule does not get any easier than how it's set up this year. The next five or six years have some really tough opponents.

Ohio State has the roster to take care of the easy schedule. They should have the coaching too. All that's left is the preparations over the Summer and into the Fall to make sure that there won't be any slip-ups. Anything less than a national championship would be disappointing for the Buckeyes.