Ohio State’s 2026 regular-season home slate will not include a night game.
The Big Ten announced Monday that the Buckeyes’ Nov. 14 meeting with Northwestern will start at noon ET on FOX, locking in another daytime kickoff at Ohio Stadium and leaving Ohio State without a home game under the lights this fall.
It will be the fourth noon kickoff of the season for the Buckeyes and the fourth time they’ve landed on FOX. The Northwestern game also serves as Ohio State’s final scheduled home date of the regular season.
The matchup carries a few notable firsts for the Ryan Day era. Ohio State and Northwestern will meet at Ohio Stadium for the first time since the 2016 season, and it will be the first time the Wildcats visit Columbus during Day’s tenure. Ohio State is 4-0 against Northwestern under Day, with two of those wins coming in the Big Ten Championship Game.
The Buckeyes have controlled this series for a long time. Ohio State owns a 66-14-1 edge all-time, has won 11 straight against Northwestern and has taken 35 of the last 36 meetings dating back to 1971.
The teams last played in 2024, when No. 2 Ohio State beat Northwestern 31-7 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Carnell Tate had two touchdown catches in his hometown, while Jeremiah Smith posted four receptions for 100 yards.
Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson powered the ground game in that win, combining for 150 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries. On defense, Sonny Styles turned in two sacks, six tackles and two pass breakups, and Jack Sawyer forced the game’s only turnover while tying for the team lead with seven tackles.
Ohio State will now turn toward that noon kickoff on Nov. 14, with FOX carrying the game.
In Other News...
Ohio States CFP Ranking Just Reignited A Frustrating Committee Debate
The first College Football Playoff rankings of 2026 immediately stirred up the kind of familiar arguments that seem to arrive every November, and Ohio State fans know the drill well enough by now. Miami landed at No. 1, followed by Georgia, Utah, Indiana and Alabama, but the order raised fresh questions about how the committee is weighing head-to-head results, strength of schedule and the value of unbeaten records in a crowded field.
Hunter Yurachek tried to walk through the committees thinking, but the explanations only sharpened the debate around several placements, especially UCLA sitting behind teams with losses and Utah climbing so high with just one ranked win. For Ohio State, the broader concern is less about one specific slot than the same old uncertainty about what the rankings are really rewarding, and whether the committees logic will hold once the bracket starts to take shape. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Has A Legit CFP Ranking Complaint After First Bracket
The first College Football Playoff rankings of the 2026 season immediately stirred the usual arguments, with Alabama landing in the top five despite a mixed record against ranked opponents and Notre Dame showing up lower than it did in the AP poll. The committee also drew attention for the way it handled strength of schedule, a familiar flashpoint this time of year, and it did not take long for the Buckeyes to have a reason to feel slighted.
Hunter Yurachek said the committee did not consider Ohio States head-to-head win over Indiana when it made its first bracket. For a program that has spent the early part of the season trying to stack rsum points against quality competition, that omission stands out, especially when the rankings are already inviting scrutiny elsewhere. Ohio State may not love the opening picture, and this is the kind of detail that tends to linger until the committee explains itself a little more fully. [Read more 🡒]
Lincoln Riley Explains Tense Ohio State Exchange After USC Statement Win
USCs 30-18 win over Ohio State ended with a little more edge than the scoreboard alone suggested, as Trojans coach Lincoln Riley and Buckeyes athletic director Ross Bjork had a brief verbal exchange on the field afterward. Riley was asked about it later and downplayed the moment, saying it was simply part of the emotions that spill over after a game like that and that the two moved past it quickly.
For Ohio State, the exchange was a small postgame footnote to an outcome that already stung, but it still drew attention because it happened in plain view after a high-profile nonconference matchup. Riley did not get into what started it, leaving the specifics out of reach even as he tried to brush off any bigger meaning from the scene. [Read more 🡒]