00:00Ohio State's got a really tough schedule next year.
00:02Yes.
00:03They play at Texas, at Indiana, at USC, at Iowa, Oregon at home, Michigan at home.
00:13I think they have Illinois at home.
00:15I don't know if that's on the road or not.
00:19But Michigan actually has a tougher schedule.
00:23They play Oklahoma at home.
00:25They play Iowa at home.
00:26They play Penn State at home, Indiana at home.
00:30They have to go to Oregon, and they have to go to Ohio State.
00:34Lift it or leave it, Michigan has a tougher schedule than the Buckeyes.
00:40It sounded like everything was the same, except do they play Indiana?
00:45Both play Indiana.
00:47Ohio State's on the road at Indiana.
00:49Michigan gets them at home.
00:51Really, the big swap is USC and Oklahoma.
00:55Who is going to USC for Ohio State?
00:58Michigan has Penn State at home, and then Ohio State has to go to Texas.
01:05Oklahoma comes to Michigan.
01:08Oh, boy, oh, boy.
01:12I'm going to play favorites here.
01:14I'm going to say Ohio State has a harder one.
01:16It's pretty even.
01:17If anything, I can give the edge to Michigan as far as the teams they're playing.
01:21But I feel like Ohio State, just the timing of it, I know they have a three-game stretch
01:25where I think they play Indiana, USC, and then one other of those big teams.
01:29And then a lot of them are away.
01:31So I'm going to give it to Ohio State.
01:33I think they have USC on Halloween, which was always their Penn State game.
01:40Indiana maybe two weeks before that.
01:42I think they have a bye in between there.
01:44And I want to say maybe Illinois or Iowa leads into that.
01:49So another team that's pretty tough.
01:51So they've got that pretty tough, rough October right there.
01:55I'm with you.
01:56I'm going to leave this.
01:58Because Texas versus Oklahoma, okay, we can even say they're fairly even.
02:03Texas on the road, Oklahoma at home.
02:05And listen, that's just by virtue that last year, Ohio State had Texas at home.
02:10Last year, Michigan had to go to Oklahoma.
02:13Indiana on the road versus Indiana at home.
02:18Oregon at home versus Oregon on the road.
02:21Michigan has to go to Ohio State, but they get Penn State at home.
02:24But you look at at Texas, at Indiana, at USC, at Iowa, I think that's tougher probably than just at
02:31Oregon and at Ohio State.
02:33When you start talking about college football, Steve, I think more so than any other sport, even college basketball,
02:40I would say if you're playing in a big-time, hostile environment, I think location matters a lot.
02:48You've been in those situations.
02:50Did you – you didn't have to go to Oregon at all.
02:55You've played at Michigan.
02:57You've played at Penn State.
02:58How much tougher is that going on the road in one of those environments and having to go to the
03:04big state U, to the Texases, to the Bamas, the Georgias, LSU,
03:08especially you talk about a night game.
03:10Did you ever play Penn State at night or was yours all at –
03:12No, all during the day.
03:14You did go to Notre Dame at night, though.
03:16Yes.
03:16And, like, those big environments like that at night on the road, incredibly hostile, much different than being at home.
03:23Oh, yeah, absolutely.
03:25And that's coming from a guy that just played defense for most of those games.
03:28You jump over to the other side of the ball on offense, I imagine it's a completely different feeling as
03:32well
03:32because that's whenever the crowd's really starting to get into it.
03:35They're bringing all the noise.
03:36And it's hard to communicate if you're an offensive lineman or a quarterback.
03:39So, I mean, as a defensive guy where they're actually trying to shush the crowd whenever their offense is out
03:44there, it's still tough.
03:46So, I can't even imagine what the offense is like.
03:48So, yeah, those hostile environments, man, it makes every bit of a difference.
03:53It's really tough.
03:54And that's the one thing I lean into.
03:55You start talking about – I mean, Michigan does have to go to Oregon, which people say is one of
04:00the toughest places.
04:00And Ohio State lost there in 2024 right at the end of the game.
04:05But people said that that was – for being 55,000, 60,000, as loud as any place you're going
04:10to find,
04:12Texas at night, which is going to be the opener, is going to be bumpy to say the least.
04:17And then you look at Michigan.
04:18It's like they had to go to Oklahoma last year.
04:20But I believe that was on Fox.
04:22That was a day game.
04:23So, it wasn't a night game.
04:24With it, Penn State, Iowa at home, but Oregon and then out Ohio State.
04:29And out Ohio State will be a noon game.
04:31So, that's in there too.
04:32Got Michigan State, Rutgers, UCLA before the Ohio State game.
04:37So, pretty, pretty tough schedule.
04:40Those – honestly, when it comes to the end of it still, those might be two of the toughest schedules,
04:46assuming these teams hold up.
04:47And that's the thing.
04:48You can't have somebody who comes in ranked, you know, in the top ten, and then they go, you know,
04:53seven and five.
04:55But assuming that these teams hold up and they're as good as we think they're going to be,
04:59these might be two of the toughest five schedules in all of college football.
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