An early look at each upcoming adversary on the Buckeyes’ 2021 schedule, and an attempt at putting them in order from least to most challenging for Ohio State.

2021 Ohio State Football Schedule

Sept. 2 – at Minnesota

Sept. 11 – Oregon

Sept. 18 – Tulsa

Sept. 25 – Akron

Oct. 2 – at Rutgers

Oct. 9 – Maryland

Oct. 23 – at Indiana

Oct. 30 – Penn State

Nov. 6 – at Nebraska

Nov. 13 – Purdue

Nov. 20 – Michigan State

Nov. 27 – at Michigan

What do you know, another Big Ten team that turned in a strange 2020 season. There was more bad than good, with Jeff Brohm’s Boilermakers losing four games in a row to end the year, but there’s something to be said about the fact that each loss Purdue suffered came by 10 points or less.

If there’s one element of Purdue’s attack that could inspire confidence heading into a matchup with the Buckeyes, besides the fact that the Boilermakers got a win in the most recent head-to-head matchup back in 2018, it’s that the Gold and Black had the Big Ten’s best passing offense last season –– and not by a small margin.

In fact, Purdue has averaged better than 300 yards per game through the air for the past three years running, and given that Ohio State had the Big Ten’s worst pass defense last season, there is at least a clearly identifiable path to victory in the matchup.

That alone makes Purdue a bit more dangerous than a couple of Ohio State’s other Big Ten opponents, even if the Boilermakers were to lose games to those same teams.