I mean, it's Ohio State. They're insanely talented. They don't rebuild. They don't reload. They exist. They are. They do Ohio State things every year because they're Ohio State. And as an Illini fan married to an obsessive Buckeye, I have no concerns about this and certainly no negative comments!
(But you're goddamn right that I'll be there in Ohio Stadium on September 26th with as much orange and blue on me as I can find.)
Let's hit some predictions and thoughts on that brutal schedule.
Schedule
Predictions
Transient Buckeye: Ohio State will again have a stacked roster in 2026 (I'm sure you're all putting on your shocked Pikachu faces now). Most of the offense is back, with Carnell Tate and Max Klare being the only two departures who will be seriously missed. Julian Sayin should be improved in his second year as a starting quarterback, and if all else fails he can fall back on "Jeremiah Smith is down there somewhere" for one more year. Hopefully new OC Arthur Smith will have more success than the departed Brian Hartline (who was the best wide receivers coach in the history of the universe, but mediocre at best as an offensive coordinator). The defense needs a rebuild, but there are plenty of highly-rated recruits and portal transfers waiting in the wings. The defense will almost certainly take a step back from last season's historically dominant unit, but they should still be pretty good, and the offense should be better.
The elephant in the room is the schedule, which is murderous. At Texas. At Iowa. At USC. At Indiana. Home games against Oregon and Michigan. There are six legitimately losable games on the schedule, and that doesn't include tilts against Illinois and Nebraska which Ohio State certainly should win, but could lose if they have an off day. The Buckeyes will win their share of those games. But the goal for the season is to get to 10-2, which, with that schedule, should see them easily in the CFP field. If they make the playoff, they will be a team that no one wants to see on their side of the draw. I have them getting there, with road losses at Texas and USC. I don't think a 9-3 regular season would be good enough to get OSU into the playoff field, but if any team is going to make it at 9-3, OSU would be a strong candidate.
WSR: That is a wildly impressive schedule. There's 5 games on there that would be tough to count as wins for most of the conference (at Texas, at Iowa, at Indiana, at USC, and Oregon), and the last three being in a row with a bye in there makes me think that the body-blow impact of all those games could be a concern. Not only that, but they also still have Michigan, Illinois isn't just a speed bump, and Nebraska fans claim that it's tough to play in Lincoln. So this does have the potential to be a down season and end up at something like 7-5. But I think they'll have enough depth, not to mention starting firepower on offense, to get to at least 10 wins. So let's say 10-2 with losses to Indiana and Oregon and hope that this year's Michigan game doesn't end like the one I was at 2 years ago.
HoustonBoiler: Ohio State is once again loaded with talent but does face a challenging schedule. We'll get a glimpse of how good the Buckeyes are early on when they travel to Austin to face Texas in week 2. While they should beat Iowa, a trip to Kinnick can be tricky, especially at night. The stretch at Indiana, Columbus PD, at USC, Oregon will test Ohio State and I think they will lose one of these. Don't sleep on the Columbus PD team as they brought down previous Buckeye teams. Most teams would fold with this schedule, but Ohio State is much better than most teams. I believe they will lose two of these though I wouldn't be surprised if they only drop one. Thus, 10-2 overall and 8-1 or 7-2 in conference. I expect they will be playing in the CFP and possibly the B1G CCG.
Kind of...: I'm one of those losers that has some semblance of conference pride, so I'll certainly be cheering for the Buckeyes to beat Texas. But if they lose that one, then I'm definitely hoping they lost to Indiana too, and are sitting at 5-2 facing a "win out or miss the CFP" scenario just for the entertainment value alone. It will be interesting to how the approach gets put together this year given the offensive weapons at the ready.
As for a prediction, I'll say they lose to Texas and Oregon, but do the necessary work on the road in conference play, win a rematch in the B1G title game, and grab a top 4 seed at 11-2.
