Non-conference schedule has OSU critics moaning
Youngstown State, Ohio and Troy are three of their first four games this year.
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Ohio State and Southern California meet Sept. 13 in a what everyone agrees is the nation’s marquee non-conference game of the season.
But look past that game, and it’s obvious that the two schools’ scheduling philosophies vary drastically.
Prior to the OSU game, USC is taking on Virginia, and holds its annual clash with Notre Dame later on. The Trojans play a nine-game Pacific-10 schedule, so their stout non-league matchups mean they will play all 12 games against teams in the Bowl Championship Series agreement.
In contrast, Ohio State warms up with Youngstown State, a Football Championship Subdivision school, and Ohio. Troy of the Sun Belt Conference follows USC on the slate.
Take away USC, then, and it’s the very definition of milquetoast — like 2007, when OSU took on Youngstown State, Akron, a middling Washington squad and Kent State.
The critics have had a field day with the Buckeyes because of it, particularly in the wake of OSU getting drubbed against Southeastern Conference schools in the past two national title games.
It’s been a loud chorus, enough to make some OSU players defensive.
“People are always saying our schedule is weak,” offensive tackle Alex Boone said. “All right, it’s not my fault — what do you want me to do? I’m told to go play; I go play.”
The question is, does playing only one good non-league game hurt a team when it comes to its bowl game? Should the Buckeyes play a second decent non-league opponent each year, rather than prove they are champions of their own state?
“A lot of teams from the Big Ten went to bowl games, so just playing our regular season games prepares us for bowl games,” cornerback Malcolm Jenkins said. “But everyone in America wants to see big, titan clashes.”
“Everyone in America” includes Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany. League-wide, the Big Ten is the least ambitious conference when it comes to scheduling.
Of the 65 teams in BCS conferences, only six do not have a BCS team on their 2008 non-league slates. Three are in the Big Ten (Indiana, Minnesota and Wisconsin).
“If you look at where we were 40 years ago — I was looking at the schedules from 1966 — we had far fewer games and far fewer mismatches, really sturdy kinds of opponents,” Delany said in a recent ESPN.com interview. “Even if you maybe take a look at that 20 years ago, in the late ’80s, they were stronger schedules than they are today.”
That’s apparent by looking at OSU’s past schedules. In 1988, for example, the Buckeyes’ non-conference games were Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Louisiana State.
OSU athletic director Gene Smith has repeatedly said Ohio State must play seven or eight home games a year to pay for 36 varsity sports and the debt service on all the facilities built and renovated in the past 15 years.
That ties a scheduler’s hands. OSU can play only one home-and-home series a year, and must find three schools willing to come to Columbus without a return trip.
Meanwhile, the Pac-10 boasts the strongest non-league schedule of 2008. Commissioner Tom Hansen said no Pac-10 team has a $100 million budget, for one.
Also, many Pac-10 schools play in large markets dominated by pro teams, such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.
“Our fans are not as likely to buy season tickets to come watch us play lesser opponents,” Hansen said. “We’re driven by the market to schedule interesting games.”