Thanks to the shortened season, the Buckeyes no longer have time to open the season against Bowling Green or close with Iowa (eww), as two separate previous schedules would have prescribed. Each team will still play 9 conference games, but the division champs won't get a 10th as per the recent status quo. Here are some thoughts on the revised schedule.
No Days Off
Due to the Big Ten's hemming and hawing over the better part of the month, the 2020 season will be packed into a very short timeframe spanning less than 2 months. Accordingly, every week is needed, with no room for byes or off weeks. This is not unheard of; bye weeks only became a regular staple of Ohio State seasons during the Cooper years, and the Buckeyes played entire full 12-game schedules in 2006, 2007, and 2009 with no bye weeks either. But it does mean there is no room for error. The Houston Cougars have seen their first 4 games of the 2020 season postponed or cancelled through no fault of their own: all 4 opponents have been sidelined by the virus. The Buckeyes can ill afford any many cancellations if they want to preserve their playoff resume, especially considering that...
The Schedule Kind of Sucks
There's no denying that Ohio State plays the easiest schedule in the Big Ten every year, by virtue of being the only team guaranteed not to play Ohio State. But this year's schedule is particularly...lacking. Half of this is a function of playing in the B1G East. You're going to see Indiana, Maryland, and Rutgers year in and year out (thanks, Jim Delany). Michigan State doesn't look to be particularly threatening this year, either. But the Buckeyes' scheduled crossover opponents are no prize themselves. On on the one hand, you have the Buckeyes' most historic rival, the Fighting Illini, who other than snakebiting the Badgers last year did a whole lot of nothing in the 2010s. Then there's Nebraska, who we'll charitably say is having a bit of a rough go adjusting to the Scott Frost era. Their most dangerous player, JD Spielman, has left town, and they're not going to have any time to find their footing before opening their season in Columbus (at least the crowd noise won't be a factor). But enjoy that opener, Buckeye Nation, and the subsequent trip to Penn State on Halloween. This may be the worst November in Ohio State football history,* "featuring" Rutgers, Maryland, Indiana, and Illinois. At least there's a wooden turtle at the end of the tunnel. If the Buckeyes don't have any glitzy wins against Penn State or Michigan, or worse, the B1G championship falls by the wayside, you're going to hear a lot of grumbling about cupcake schedules. It won't matter much as long as the Buckeyes win out; nobody's going to mistake Ohio State for UCF, and even a 5-0 or 6-0 record should be enough to silence the doubters if the team looks good doing it.
*Special mention to November 1967, which featured games against 3-7 Michigan State, 0-9-1 Wisconsin, 1-8-1 Iowa, and 4-6 Michigan.
The Game Back Where It Belongs (kind of)
When the Big Ten messed around with the schedule the first time, creating the 10 game conference-only monster (hi, SEC), they made the peculiar decision to sprinkle the rivalry games throughout the season, rather than the last week (except, oddly, IU-PU). Most notably, The Game was moved to October 24, the seventh game of the season. This would have left a bad taste in everyone's mouth, as nobody wants to play The Game and then go back to business as usual the next week (one of the reasons I'm not in love with the Big Ten Championship Game). But at least it left some opportunities for rescheduling if something went wrong, as Schedule 2.0 included two open dates after the scheduled showdown. Now that the schedule has no room for error at all, The Game has been restored to its rightful place right at the end of the season, though on December 12 rather than Thanksgiving weekend (of course, I liked it better when it was before Thanksgiving weekend for a slew of reasons, but I'll try to keep my old man sentiments to a minimum).
One word of caution: before any of this madness hit the world, someone I know scheduled their wedding for the first open Saturday after the Buckeye football season ended. That's right, December 12. Single folks, remember: nothing beats a late spring / early summer wedding.
