Just imagine a season in the SEC with Ohio State's closest friends

It does not look promising that the Big Ten will play football this upcoming season as we wait for any official statement from the conference as for the status of the 2020 season.

Fans are somewhere between the five stages of grief seeing the season seemingly ripped away from them, after players and coaches went through hoop after hoop and the league released a schedule just a few days ago.

The Big Ten does not speak for all leagues, however, as leagues like the SEC, Big 12 and ACC all seem to be moving forward while the Pac-12 seems to be on a path toward cancellation as well.

We have seen several people mention what would it be like if Ohio State were able to divorce itself from the Big Ten, just for a year. There have been people who have associated Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and Nebraska all in that camp, and for the sake of this exercise in the world of fantasy, that is who we will run with.

Sure, sure… we know there are about a million hurdles that would make this temporary divorce a pipe dream, but who would have expected Notre Dame to play a full ACC slate and share its NBC money with the league?

In short, let’s get creative people.

So, what happens if the Big Ten Four were to jump to the SEC for a year?

The first question is a matter of divisions and how you handle that. The SEC is already at 14 teams with its current membership and going up to 18 would take some getting creative.

We would change the names of the divisions to the SEC Bryant and the SEC Spurrier, instead of East and West, with the obvious disregard for geography here. (Leaders and Legends were already passed upon).

Let’s put Ohio State and Michigan in the old SEC West and then put Penn State and Nebraska in the SEC East. That allows for Ohio State to have its traditional game with Michigan as a divisional game and just puts Jim Harbaugh back into the most competitive division in college football.

When it comes to creating a schedule, we are going to go with this guideline for the Big Ten interlopers. Play all other eight teams in your division plus your two Big Ten mates from the other division, to make sure that B1G teams are all playing one another.

What could Ohio State’s schedule look like? Dare to dream.

As we said, there are more than a few reasons why this would never come to pass, but could you imagine this schedule, fans or no fans in the stands? Auburn, Texas A&M and LSU all having to come to Columbus? Trips to Alabama and Ole Miss on the schedule as well? Plus, still getting Penn State, Michigan and Nebraska?

Sign us up.

The Buckeyes would take a 7-5-2 edge against their new conference mates into the season having never played Ole Miss or Mississippi State. Four of those wins would come against Texas A&M, who was not part of the SEC during any of those games, with Ohio State last winning against the Aggies in the 1999 Sugar Bowl.

Ohio State is 1-0 against Arkansas, even if the record books don’t show that game. But we were there, we know it happened, 31-26.

Auburn has played Ohio State twice and holds a win and a tie with Ohio State. There was a scoreless game back in 1917 and of course that horrible Hall of Fame bowl back in 1990, 31-14.

LSU and Ohio State have played three times and the record is 1-1-1, but everyone will remember the BCS Championship game in LSU’s backyard, a game that Ohio State started off strong, only to fade.

And then there is Alabama. That series sits 3-1 toward Alabama, but Ohio State has the last laugh in the 2014 CFP Semifinals.

Sure, this is a fun exercise to think about and even talk about while it probably won’t happen. But when faced with the long winter of no football, that’s all we have left.