Colin: College football is moving at breakneck speed towards a new reality; but for the moment, let’s concentrate on the newly-announced 16 team Big Ten schedule for 2024.
A) How does this affect Ohio State?
B) If you could wave a magic wand, what would you do differently?
Baver: A) “The Game” between OSU and Michigan will continue to occur every year, as expected. The biggest reveals were that the Big Ten is doing away with divisions starting in 2024, and that the Ohio State–Penn State rivalry will not be “protected.” Ohio State will play Penn State at least twice every four years, but that matchup will not occur each and every year like it has for the past 30 seasons. The OSU-PSU games fall under the new Big Ten scheduling model, where each Big Ten team will play every other Big Ten team at least twice every four years. Oh, and the new scheduling model is what the league is calling the “Flex Protect Plus” model. If you are hearing this for the first time, this is not a joke….that is what they are calling it.
B) What to do differently? Keeping that annual matchup with Penn St would be my #1 wish. They protected the game between Maryland and Rutgers for Pete’s sake, and left Penn State as the only Big Team with no protected rivalry in the new 16-team conference. True story.
Aside from that, in a perfect world, I like the two-division format. But I realize that pairing off the two teams with the best records, in a conference without divisions, is ‘probably’ in the league’s best interests, as you likely will have a better chance of getting both teams into the playoff. And I guess no one ever remembers who won the Big Ten West in any prior given year anyway.
Colin: Considering there is now a 12-team playoff and a Big Ten Conference Championship game, why should Buckeye fans spend big money on regular season games that mean very little in the big scheme of things?
Baver: That’s the thing; we weren’t far from an OSU-Michigan rematch just five months ago in the National Title game. And at this moment, Ohio State and Michigan are the #2 and #3 favorites, respectively, at FanDuel and DraftKings, to make the final 4-team playoff as this era comes to a close. And going forward, it’s not too crazy to say that the two storied programs could face each other three times in a season. It’s also certainly possible (if not probable) that we will at times see Ohio St and Michigan clinch the top two records in the league before they play each if their regular season game continues to be played on the last Saturday in November. At that point, we would know for a fact that Ohio St and Michigan would be playing each other twice in an 8-day span, before The Game, previously singular, even happened.
I’m ranting, but obviously I hope it works out for the best. Maybe some of this is just the fear that I’ll have to double or triple my blood pressure meds if we face those bastards more than once in a season.
Colin: Ha…you and me both.
Okay one more this time around... Do you think the 12-game playoff will encourage more competitive non-conference games or will teams hide behind even softer schedules to make the dance?
Baver: Uh-huh…you are going there too of course. It looks like Ohio St and the Big Ten are already showing us their hands. In February, Ohio State cancelled their home-&-home games with Washington in ’24 and ‘25. Did they have to do this because of the new schedule? No. And it is such a bad look after Washington went 11-2 last season under their new coach (Kalen DeBoer), after going just 4-8 in 2021. And in May, it was reported that the Big Ten was considering changing its requirement that all schools in the league play at least one Power 5 team out of conference, each season. If true, that is embarrassing. But last I knew, this had not been confirmed, and the original source of this information was Brett McMurphy. So maybe take that part for what it’s worth.
Over the next 10 years, Ohio State has home-&-home games scheduled with: Texas, Alabama, Georgia, and Oregon. Will all of these matchups end up on the chopping block…or at least some of them? I honestly don’t know, but after seeing the pair of Washington games get axed, it looks like softer out-of-conference scheduling is the answer to your question, unfortunately.
Colin: Okay, I sort of baited you with those questions. I know you are feeling pretty optimistic about the upcoming season….so let’s chat again in a month or so, alright?
Baver: Absolutely…let’s do it.