COLUMBUS — September gave Ohio State a little bit of everything. The Buckeyes opened by destroying Ball State, went to Austin and lost a one-point game to Texas, bounced back by dismantling Kent State, and then opened Big Ten play with a 42-19 win over Illinois.
Now things get interesting.
Ohio State enters October at 3-1 and ranked No. 5 in the country, but the schedule ahead looks vastly different from the one it just finished. The Buckeyes will spend the next two months working through a Big Ten schedule filled with ranked opponents, difficult road trips, and very little room for error.
It starts Saturday at Kinnick Stadium, where Ohio State will face an undefeated Iowa team coming off a road win over Michigan. The Hawkeyes have allowed only eight points per game, have one of the best defenses in the country, and will welcome the Buckeyes into a stadium that has not exactly produced fond memories for Ohio State. And in case anyone needs reminding, which none of us do, the last trip to Iowa City ended in a 55-24 loss in 2017. And I'm probably not very cool to you right now.
After that comes Maryland at Ohio Stadium on Oct. 10. On paper, that appears to be one of the more manageable games remaining, especially after the Terrapins were blown out by UCLA last week. But from there, the schedule gods have forsaken us.
Ohio State travels to No. 6 Indiana on Oct. 17 before getting its only open week of the season. The Buckeyes return from the break with another long road trip, this time to Los Angeles to face No. 18 USC on Oct. 31, and a week later, No. 15 Oregon comes to Columbus.
That means Ohio State could face four ranked opponents in a span of five games, with three of those coming away from Ohio Stadium. That is a much different challenge than navigating Ball State, Kent State, and Illinois around the trip to Texas.
The good news is that, taken individually, Ohio State should win — or at least be favored — in most of those games, with Indiana looking like the closest thing to a toss-up. And that will probably hold true for the rest of the season.
But there are still things to clean up. Illinois ran for 199 yards and averaged six yards per carry, which is not something Ohio State will want to repeat against some of the teams coming up. The offensive line has also had its share of uneven moments, particularly in short-yardage situations earlier in the season. Those issues matter more now because the margin for error is about to get smaller.
After Oregon, the schedule briefly softens with Northwestern at home before Ohio State makes another road trip to Nebraska on Nov. 21. Then, of course, comes that team up north.
The Wolverines may have fallen out of the rankings after losing to Iowa, but nobody in Columbus needs an explanation of why that game matters or why rankings stop being important once those two teams line up across from one another. By that point, the Buckeyes could be playing for a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game, positioning in the College Football Playoff, or simply trying to keep their season alive.
There is a long way to go before any of that becomes clear, but what is clear is that the comfortable part of the schedule is over. Now comes Iowa, Indiana, USC, Oregon, Nebraska, and Michigan over the final two months, with very few Saturdays that can be taken for granted.
For the Buckeyes, October is not just another month on the schedule. It is where the season really starts to take shape.
