Ohio State’s season is still a little over a month away, but the Buckeyes are already starting to shift into game-week mode.
Fall camp is set to open soon, and the program is giving fans a chance to get a closer look before Week 1. Ohio State will hold three open practice sessions for ticketed fans next month, running Thursday, Aug. 6 through Saturday, Aug.
- Each session will take place in the morning from 9 a.m. to noon ET at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center inside the Harmon Family Football Complex.
Tickets are being sold in limited, first-come, first-served quantities. General admission is priced at $48, while VIP tickets cost $143 and come with extras including a personalized tent, plus “refreshments and light snacks.”
Autographs and photo opportunities are also part of the experience, with additional details to come depending on which session fans attend.
On the field, Ohio State enters camp with two of its biggest offensive names back in the fold: quarterback Julian Sayin and wide receiver Jeremiah Smith. Both are expected to be in the mix for the Heisman Trophy and, as the season develops, several Big Ten honors as well. Ryan Day is two seasons removed from his lone national title, and Ohio State is trying to keep pace as the conference goes after a fourth straight championship.
The Buckeyes’ last season ended with consecutive losses to the two teams that played for the national title in January - Indiana and Miami. Ohio State will get another shot at Indiana in October in Bloomington, and the chance to move past last year starts now.
The schedule is already beginning to take shape. Ohio State has announced kickoff times and TV assignments for three games: Ball State on Sept. 5 at 12:30 p.m.
ET on Big Ten Network, Texas on Sept. 12 at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC in Austin, and Kent State on Sept. 19 at noon ET on Fox.
More start times will be revealed later under the Big Ten’s six-day hold rule. And as always, Thanksgiving weekend will bring the biggest one of all: “The Game” against Michigan on Saturday, Nov. 28, airing on Fox from Columbus.
Before any of that, though, Ohio State heads to the Hilton Chicago next Wednesday for Big Ten Media Days. Day, Sayin, Smith and safety Jaylen McClain are scheduled for a full day of press conferences and media responsibilities ahead of the season.
In Other News...
Ohio State Is Suddenly Making Noise For A Tough SEC Country Target
Ohio States recruiting momentum has already shown up in the class with commitments from five-star offensive tackle Marcus Fakatou and four-star lineman Karlos May, even as the Buckeyes took a miss on five-star running back David Gabriel Georges, who picked Tennessee. Now the attention has shifted to a different kind of target in four-star safety CJ Craig-James, a player from SEC country who has kept Ohio State in the mix and given the Buckeyes reason to believe this one is not as long a shot as it once looked.
Craig-James has already trimmed his list and included Ohio State among the schools still standing, which matters for a program trying to keep its foot in the door with elite defensive backs. The next step is the one that tends to separate real contenders from hopefuls, and Ohio State likely needs to get him on campus for a game-day visit to stay in the conversation, even though no date has been set yet. [Read more 🡒]
Notre Dame Just Crossed A Line College Football Fans Saw Coming
Notre Dames latest move in the name, image and sponsorship era is about more than a logo and a check. The school has entered a multi-year partnership with SoFi Technologies that makes the financial services company the official partner of the athletic department, with the agreement built around helping student-athletes and their families beyond their time on campus. The deal also includes the SoFi Champions Scholarship and a student-athlete services hub aimed at financial education, planning and support.
For college sports fans, the bigger takeaway is how quickly the ground is shifting around traditional power programs, and Notre Dame is now leaning into that reality in a very visible way. The partnership puts a premium on long-term support for athletes, but it also signals how aggressively schools are monetizing their brands in ways that would have been hard to imagine not long ago, especially for a program that has long guarded its image so closely. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Just Entered A New Era With JPMorgan Chase
Ohio State athletics is heading into a new commercial era, one that reaches far beyond the football field. The school announced a partnership with JPMorgan Chase that will put the banks logo on jerseys across all 36 varsity sports beginning in the 2026-27 season, adding another visible layer to a department that continues to operate on a bigger, more corporate stage than ever before.
The agreement also brings support for NIL opportunities and financial literacy programs for student-athletes, which gives the deal a broader purpose than simple branding. With the partnership reportedly worth nearly $17 million annually, it underscores how major athletic departments are increasingly tying competitive, financial and educational priorities together, even if the full impact of this one will not be felt until the new era officially arrives. [Read more 🡒]