Being in Big Ten putting Ohio State football at a major disadvantage

The Ohio State Buckeyes are one of the preeminent programs in college football. The Buckeyes won the 2024 national championship, and have been so consistent under head coach Ryan Day that they’re a near lock every season to make an expanded College Football Playofff.

The Buckeyes have been beneficiaries of being in the resource-heavy Big Ten conference, which boasts being the conference where the last three national championship winners hail from (Michigan, Indiana).

However, being in the Big Ten has one oft-overlooked disadvantage, and the Buckeyes are feeling it in a major way. The Big Ten’s broadcast partner is Fox, which regularly puts its premier games in the noon time slot. On the other hand, college football’s other major conference, the SEC, is partnered with ESPN, which features its primetime games in the evening.

This has resulted in a scenario where the Buckeyes are scheduling home and homes against premier SEC programs such as the Alabama Crimson Tide and Texas Longhorns, where the road games are expected to be in the evening, but the home games are all but guaranteed to kick off at noon. It may seem like a small thing, but evening games tend to lead to more hostile stadiums, and the added pressure that comes with being a road team under the lights.

Social media takes note of the Big Ten’s disadvantage

Fans and reporters on social media are well aware of the uniquely disadvantaged circumstances the Big Ten’s flagship programs are in.

“Ohio State lives in a world where it has a home-and-home series with three SEC teams right now and everyone knows the games in Columbus will be at noon and all the road games will be at night,” Ohio State reporter Stephen Means posted on X.

“ I remember when so many were so thrilled that #B1G  was no longer affiliated with ABC/ESPN. There is a lot wrong with ESPN but this and Fox’s coverage being terrible are huge downsides to that partnership dying,” one fan added.

“Should’ve never signed that contract. Hopefully they’ll learn from it,” one fan added.

As far as Ryan Day and the Buckeyes are concerned, they’re almost certainly embracing the added challenge of playing under the lights in a hostile environment. If they lose in those environments, however, be sure to expect an uproar from the Columbus faithful.

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