Running back Bo Jackson (25) dodges defenders. Ohio State lost to Texas 24-23 on Sept. 12. Credit: Cassandra D’Angelo | Sports Photo Editor.
Three games into Ohio State’s 2026 football season, the Buckeyes have twice won by more than 50 points and lost by one point.
It’s the 24-23 collapse against Texas that reveals the most about this team.
Wins over Ball State and Kent State did not require the Buckeyes to protect a fourth-quarter lead. They didn’t have to quiet more than 100,000 opposing fans, or figure out how to respond when another national championship contender cut into a lead.
All of this occurred Sept. 12 in Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.
The loss dropped Ohio State’s playoff probability from 83.14% to 74.44%, according to the ESPN Football Power Index.?
But history has shown that a team’s perfect record does not tell the story on if they are prepared when the postseason comes.
Look at the 2025 Ohio State season. The Buckeyes cruised to a 12-0 record in the regular season and never faced a second-half deficit, but lost the Big Ten championship to Indiana and the College Football Playoff quarterfinal to Miami to end its season.
If anything, September should be when teams start figuring out what they actually have before conference play begins.
Blowout wins aren’t entirely worthless. Teams still have things they can work on, younger players get opportunities and a win is still a win.?
At least one Big Ten program has already started scheduling less challenging nonconference games.
In August, Indiana canceled its 2030-31 home-and-home series with Notre Dame, leaving the Hoosiers without a Power Four nonconference opponent scheduled in future seasons. The move came a year after Indiana canceled its 2027-28 series with Virginia, replacing the Cavaliers with Kennesaw State and FCS opponent, Austin Peay.?
Indiana shouldn’t become the blueprint for the rest of the conference.
Ohio State is scheduled to host Alabama in 2027 before traveling to Tuscaloosa in 2028, and the Buckeyes will travel to Georgia to face the Bulldogs in 2030. Michigan will travel to Texas in 2027 and has a home-and-home series with Notre Dame scheduled for 2033 and 2034. Michigan State will play the Fighting Irish in 2027 and Oklahoma State in 2028 and 2029.
Those are the kind of games that members of the Big Ten conference should keep on its future schedules.
Games like that come with a chance of losing, but that should be the point. If Big Ten teams are going to schedule some of the best teams in the country, not every one of those games is going to end in a win, but a loss can show a team a lot more than just another September blowout.
Yes, Ohio State lost to Texas.?
But after beating Ball State and Kent State by a combined 109 points, the Buckeyes know a lot more about themselves because of the one game they didn’t win.
