College football is riding a wave of unprecedented popularity-but underneath the surface, the sport is in the middle of a transformation. Rule changes, realignment, and the expansion of the College Football Playoff have all sparked new debates about what the future of the game should look like.
And one of the hottest topics right now? Non-conference scheduling.
The conversation hit a boiling point late in the 2025 season when Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian made a bold case for his three-loss Longhorns to earn a spot in the 12-team College Football Playoff. His argument centered around quality wins-Texas had three victories over top-10 opponents-but also around the risk of playing a heavyweight non-conference schedule.
Specifically, Sarkisian pointed to the Longhorns’ narrow 14-7 loss at Ohio State in Week 1. Had Texas scheduled a Group of Five team instead of the Buckeyes, he argued, they’d be in the Playoff.
Now, Sarkisian didn’t mention the eight-point loss to a struggling Florida team that finished 4-8-that’s a blemish that likely did more damage than the Ohio State game-but his broader point about non-conference scheduling struck a nerve. Especially when you consider that the last three national champions-Michigan, Ohio State, and Indiana-each coasted through relatively soft non-conference slates with no Power Five opponents.
So here’s the million-dollar question: Should powerhouse programs like Ohio State keep scheduling marquee non-conference matchups? Or is it smarter to stack the early schedule with winnable games and save the heavy lifting for the conference gauntlet?
Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork weighed in on that very topic during a recent appearance on the Buckeye Talk podcast with Stephen Means and Stefan Krajisnik. And while he didn’t offer a definitive answer, Bjork made it clear that, for now, the Buckeyes aren’t backing down from big-time matchups.
“I have not heard from my colleagues at those schools that they're interested in not playing those games, even though they're going to nine games [in the SEC],” Bjork said. “I think they view those high-power matchups… If anything, right now, you play them and you win, and then you're in a great spot.”
Ohio State certainly isn’t shying away from the spotlight. The Buckeyes will travel to Texas next fall for the second leg of their home-and-home series with the Longhorns.
After that, they’ve got Alabama on the schedule for 2027 and 2028, and Georgia lined up for 2030 and 2031. And in between those SEC showdowns?
A 2029 non-conference slate featuring Navy, Charlotte, and Youngstown State-a bit of a breather, to be sure.
Bjork acknowledged that the expanded Playoff changes the calculus. With more spots available, a single loss-even to a top-tier opponent-might not be the death blow it once was.
“I think we're probably, in the Playoff era with a 12-team Playoff, it may be a little too early to say, good or bad, on playing a game like Texas,” Bjork said. “The most important thing is try to win all your games, put yourself in the best position to win all of your games. And if you're in a high-impact league like the Big Ten… 12-0, 11-1, even 10-2, you're going to be in a great spot.”
But there’s more to this than just Playoff math. Fans crave high-stakes matchups.
Players want to test themselves against the best. And let’s be honest-there’s nothing quite like the buzz when Alabama rolls into Columbus, or when Ohio State walks into a packed house in Austin.
These games are the lifeblood of the sport’s excitement.
Sure, the Big Ten and SEC schedules are already loaded. The expanded conferences offer plenty of marquee matchups week in and week out.
But there’s still something special about those early-season clashes that pit titans from different leagues against each other. They set the tone.
They make statements. And they give us a clearer picture of who’s truly Playoff-ready.
Looking ahead, Bjork suggested that if the Playoff expands even further-to, say, 16 teams-those early-season heavyweight bouts might become even less risky.
“If we expand to 16, it definitely probably doesn't matter win or lose because you're playing that kind of game and you're going to get some shrink-the-schedule metrics,” he said. “So I think it's a little premature to say what the advantage is other than just try to go 12-0, try to play in the Big Ten Championship Game.”
In other words, the safest path is still the oldest one: win every game you can. But in this new era of college football, where the postseason door is cracked open wider than ever before, there may finally be room for teams to take risks-and still come out on top.