Week 2 of the 2026 college football season is already carrying the kind of weight most programs spend months chasing. Texas is set to host Ohio State in a showdown that could shake up the national picture early, and it also gives the Longhorns a shot at revenge after losing to the Buckeyes in each of the last two seasons.
But for all the attention that game deserves, Ohio State keeps drifting back to a different date on the calendar.
The Buckeyes have one rivalry on the brain, and it is the one that arrives at the end of the regular season: Michigan. The Game is always the one that grabs Ohio State’s full attention, and this year it falls in the final week, the same week Texas meets Texas A&M.
That obsession is coming straight from the top. Head coach Ryan Day has been talking about it, and quarterback Julian Sayin has gone even further, calling the rivalry something that "becomes your livelihood."
"You learn very quickly when you get here. You learn the history of that game, you learn how important it is to this state and to this fanbase, and it becomes your livelihood," Sayin told On3's Andy Staples and Ari Wasserman.
The problem for Ohio State is simple: Texas is the game that comes first.
There is a real danger in staring too far down the road, especially when the next opponent is one of the biggest on the schedule. The Buckeyes will head to Austin with plenty on the line, and treating that trip like background noise would be a mistake.
The preseason picture already sets up the stakes. Ohio State opened at No. 1 in the Preseason Coaches Poll, with Oregon and Georgia behind it, while Texas checked in at No.
- A Longhorns win in Week 2 could scramble that top group fast.
That is why the focus matters now, not in late November. Ohio State can talk about Michigan all it wants, but hardly anyone around the program is giving Texas the same level of attention. From the outside, it looks a little too close to a game being treated like a warmup, when it is anything but.
The matchup is still more than a month away, with kickoff set for 6:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, Sept.
- Both teams still have Week 1 to handle before then.
But before the Buckeyes get too far ahead of themselves, they may want to start giving the Longhorns the attention they clearly deserve.
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