Ohio State’s next home date has a start time, and it lands in the late afternoon.
The Buckeyes’ Oct. 10 meeting with Maryland will kick off at 4:15 p.m. at Ohio Stadium, the Big Ten announced Monday. The game will air on Big Ten Network. Before the league settled on that window, the matchup had been floating in a range that stretched from 3:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
That kickoff also means Eleven Dubgate 14 will get an early start. The pregame event is scheduled for 1 p.m. behind the Varsity Club at the corner of Tuttle Park Place and Norwich Ave.
For Ohio State, the Maryland game fits into a broader home slate that still has some scheduling intrigue attached to it. The Athletic’s Scott Dochterman reported in August that Ohio State vs.
Oregon is set for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff on CBS, though the Big Ten has not yet made that time official. With Ohio State vs.
Michigan already locked in for noon on FOX, Ohio State vs. Northwestern is left as the Buckeyes’ only remaining chance for a home game with a later kickoff - and, presumably, the only chance for the program to unveil its Tunnel Vision all-black uniforms under the lights at Ohio Stadium.
Maryland, meanwhile, comes into the matchup after a rough Saturday. The Terrapins were hammered 54-3 at home by UCLA and slipped to 2-2. Second-year quarterback Malik Washington threw four interceptions, and Maryland also lost two fumbles.
After the loss, head coach Mike Locksley said he still believes he can get the program pointed in the right direction.
“I still have a lot of confidence in myself and the staff to get this thing fixed,” Locksley said, per ESPN's Adam Rittenberg. “That will have to be earned.
I won’t be able to claim it. I understand why people have to sit and question it, but I’m going to have to earn it.
I’m not going to be able to claim it up here.”
Locksley said he meets with Maryland athletic director Jim Smith on Mondays, and that the conversation this week will focus on accountability.
“The only thing we can do is look, first and foremost, at ourselves, as the leader of this thing, each player, the accountability I know they understand,” he said.
Before facing Ohio State, Maryland heads to Lincoln, Nebraska, this weekend for a Big Ten game against the Cornhuskers. Matt Rhule’s team is a 14.5-point favorite, with the over/under set at 52.5.
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What followed was more revealing than the box score. Day publicly singled out sophomores Bo Jackson and Isaiah West, questioning their effort when compared with Ja'Kobi Jackson, and the backdrop here is not just one uneven afternoon but a position group dealing with injuries and inconsistent play. For Ohio State, the bigger concern is whether there is a reliable answer behind Ja'Kobi Jackson, because right now the depth chart looks far less settled than a contender would prefer. [Read more 🡒]