Ranking Ohio State football's 2023 schedule by difficulty: Which game is the toughest?
A difficult slate awaits Ohio State this fall as it looks to return to the College Football Playoff.
The schedule includes six true road games, the most in a regular season for the Buckeyes since 1895.
Not only do more frequent trips away from the Horseshoe loom on the horizon, but eight of the opponents were also bowl eligible last season, including two New Year’s Six bowl participants.
Which matchups will ultimately prove the biggest obstacles? Here is a ranking of Ohio State’s toughest games for 2023.
12. Sept. 9 vs. Youngstown State
It appears Youngstown State, which is coming off its first winning season since 2017, is on the right track, but no program from the Football Championship Subdivision should seriously challenge the Buckeyes. In their last matchup with an FCS opponent, they pummeled Florida A&M in a 76-0 rout in 2013.
11. Nov. 4 at Rutgers
Hope for improvement at Rutgers continues to rest with Gavin Wimsatt, the highest-ranked quarterback recruit in school history who saw ups and downs in a half dozen starts as a sophomore The Scarlet Knights ranked 13th in total offense in the Big Ten last fall, ahead of only Iowa’s woeful outfit. Greg Schiano’s program needs a significant jump on that side of the ball to hang with Ohio State.
10. Sept. 2 at Indiana
There isn’t much threatening about a trip to Bloomington on Labor Day weekend. The Hoosiers are 2-16 in the Big Ten since their surprise season in 2020. But season openers against a conference opponent can be a little tricky. At halftime of road games against Minnesota in 2021 and Indiana in 2017, the Buckeyes trailed, although they did pull ahead in the third and fourth quarters. Could they be feeling things out again in the early goings?
9. Sept. 16 vs. Western Kentucky
The pass-happy Hilltoppers are the preseason favorites in Conference USA and present an early test for a secondary that was vulnerable to breakdowns in coverage late last season. Austin Reed, a seasoned quarterback who led the Football Bowl Subdivision with 4,744 passing yards last season, is capable as the triggerman of Western Kentucky’s Air Raid.
8. Nov. 11 vs. Michigan State
Mel Tucker’s program has remained active in the transfer portal, a formula that led to a breakthrough in 2021 when roster additions helped the Spartans finish just behind Michigan and Ohio State in the Big Ten East. But it did not bear fruit last fall. Michigan State slipped in the standings and finished below .500. On top of the disappointment, it lost starting quarterback Payton Thorne and leading receiver Keon Coleman to the portal in April.
7. Oct. 14 at Purdue
A lot of unknowns surround Purdue, though it is the reigning champion of the Big Ten West. Jeff Brohm left for Louisville, unable to turn down his alma mater for a second time, leaving Ryan Walters, previously Illinois' defensive coordinator, at the helm. Also gone is the quarterback-receiver duo of Aidan O'Connell and Charlie Jones. Even if West Lafayette isn’t always kind to the Buckeyes, the upset potential doesn’t seem especially high.
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6. Oct. 7 vs. Maryland
There’s a case to be made that this is one of the toughest tests for Ohio State as Maryland brings back Taulia Tagovailoa, who was perhaps the second-best quarterback in the Big Ten after C.J. Stroud last season, and is looking to take the next step in the conference as Mike Locksley has put together one of the more talented rosters. But the Terrapins have never been competitive in Columbus. Since they joined the league in 2014, they’ve lost all four times at the Horseshoe by margins of 49, 59, 48 and 21 points.
5. Nov. 18 vs. Minnesota
Will Ohio State be caught looking ahead to Michigan? That’s the trick on its penultimate Saturday as it was nearly upset by Maryland the week before meeting its archrival last November. Minnesota poses some challenges, too. P.J. Fleck relies on a physical bunch at the lines of scrimmage and has built one of the more consistent programs in the West Division. Minnesota is coming off consecutive 9-win seasons. Though the Gophers lost Mohamed Ibrahim, the school’s all-time leading rusher, they replaced him with Sean Tyler, a 1,000-yard rusher from Western Michigan.
4. Oct. 28 at Wisconsin
A primetime kickoff in Madison on Halloween weekend? Expect a rabid atmosphere. The Badgers are also poised to improve under Luke Fickell, who replaced Paul Chryst after his firing last September. The expectation is Wisconsin will be more potent on offense as Fickell hired Phil Longo, previously the offensive coordinator at North Carolina, to install a variation of the Air Raid, a departure from the program’s conservative, run-oriented approach for a more aggressive attack. It should complement star running back Braelon Allen.
3. Oct. 21 vs. Penn State
While the Buckeyes have won six in a row over their East Division foes, their matchups with the Nittany Lions are always slugfests. Penn State is the rare Big Ten team with somewhat comparable talent. The biggest X factor this time around is Drew Allar, a five-star prospect from Medina who is expected to succeed Sean Clifford at quarterback and who could be the most talented passer to start for James Franklin in State College. It’s already a stout backfield with Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen.
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2. Sept. 23 at Notre Dame
A major upgrade at quarterback with Wake Forest transfer Sam Hartman makes the Irish a bit more threatening than when they visited Ohio Stadium a year ago with Tyler Buchner behind center and furthers the optimism around a program that hit its stride late in Marcus Freeman’s debut season. After early hiccups against Marshall and Stanford that followed the loss to Ohio State in the opening weekend, Notre Dame looked improved over the second half, winning six of their last seven games in 2022, including a 35-14 rout of Clemson, as well as crushing Navy on Saturday to open this season with four touchdown passes thrown by Hartman. Adding to the test is that this will be the first major road trip for the Buckeyes.
1. Nov. 25 at Michigan
Real surprise, huh? A chance to snap its first losing streak in the rivalry in decades, not to mention likely playoff stakes and conference title implications: No game looms larger on Ohio State’s schedule than the 119th playing of “The Game.” To add a layer of difficulty to the trip to Ann Arbor, there's a possibility this is Jim Harbaugh’s best team at Michigan, one that is the favorite in the Big Ten. Consider a returning starter at quarterback in J.J. McCarthy, a prolific backfield tandem of Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards and a veteran-laden defense. The Buckeyes must also overcome whatever mental block seemed to ail them last November to get back in the win column against their biggest rival.
Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Contact him at jkaufman@dispatch.com or on Twitter @joeyrkaufman.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State football 2023 schedule: Ranking Buckeyes' toughest games
