By Jim Naveau
jnaveau@limanews.com

COLUMBUS – Ohio State learned who it will play in the 18-team Big Ten in the next five seasons
when the league’s football match-ups for those years were announced on Thursday.
Earlier this year, the Big Ten had announced conference match-ups for 2024 and 2025 which added
USC and UCLA. But when Oregon and Washington joined the Big Ten in July those schedules had to be
changed.
Next season Ohio State will have Big Ten home games against Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska and
Purdue. Its road games will be against Michigan State, Northwestern, Oregon and Penn State. The
Buckeyes’ non-conference games will be home contests against Southern Mississippi, Western Michigan
and Marshall.
Dates for next season’s Big Ten games are expected to be announced in late October or early November.
In 2025, OSU’s Big Ten home games will be against Minnesota, Penn State, Rutgers and UCLA. It will
travel to Illinois, Michigan, Purdue, Washington and Wisconsin. The Buckeyes’ three non-league games,
all at home, will be against Texas, Ohio University and Connecticut.
The 2026 Big Ten home games for Ohio State will be against Illinois, Maryland, Michigan,

Northwestern and Oregon. The Big Ten away games will be Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska and USC. The non-
conference games will be Ball State and Kent State at home and at Texas.

In 2027, OSU will have Big Ten home games against Michigan State, Purdue, Nebraska and USC. Its
Big Ten road games will be at Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Oregon and Rutgers. It will play
Bowling Green, New Hampshire and Alabama, all at Ohio Stadium, in its three non-conference games.
In 2028, the Buckeyes’ Big Ten home games will be against Michigan, Minnesota, Rutgers, Washington and Wisconsin. Their away games will be at Illinois, Maryland, Penn State and UCLA. Their non-
conference games will be at home against Buffalo and Northern Illinois and at Alabama.

The Big Ten will no longer have divisions beginning in 2024 but will continue to play a championship
game which will be between the two teams at the top of the conference standings.
Michigan, as a protected rival, will continue to appear on OSU’s schedule every year but there is no
other Big Ten team the Buckeyes will play every season.
NOTES:
HARRISON’S ANKLE: Wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. said the ankle injury he suffered against
Notre Dame is worse than the one he played with most of last season during an interview on Wednesday.
He was injured while throwing a key block on a 61-yard touchdown run by TreVeyon Henderson in the
third quarter of Ohio State’s 17-14 win over Notre Dame but returned to play most of the second half. He
said he will play Saturday against Maryland.
This year’s injury and last year’s were both to Harrison’s right ankle.
EXPLOSIVE PLAYS AND SACKS RARE: Explosive plays of 30, 40, 50 yards or more were a
problem for Ohio State’s defense last season, but so far this season they haven’t been.
The longest play it has allowed this season is 36 yards. The longest scoring play is two yards.
The big question for the defense this year has been its lack of sacks. OSU is thirteenth in the Big Ten
with only five sacks in four games.
Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles says he’s not concerned about the sack numbers.
“Winning third down, winning fourth down and limiting explosive plays, that’s the most important
things,” he said on Tuesday.
“We seem to be on a good track with that and we want to keep that up. Everybody loves a lot of sacks,
so do I. When I was younger I probably was more driven by that – how can we get more sacks, more
negative plays? But the bottom line is eliminate the explosive plays and win on third and fourth down.
So that’s what we’ve got to continue to focus on.”