We are going to be sick of talking about soon, if not already, but the debates aren’t going to stop: Yes, Ohio State is great, but its schedule appears to be laughably easy. It doesn’t matter right now, and it’s probably not going to matter in December. Through the rest of September and October, Ohio State plays Hawaii, Northern Illinois, Western Michigan, Indiana, Maryland, Penn State and Rutgers, its only road trips taking it to Bloomington, Ind., and Piscataway, N.J. This looks like it will be a dreadful run for the defending national champion and No. 1 team in the country, one in which the Buckeyes should barely even be challenged. It’s especially dreadful when considering that, in the same time span, No. 2 Alabama will play Ole Miss, Georgia, Arkansas, Texas A&M and Tennessee — and that’s before the Crimson Tide get to LSU, Mississippi State and Auburn in November. Ten SEC teams are ranked in this week’s AP top 25, including all seven in the SEC West. Just two Big Ten teams make the cut. Given the weekly layups for the Buckeyes, just as other contenders go through stretches of difficult games, many column inches and radio and TV segments will be filled with angry opinions about Ohio State’s opponents and its place in the College Football Playoff discussion. But there is another way to go about things: Enjoy this Ohio State team while we have it, and recognize that, bad schedule or not, it will almost surely have proved itself as one of the top four teams in the country by December. This is both a great team and a likable team, one worth tuning in for on Saturdays regardless of opponent, and despite the second-quarter struggles in Monday’s game at Virginia Tech, the Buckeyes still won 42-24 against one of the most talented teams in the country…
Continue Reading: Ohio State’s Schedule Doesn’t Matter
