We learned several weeks ago that the Big Ten was set to play a league-only schedule and the rumors seemed to be centered around a 10-game schedule being the sweet spot.

What we also know is that the NCAA has opened up "week zero" (August 29th) as a potential date for games to be played across college football in a one-time only move to try and open more weeks up for teams to try and play a full schedule of games and allow for some flexibility when it comes to trying to get 12, 10 or fewer games over a 14-week period.

What might an Ohio State schedule look like? We are taking a swing at that, just based on the parameters that it will be a 10-game schedule and that it has to maintain a balance of five games at home and five on the road.

Just because week zero is open does not mean that teams will be ready for it and I just don’t see there being a lot of games played in the Big Ten during that first week, so I am going to put my first of four open weeks right off the bat as that gives teams one more week to get ready, get protocols into place and all of that good stuff.

I also feel that the Big Ten is going to try and keep the nine-game schedules that it had in place for schools and really only add one game to that mix, obviously looking at who needs to have a road and who needs to have a home date there. For the sake of this exercise, I added Minnesota, even before looking to see that the Gophers are one of those teams that need a home date while the Buckeyes need a road date.

So now that we have the 10 opponents known, we need to figure out how best to schedule things.

I went with the 2-6-2 method of putting two non-divisional games off the top of the schedule, six divisional games and then ending the season with two non-divisional games.

Here is the reason why I did that.

If we are going to keep divisions for this year in determining champions of each side of the standings, it might be most fair to not come right out of the gate in game one with a divisional game as every team is going to be rusty to a certain measure. Give teams two games off the bat out of division to figure things out and then get right into divisional play.

Why end the season with two more non-divisional games?

If we need to start chopping games at the end of the season, it would be much better to chop games that don’t count in the division and try and have more weeks to get through those six divisional games.

The one other part that people will howl about is Michigan being played earlier in the year that people are accustomed to. Things happen and by playing it on Halloween (wouldn’t it be great if we are breaking tradition to just make it a night game, even if fans are not going to be in the stadium?) you give yourself a couple of more shots toward the end of the year to play that game if it can’t go off on the day that it is scheduled.

Even if schedules are to be frontloaded with division rivals, game one still feels too early to pit the Buckeyes against the other upper echelon teams in the conference, especially with all of the question marks surrounding the season.

Ohio State can still start slow with a pair of East division matchups against Rutgers and Indiana at home before completely diving into the Big Ten’s deep end.

After a couple warmups, the Buckeyes can knock two East division powers and traditional conference rivals off the list with Michigan State and Penn State before the season’s first month comes to a close before a natural stopping point in the form of a bye week after four games.

A bye week before the Michigan game will allow both teams the opportunity to quarantine potentially COVID-positive players and generally get healthy leading into a matchup that would frankly feel wrong if played with several stars missing on either side.

Aside from the health factor, an extra week before The Game could allow for maximum buildup and attention to be garnered for a rivalry that usually comes after a full season’s worth of anticipation. The additional week beforehand could bide the time necessary for fans not to feel like arguably the biggest game of the season is being shoehorned in at the start of the year.

I put another bye right after the Michigan game, which may seem strange, but it speaks to the flexibility of the Big Ten schedule that it is even an option in the first place.

This slot will let the dust settle on a rivalry game that typically serves as the regular season climax for the Buckeyes, and a matchup that could be particularly physical given its contentious nature. Think of it as a sigh of relief for Ohio State after ramping up for its biggest rival in an unusually early slot.

The middle of the year may also be the point when teams need the extra time to deal with positive tests and potential changes in protocol for dealing with the virus, which could make two byes in three weeks a great way to take inventory of the circumstances midseason.

Taking on Maryland on the road next, the Buckeyes return to division play in order to finish off their East schedule so that champions can be determined as early as possible in the event that the back half of the year is threatened by virus conflicts.

The Buckeyes ended last regular season with its biggest divisional rivals in Penn State and Michigan, but with Iowa as the second-to-last matchup, there will still be a great storyline entering the penultimate week.

The Hawkeyes upset the Buckeyes in 2017, and they’ll have a shot at redemption at home this year. Not to mention, Iowa may be another stiff test for Ohio State as one of the top teams in the West division, which will keep the season balanced after starting off with heavy hitters early on.

After playing Wisconsin twice last year, Ohio State could instead schedule its additional West division matchup and season finale against Minnesota, which may end up the top team in the West outside of the Badgers.

It wouldn’t be the same as ending the year with Michigan, but if Minnesota can replicate its success from last season, this would still be a huge test to end on for the Buckeyes against arguably the second-best quarterback in the conference and a team they’ve faced just twice since 2015.