Desmond Howard Slams Ohio State for Weak Non-Conference Schedule: “It’s Like They Took a Month Off” | Sports

Ahead of the Buckeyes' Big Ten opener towards Michigan State in East Lansing, Howard criticized Ohio State's power of schedule in its non-conference slate, or lack thereof, throughout an look on ESPN’s College Football Live on Friday.

Desmond Howard says the Buckeyes took the entire month off given their simple non-conference schedule: But Ohio State, lastly, welcome to the 2024 school soccer season up in East Lansing towards Sparty. pic.twitter.com/Y66VXaAwVF

— Josh Poloha (@JorshP) September 27, 2024

“During the week, I was doing my prep, and I said, ‘Hey, Marissa, I need you to look something up,'” Howard stated. “‘I’m trying on the prime 25 ranked groups in school soccer, and I’m taking a look at Ohio State. Are they the one staff that in 4 weeks, has not performed a Power Four staff?’ And she stated, ‘Yes, Desmond, you’re proper.’ So just about, Ohio State took the entire month off – the entire first month off – and now they play Michigan State.

“Finally, they’re playing a Power Four team,” he continued. “Going on the highway, taking part in towards a Michigan State staff that defensively, they lead the convention in sacks and tackles for loss. The trenches, watch that battle within the trenches. I’m unsure – I’m gonna need to ask Pete [Thamel] afterward as a result of Michigan State has misplaced a minimum of three broad receivers early within the season. I don’t know who’s coming again. … But Ohio State, lastly, welcome to the 2024 school soccer season up in East Lansing towards Sparty.

“I’m just saying, they haven’t played anybody. Week 5, and they have not played a Power Four team. That’s crazy.”

The Buckeyes' non-conference schedule was fairly simple, nobody is arguing that. According to ESPN, OSU's schedule by Week 4 – Akron, Western Michigan and Marshall – ranks 131st out of 134 FBS groups.

Ohio State was initially scheduled to play Washington on this 12 months’s non-conference slate as a part of a home-and-home for this season and 2025, however the Buckeyes canceled that sequence and changed it on this 12 months’s schedule with a dwelling recreation towards Marshall, leaving them with no Power 4 non-conference opponents.

That stated, whereas Michigan performed (and misplaced to) Texas in Ann Arbor in Week 2, a matchup that headlined its non-conference slate, the Wolverines' out-of-conference schedules in 2022 and 2023 have been fairly corresponding to Ohio State’s non-conference schedule this 12 months. All six of Howard’s alma mater’s non-conference opponents the final two seasons – Colorado State, Hawai'i, UConn, East Carolina, UNLV and Bowling Green – have been Group of 5 groups.

Pete Thamel introduced that actual level up following Howard's feedback, during which the previous Michigan standout responded with “Are you a Buckeye defender? … We're talking 2024, Pete.”

Kudos to you, Pete Thamel.

Howard has achieved his justifiable share of antagonizing Ohio State followers for fairly a while, particularly over the previous 12 months, labeling Ryan Day “thin-skinned,” claiming the Buckeyes had “no excuses” heading into the Michigan recreation final 12 months within the wake of Connor Stalions' dismissal and blasting the Big Ten's dealing with of the scandals surrounding the Wolverines soccer staff.

Alas, Ohio State took care of enterprise in non-conference play and now has its eyes set on larger exams going ahead, beginning Saturday night time in East Lansing, with kickoff between the Buckeyes and Spartans scheduled for 7:30 on Peacock.

The Buckeyes are slated to play a lot better non-conference opponents within the years forward with video games scheduled towards Texas in 2025 (dwelling) and 2026 (away), Alabama in 2027 (dwelling) and 2028 (away) and Georgia in 2030 (away) and 2031 (dwelling).