Ohio State football schedule: Can anyone in the Big Ten beat the Buckeyes?
By John Buhler
The Ohio State football team has a terrific shot at going undefeated this college season.
Even though they will be breaking in a new starting quarterback, the Ohio State football team has the regular-season schedule to potentially go undefeated.
Of all the teams in the Power 5, Ohio State is on a shortlist over about five teams who have a realistic shot of going undefeated. One could argue Ohio State’s schedule gives them the best shot of doing so of any team in the country. However, even the very best teams Urban Meyer coached in Columbus would lose a game here and there.
Even though the Buckeyes could go undefeated and win it all, here is when they could lose a game.
Ohio State football: When could the Buckeyes lose their first game of 2021?
Ohio State’s toughest game of the year may not even be in the Big Ten. In fact, it’s likely the toughest test occurs in early September vs. the Pac-12 contender Oregon Ducks. If this game were played in Eugene or on a neutral site, Ohio State could be on upset alert. Fortunately for Ohio State fans, this one will be in The Horseshoe and that gives the Buckeyes a decided edge.
From there, the Buckeyes don’t really have a game that jumps off the page in conference play where they can lose. The home date before the bye vs. Maryland could be a sneaky trap game, but Ohio State is probably not losing that. While getting Penn State on Oct. 30 could be a doozy, the game to watch out for is the road date with Indiana the week before on Oct. 23.
Indiana is one of a handful of teams in the Power 5 that could make the College Football Playoff for the first time this year. While the Hoosiers are a long shot to do so, they do have Michael Penix Jr. at quarterback and head coach Tom Allen has his program believing they can beat teams like Ohio State as shown by last year’s close contest.
Should Ohio State get to 7-0 after beating Indiana and 8-0 after defeating Penn State, the Buckeyes may not lose a regular-season game. Sure, they could potentially fall to a team like Iowa, Northwestern or Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game, but don’t count on it.
While Ohio State could lose in the College Football Playoff, they may not have a loss before then.
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