COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State has five teams on its schedule that are ranked in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 football poll.
The six teams give the Big Ten more ranked teams than any other Power Five conference.
The Buckeyes’ five opponents have an average ranking of 16.6, which sits at No. 5 in the country behind the opponents for Illinois, Iowa, Colorado and Oregon State. There are only three teams — Auburn, Michigan and Stanford — who play more ranked teams than the Buckeyes, with each playing six.
Here is a look at each of Ohio State’s ranked opponents ranked from toughest to easiest:
Sept. 28 at No. 24 Nebraska
There may not be another team in the Big Ten West receiving as much hype as Nebraska this season and it’s for a good reason. After finishing last season 4-8 with a true freshman under center, the Cornhuskers look ready to make a tremendous step forward.
Last season they came into Ohio Stadium and lost 36-31 but had plenty of opportunities to win that game. It would have been the first time in the Urban Meyer era that the Buckeyes would have lost back-to-back regular-season games. Quarterback Adrian Martinez finished the game 22-of-33 passing for 266 yards and a score along with 72 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
Nebraska almost beat an Ohio State team that was two weeks removed from a loss at Iowa that cost it a spot in the College Football Playoff. The Buckeyes spent most of that game trying to re-establish their run game and it almost cost them.
This season the Cornhuskers will provide an early test for a team that lost the majority of its offensive weapons and will be playing a quarterback in Justin Fields who will be entering his fifth game as a starter. The game will be played in Lincoln, Neb., this season.
Nov. 30 at No. 7 Michigan
Michigan has only beaten Ohio State three times this century. Two were during the early 2000s and the third was during a 2012 season that was a throw-away year because of two-year NCAA sanctions for the tattoo scandal under Jim Tressel.
The hiring of Jim Harbaugh was supposed to change that. Instead, he lost four-straight games to Meyer, two of which ended the Wolverines’ College Football Playoff hopes. Now Meyer is gone and so are many of the reasons for why the Buckeyes put up 62 points on the best defense in the country next season.
Michigan will have the advantage of playing a first-year head coach in Ryan Day with a first-year coaching staff and first-year starting quarterback, and in Ann Arbor.
It will also have an offense headed by offensive coordinator Josh Gattis that better fits its starting quarterback Shea Patterson, according to Harbaugh. Its top-10 ranking — and preseason expectations — suggest that this game will once again decide at least one of these teams’ postseason fate. If there’s was any time this decade where Michigan could turn its fortunes in the rivalry around, it would be this season.
Nov. 23 vs. No. 15 Penn State
The last time Ohio State lost to Penn State in Ohio Stadium, Luke Fickell was in his only season as head coach, Ryan Day was a wide receivers coach at Boston College and Urban Meyer was still technically retired. One of the few positives of that season was that it gave then-true freshman quarterback Braxton Miller some much-needed experience.
This year the game falls one week before The Game and will be the final contest of the season in Ohio Stadium. The Nittany Lions will have as many questions to answer as the Buckeyes, as both teams are starting first-year starting quarterbacks.
Oct. 26 vs. No. 19 Wisconsin
Wisconsin has found itself another NFL-level running back in Jonathan Taylor. In two seasons Taylor has rushed for 4,171 yards and 29 touchdowns on 606 carries. He’s arguably the best running back in the country and could be the Badgers’ first Heisman finalist since Melvin Gordon.
But like Gordon, Taylor struggled that last time he faced the Buckeyes in the 2017 Big Ten Championship. In the 27-21 victory, Ohio State held the preseason All-American to a career-low 41 yards on 15 carries.
The Buckeyes have won six straight games against Wisconsin and haven’t lost at home since 2004. By the time the two meet, the Badgers will have played two other ranked opponents in Michigan and Michigan State as well as the reigning Big Ten West champions in Northwestern. Depending on how those first seven games go, Wisconsin may not still be in the top 25 by the time it comes to Columbus.
Oct. 5 vs. No. 18 Michigan State
Last season Ohio State pulled out an ugly win in East Lansing because of the heroic efforts of punter Drue Chrisman. After a record-setting 4-yard punt to start the game, he followed up with five straight punts inside the Spartans’ 10-yard line. The Buckeyes’ offense struggled for most of the afternoon, but Chrisman’s punts were enough to keep Michigan State from gaining any momentum in the game.
This season Michigan State decided that instead of revamping its coaching staff, it would shuffle around the responsibilities of its current members. The Spartans will come to Columbus with what is expected to be one of the best defenses in the Big Ten, led by preseason All-American Kenny Willekes.
The Buckeyes could be rolling into this game high off of a win in Lincoln, in what could be the toughest game on its regular-season schedule. See above for why.
If Ohio State is 5-0 coming into that game, it will mean that things are clicking and this may end in a convincing win. The alternative will be that OSU loses to Nebraska and it will be trying to keep from losing back-to-back regular-season games. Also, this is a night game with the return of the black jerseys. The Buckeyes are 2-0 in those uniforms.
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