One of the most common talking points about OSU football leading into this upcoming season is that they have one of the most difficult schedules in the nation. Whenever that is brought up, people love to focus on all of OSU’s “big name” matchups, with the games at Texas, at Indiana, home against Oregon, and home against Michigan being the ones people love to focus on.
Which makes sense, but I think what makes this schedule so difficult is the games against very solid, underrated teams bunched in between all of these big-time matchups. Which is why today I am highlighting three games that may not be as anticipated as the ones above but can be very tough challenges, especially if OSU finds itself overlooking these opponents.
Saturday, October 3 at Iowa
For their first Big Ten road game of the year, the Buckeyes will not have a cakewalk because they have to travel to play Iowa in one of the toughest places in the country, Kinnick Stadium. Now, in comparison to the two other teams I will mention, Iowa is maybe the least talented, but that has not stopped Kirk Ferentz in the past when it comes to coaching and building an extremely tough-to-beat football team.
Just last year, Iowa was one of the most underrated teams in the country, never losing a game by more than five points and giving two playoff teams, Indiana and Oregon, a run for their money as it took heroic efforts from two amazing quarterbacks during two-minute drills in both games to pull out a victory.
Now this game could go differently than Iowa’s matchups against top-ranked teams last year, as this is a completely different team due to the lack of returning production defensively, coupled with their yearly quarterback dilemma and offensive question marks.
Which could mean everything, or it could mean nothing at all, since under Kirk Ferentz, Iowa is a proud football program that knows what it is and does that to the best of its ability. This fact will always make them a dangerous tough out, especially if the Buckeyes find themselves overlooking them.
Truth be told, OSU can go into this game completely focused on the task at hand and still find themselves in a dogfight because, as we have seen in the past, no matter the talent level, beating Iowa at Kinnick Stadium is no easy feat.
Lastly, here is an interesting historical tidbit: it has been over 15 years since the Buckeyes won a game in Iowa City, with their last game at Kinnick Stadium being the embarrassing 55-24 loss in 2017 as the number two team in the nation. Ryan Day was the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, so I guarantee he will be aware of this fact.
Saturday, October 31 at USC
Over the course of late October and early November, Ohio State will be embarking on one of the toughest three-game stretches in the country, starting with a game at Indiana and ending at home against Oregon. The game in between is at USC, which people mention whenever talking about this stretch but never truly talk about enough because I do not think this is a set-in-stone victory for the Buckeyes.
Truth be told, this would be a challenging test for the Ohio State even if this game weren’t sandwiched in between two other games that are going to be very emotional and physical outings because USC is that talented of a team and traveling cross-country is never an easy task—coupled with the fact that having to play a Lincoln Riley offense led by a talented quarterback like Jayden Maiava and a defense coached by Gary Patterson can potentially make this game an extremely tough one for OSU.
From USC's POV, at this point in the season, they would have already played Oregon, Washington at home, and traveled to Penn State, meaning they will come into this game feeling one of two ways. Either one can make them a very dangerous foe. They will either feel like one of the best teams in the country and completely confident, or they will be in wounded animal mode with their backs against the wall, fighting to keep their postseason hopes alive and their coach employed.
Either one of those mentalities coming into this game can be extremely beneficial for USC because having either confidence or desperation, combined with their talent and coaching, can be an extremely deadly combination for Ohio State to have to deal with while trying to move past whatever happens against Indiana and trying to look forward to their matchup the following week against the Oregon Ducks.
As I said before, this game would be a major one if it weren’t for the scheduling dynamic that, in some people’s minds, limits it to only being seen as a “trap game,” which, on the surface, may be what it looks like, but I promise that on further examination it is much more than that.
Saturday, November 21 at Nebraska
The most important game on Ohio State's schedule every season is "The Game," so naturally any game played the week before can be seen as a "trap game" or let-down spot, and that very well can be the situation this year against Nebraska. This is credited to Memorial Stadium not being an easy place to play and the fact that Nebraska projects to have a pretty good year thanks to these two factors.
For starters, Matt Rhule is entering year three, which historically means this should be Nebraska's year to make the jump, as that has been the recipe at every other school he has coached: at Temple he went from 6-6 to 10-4 and then at Baylor he went from 7-6 to 11-3.
Both jumps happened from the second to third year, showing what could possibly be in line for the Cornhuskers, which is definitely possible, as this team's talent could easily rival all the other talent he has ever coached in college.
Secondly, they got Anthony Colandrea, a quarterback who brings a whole new flavor to this offense that their former quarterback, Dylan Raiola, lacked. Colandrea is extremely mobile, a plus in the designed and unscripted run game, which is a dynamic that this Huskers' offense has lacked. A dynamic that will give this Ohio State defense some trouble, as we have seen that quarterbacks who are willing to use their legs can have success against a Matt Patricia defense, especially one that will not be as good as last year's historic defense.
Nebraska is by no means a bad team. If Ohio State finds itself looking ahead to Michigan and decides to take its foot off the gas, there is a world where the Buckeyes leave Memorial Stadium sweating a little bit more than what they might deem as comfortable.
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