COLUMBUS – After a week off, No. 4 Ohio State returns to the Horseshoe to face unbeaten Maryland in what could be a trap game if the Buckeyes let their guard down.
(4) OHIO STATE (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) vs. Maryland (5-0, 2-0); Ohio Stadium, Columbus OH
Saturday, Oct. 7 (Noon/FOX)
After struggling to impress in their first four victories, the Buckeyes showed their grit in South Bend, mounting a 15-play late-4th quarter drive that ended in Chip Trayanum’s 1-yard touchdown plunge in the final second that secured a 17-14 win over Notre Dame.
Quarterback Kyle McCord showed dramatic improvement in the win and is surrounded by elite offensive weapons like All-American WR Marvin Harrison Jr., who will play against Maryland after suffering an ankle injury in the Notre Dame game, head coach Ryan Day said.
This is the 111th homecoming weekend at Ohio State and the 101st homecoming game. The Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame will enshrine 14 new members this weekend.
This is the first game between Maryland and Ohio State when both are undefeated. Ohio State is 8-0 against the Terps.
The Terrapins are 5-0 for the first time since 2001, winning each of those games by at least 18 points, but facing three touchdown favorite Ohio State in the Horseshoe will be their first real test of the season.
Maryland is led by fifth-year quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa, whose 292.8 passing yards per game leads the Big Ten. Tagovailoa is coming off a five-TD performance in last week’s 44-17 win over Indiana.
Big Ten releases schedules for first 5 seasons as 18-team coast-to-coast league
Weighing competitive balance, traditional rivalries, television ratings and some very long road trips, the Big Ten released the football schedules for its first five seasons as an 18-team, bicoastal conference.
The 2024 season will include a trip to Oregon for Ohio State.
See the 2024-2028 Ohio State football schedules
The conference produced 262 versions before releasing football schedules for the 2024 – 2028 football seasons, using a scheduling model called “Flex Protect XVIII,” which locks in 12 annual protected rivalry games, including Ohio State-Michigan, and no more than one trip to the West Coast for any of the league’s Eastern and Central time zone members.
The Big Ten schedule will remain at nine league games and the conference next year will scrap its divisional format, which had already been determined before the latest expansion. The top two teams in the final standings will play in the conference championship game. Tiebreaking procedures will also be announced later.
The conference had released opponents for the 2024 and 2025 seasons — the first with USC and UCLA — in June, but those needed to be torn up after the conference expanded West again in August with Oregon and Washington also leaving the Pac-12.
“Had to go back to the drawing board,” Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti said. “We’re staying with a lot of the principles that were in place when we did the original announcement back with USC and UCLA being integrated.”
The 18-team model has 12 protected annual matchups, in addition to The Buckeyes and Wolverines: Illinois-Northwestern; Illinois-Purdue; Indiana-Purdue; Iowa-Minnesota; Iowa-Nebraska; Iowa-Wisconsin; Maryland-Rutgers; Michigan-Michigan State; Minnesota-Wisconsin; Oregon-Washington; and USC-UCLA.
Teams will play every other conference opponent at least twice – home and away – during a five-year period, but no more than three times. The West Coast schools are not guaranteed to face each other every season. In 2024, Oregon and USC do not play each other while Washington and UCLA play each of the other three former Pac-12 schools.