Ohio State still has three regular-season games on the board, but the emotional math is already pretty simple. Northwestern and Nebraska matter, sure.
The Buckeyes should win those games, and dropping either one would be a disaster in its own right. But after the back-to-back losses to USC and Oregon, there’s really only one result left that can define how this season is remembered: Michigan.
That doesn’t mean the next two weeks are meaningless. Ohio State is 6-3 overall and 4-2 in the Big Ten, so the conference title game is still technically in play.
To get there, the Buckeyes would almost certainly need to run the table, get help from UCLA and Indiana - who are ahead of them in the standings - and survive a messy tiebreaker situation with other two-loss teams. Win the Big Ten, and the College Football Playoff’s automatic berth is theirs.
The path is narrow, but it exists, even if Ohio State has spent the last two weeks making it look like they’re trying to seal it shut.
Still, there’s a difference between what’s possible and what feels likely. This team has not looked built to flip a switch.
The football has been disjointed, uninspired and, at times, flat-out baffling. The coaching has looked lost.
The execution has been shaky. A roster that was supposed to be loaded has played like something much less than the sum of its parts.
That’s why a loss to Northwestern or Nebraska would be aggravating, but not season-defining. My frustration is already running so high that there isn’t much room left for it to grow.
Michigan is different. A loss there would open up a heretofore unseen 10th and maybe even 11th circle of hell.
The records don’t make the rivalry any less real, but they do make this matchup look even more lopsided on paper. Michigan is 5-4, has lost four of its six Big Ten games, and just scored six points in a home loss to “little brother” Michigan State.
The Wolverines are averaging fewer than 20 points per game, and their quarterback situation has become a comedy routine. By their standards, this has been an awful season.
Even with Ohio State’s own issues, there would be no excuse for losing to that team at home. If Ross Bjork thinks fans are angry now, wait until Ohio State loses to That Team Up North for a fifth time in six years.
Beating Michigan wouldn’t erase the USC and Oregon losses, and it wouldn’t magically turn this into a good season. But it is still one of the few preseason goals left on the table, and it remains the one that cannot be negotiated away.
However messy everything else gets, beating Michigan always matters. It always helps.
There’s another task that should be at the top of Ryan Day and offensive coordinator Arthur Smith’s to-do list over these final three weeks: get Jeremiah Smith back into the center of the Heisman Trophy conversation.
He has earned that push. He is the best player on the team, and his production should not be trapped by offensive indecision or by the program’s failure to have a competent backup ready for a moment like this.
Against Oregon, he caught seven passes for 133 yards and a touchdown, much of it coming in the first quarter and garbage time. Even so, he went more than two quarters without a target while the Ducks turned a 14-0 Ohio State lead into a rout.
How does that happen? How does any staff watch a player with J.J.’s kind of talent and decide, for that long, that the best plan is to try anything else?
Then came the strange reaction from some media members, who decided Smith’s visible frustration was the real issue. A young player who wants to win, who has poured himself into the program, and who watched the offense forget about him - or worse, ignore him - while the game slipped away was supposed to smile through it?
That’s nonsense. There are fair conversations to be had about composure, but this wasn’t one of them.
And the bigger point is that getting Smith the ball is not some sentimental crusade for an award. It is the clearest way to help Ohio State win.
Move him around. Scheme him open.
Give Luke Fahey easier throws. Create touches that don’t depend on a perfect read or a spectacular contested catch.
If defenses want to tilt coverage his way, make them pay somewhere else. Or just throw it up and let J.J. do J.J. things.
The worst idea is letting the best player on the planet disappear while everyone waits for the offense to fix itself.
These last two Saturdays should be about rebuilding competence, confidence and maybe a little swagger before Michigan arrives. That game always matters, whether the conference race is still alive or not. There’s still a standard worth defending, still goals worth chasing, and still a chance to salvage something from a season that has already gone sideways.
Years from now, nobody is going to remember whether Ohio State finished with seven, eight or nine regular-season wins. What will stick is whether this group, after all the problems and all the noise, found enough pride and focus to beat its most hated rival.
In Other News...
Ohio State Suddenly Has A Receiver Problem Before Northwestern
The quarterback situation already had enough attention heading into Ohio States matchup with Northwestern, with both teams set to be without their starters under center because of injuries. But the Buckeyes may be dealing with a wider offensive shortage than expected, since three of their top six wide receivers are listed as questionable, adding another layer of uncertainty to a game that already looked like it would require some adjustment.
Brandon Inniss, Phillip Bell and Brock Boyd are all in question, while running back JaKobi Jackson and tight end Max LeBlanc remain sidelined. Northwestern is also shorthanded, with eight players out including starting quarterback Aidan Chiles and cornerback Josh Fussell, so this could turn into a game defined less by star power than by which side handles the attrition better and finds enough reliable options to function on offense. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio States Week 10 Spiral Says Plenty About This Teams Ceiling
Ohio States Week 10 slide has turned into more than a bad stretch, it has become a clear reminder of how thin the margin is when the offense loses its rhythm. With three losses on the books and the Buckeyes trying to navigate life without quarterback Julian Sayin, the conversation around the program has shifted from weekly fixes to bigger questions about how high this team can actually climb in the Big Ten race.
The latest conference pecking order reflects that uncertainty, with Ohio State sitting eighth after Week 10 while other league contenders continue to build momentum around it. For a program that expects to be in the thick of every major postseason discussion, the current spiral says plenty about the ceiling this version of the Buckeyes can reach unless the pieces start coming together soon. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio States 2027 Running Back Picture Just Got More Interesting
Ohio States 2027 running back board picked up a notable addition when Daylon Gordon, a four-star prospect from Wylie, Texas, committed to the Buckeyes after previously being pledged to Texas State. Gordon arrives with a Power 4 offer sheet and gives Ohio State another talented name to build around as the class starts to take shape.
Even with Gordon on board, the Buckeyes are not treating the position as settled. They are still pursuing more running backs for the 2027 class, which keeps the room competitive and leaves open the possibility that this group could grow into one of the more interesting pieces of the cycle. [Read more 🡒]