Ohio State may lose 3 or 4 video games this fall and I’m hyped!

From now till preseason camp begins in August, Land-Grant Holy Land might be writing articles round a distinct theme each week. This week is all about hype. What are you most hyped about heading into the 2026-27 season? You can compensate for all the Theme Week content material right here and all of our ”Hype Week” articles right here.

As Ohio State followers, we’ve lived fairly rattling charmed lives for practically the totality of the twenty first Century. Since Jim Tressel arrived on campus in 2001, the Buckeyes have been damn-near dominant each season, blowing out competitors and racking up 10 wins in 21 seasons this millennium. The solely years that didn’t hit double-digit victories had been in Tressel’s first and fourth seasons, the Luke Fickell fiasco 12 months in 2011, and the COVID-shortened season in 2020, by which OSU went 7-1.

It has primarily develop into an annual custom that you would take a look at Ohio State’s schedule post-spring and rely not less than 10 wins with out having to place a lot thought into it. That has been nice for the Buckeyes and has led to a complete lot of wins, however it hasn’t all the time been good for the followers.

Sure, I’ve cherished watching my alma mater dominate their opponents, however there have been stretches over time the place you would go a month to 6 weeks with out OSU having to interrupt a lot of a sweat to win by 35. Again, that’s nice for the crew and coaches, however it doesn’t do a complete lot to supply a lot intrigue or leisure for the followers who construct total fall weekends across the crew.

Well, my associates, this 12 months goes to be completely different. This 12 months’s schedule feels prefer it was inbuilt a lab to push, check, and probably torture the Ohio State soccer crew. And whereas that signifies that we would should cope with extra regular-season losses than we’ve grown accustomed to, on this expanded College Football Playoff period, blue bloods just like the Buckeyes have a far better margin for error than ever earlier than.

So, I’d a lot favor to haven’t solely a extra entertaining product to look at each Saturday, but additionally for Ohio State to be extra battle-ready when the postseason rolls round.

For a lot of the Ryan Day period, Ohio State has lived in a snug actuality: 9 or 10 video games that their third-stringers may win, and two (possibly three) that had been legitimately doubtful. But that won’t be the case in 2026.

This is a schedule that — with out exaggeration — could possibly be essentially the most troublesome in program historical past, not less than this century, and that’s not factoring in any potential postseason matchups both.

You will discover that Ohio State will play the potential preseason No. 1 crew (Texas), the defending nationwide champion (Indiana), Iowa, and USC on the highway, all of whom are prone to be ranked within the high 25. Then throw in late-season dwelling video games in opposition to Oregon and Michigan, and you would make an argument that the Buckeyes will face 4 or 5 top-10 groups by the point the common season is finished.

And whereas OSU isn’t any stranger to going through high quality opponents, what feels completely different about this 12 months’s schedule is that it appears like they may truly lose some, and even all of these video games. Every main recreation on Ohio State’s 2026 schedule is legitimately losable: Texas on the highway, Indiana on the highway, Oregon at dwelling, Michigan at dwelling. Throw in journeys to Iowa and USC, and that is by far essentially the most compelling Buckeye schedule I can bear in mind in a extremely very long time.

What feels completely different from the previous decade is that this isn’t a top-heavy schedule with two marquee matchups after which a bunch of filler video games that the media goes to strive ot hype as much as get eyeballs on Big Noon. No, it is a gauntlet.

And as we’ve seen in recent times, because the Big Ten continues to show that it’s the strongest convention in faculty soccer, even the “easier” convention video games will pose a problem. While in a vacuum, I wouldn’t be particularly involved with Illinois, Maryland, Northwestern, or Nebraska; these video games all come proper earlier than or after matchups in opposition to potential top-10 opponents, so something can occur.

In different phrases, Ohio State’s regular, ridiculously huge margin for error has shrunken dramatically, and that’s what has me hyped for this fall season. For the primary time in a very long time, each Saturday not solely issues, but additionally has a point of suspense. It goes past the now-familiar “don’t screw and play with your food” vibes of seasons previous. This is a season, Ohio State goes to should show its dominance on an almost weekly foundation in opposition to actual competitors.

In the huge multiverse of school soccer potentialities, there’s a model of this season the place Ohio State goes 12-0, wins the Big Ten, and rolls into the Playoff because the No. 1 Death Star all of us hope they are going to be. However, there may be additionally a model the place they go 9-3, and all of us wring our palms and act just like the sky is falling, however each variations are much more fascinating than 11-1 whereas solely being challenged one Saturday out of the 12 months.

Fortunately, even in what is probably going the worst-case state of affairs, Ohio State’s expertise, fame, convention, and schedule nonetheless get them into the College Football Playoff at 9-3 — heck, possibly even 8-4. So whereas these regular-season information may make many a head explode throughout Buckeye Nation, they might be removed from the top of the faculty soccer world.

For years, the common season has been little greater than a formality for Ohio State, with not more than two stress assessments from September by November. This 12 months, nonetheless, options weekly referendums. Every recreation has stakes. Every matchup brings suspense. Every win will truly imply one thing.

And that’s the reason I’m hyped; not as a result of this Ohio State crew is assured to dominate — however as a result of, for the primary time shortly, they could truly should show they will.