Ohio State’s path the rest of the way is lined with land mines, not soft spots.
What looked before the season like a manageable finish has turned into one of the toughest closing stretches in the country. The Buckeyes open a brutal run with trips to No.
5 Indiana and No. 19 USC before coming home for Oregon.
Those three games were already going to tell plenty about Ryan Day’s team. Now the calendar beyond that has gotten even less forgiving.
Northwestern, once easy to overlook, is sitting at 4-1 and ranked No. 25 in the latest AP Poll. The Wildcats’ only loss came by one score at Indiana in Week 3, and the offense has taken off under Chip Kelly. Northwestern is averaging 35.4 points per game, good for a spot inside the top 40 nationally, and Aidan Chiles is putting together a career season with a 71.4% completion rate, nine touchdown passes and no interceptions.
Nebraska has also forced its way into the conversation. The Cornhuskers are 5-1 after a painful loss to Indiana in which they led by two scores in the fourth quarter before letting it get away. Still, Matt Rhule’s team has shown major progress with transfer quarterback Anthony Colandrea, and the defense has been the backbone, ranking 17th in the country by allowing only 15.17 points per game.
Ohio State gets Northwestern at home on Nov. 14. If the Buckeyes can survive the Indiana-USC-Oregon stretch, that game would arrive with a head of steam, which would be a welcome spot for a team trying to build toward something bigger.
The next week is no picnic either. Nebraska visits Lincoln on Nov. 21, and that trip deserves attention after the Huskers pushed the defending national champs at Memorial Stadium this past weekend.
Then comes the one that always changes the temperature of the season: Michigan.
Ohio State will host The Game this year after beating the Wolverines 27-9 in Ann Arbor in 2025. Day has still not beaten Michigan in Columbus, dropping the last two matchups there in 2022 and 2024. Before that, the Buckeyes had won nine straight home games in the series dating back to 2002.
Michigan’s own season has been rough. The Wolverines are 3-2 and 0-2 in Big Ten play, and Bryce Underwood has not delivered much consistency, completing under 60% of his passes with five touchdowns and four interceptions. There is time for the picture to change before Nov. 28, but the start has been flat under new head coach Kyle Whittingham.
Still, none of that really matters when Ohio State and Michigan meet the weekend after Thanksgiving. Records tend to get shoved aside in that rivalry, and Day is still chasing proof that he can protect his own field against The Team Up North.
So that’s the map: six games, six opponents with enough quality to cause trouble, and not much room for a mistake. Indiana, USC and Oregon are the headliners, but Northwestern, Nebraska and Michigan are hardly bystanders.
If Ohio State wants a spot in the College Football Playoff, there’s no easy route left. They’re going to have to earn every bit of it.
In Other News...
Ohio State Gets Pulled Into A High-Stakes Fight Over Eligibility
The eligibility fight surrounding fifth-year athletes in Ohio has now spilled into federal court, with the NCAA suing Gov. Mike DeWine over the executive order that lets state universities challenge the associations ruling. For Ohio State and the rest of the states Division I programs, the issue is more than paperwork. It goes straight to how coaches build rosters, manage scholarship spots and weigh whether a veteran player can give them one more season.
The NCAA argues the order violates the Commerce Clause and the First Amendment by giving Ohio schools an unfair edge and allowing them to sidestep NCAA rules. Ohios Division I programs reportedly support the directive, and coaches have said they will make decisions based on what helps the team most. For a Buckeyes program always balancing immediate ambitions against long-term roster planning, the legal standoff adds another layer of uncertainty to an already delicate eligibility question. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Faces Two Pressing Questions In Huge Indiana Test
Jeremiah Smith has become one of the most important pieces in Ohio States offense, and his involvement figures to be a major storyline in Bloomington. The Buckeyes have been looking for ways to keep their passing game balanced and dangerous, and getting Smith the ball is part of that equation as they head into a matchup that carries real weight after last seasons Big Ten title game loss to Indiana.
Julian Sayins protection will matter just as much, because Indiana can make life uncomfortable if Ohio State lets pressure reach the quarterback too often. On the other side of the ball, the Buckeyes also need to close quickly on Indiana quarterback Josh Hoover and create enough disruption to tilt the game their way, with this trip offering both a chance at revenge and a test of whether Ohio State can handle the kind of pressure that usually decides big conference games. [Read more 🡒]
Indiana Has A Chance To Shake Up The Big Ten Race
The Big Ten race is tightening at exactly the moment Ohio State would prefer some breathing room, and Indiana suddenly has a chance to make the leagues path a lot more complicated. The weekend slate comes with plenty of moving parts, from quarterback uncertainty elsewhere in the national picture to Ohio States own offensive line questions, but the Hoosiers are now positioned as one of the teams that could force the conversation to shift in a hurry.
For Buckeyes fans, that makes this a scoreboard-watching weekend as much as anything else. Alongside the predictions for the games themselves, the broadcasts are also expected to stir up talk about a possible 24-team College Football Playoff expansion, adding another layer to a week already loaded with speculation. If Indiana does its part, Ohio State may find the margin for error in the conference race getting thinner than it already is. [Read more 🡒]