Ohio State Buckeyes opponent breakdowns: Northwestern

Opponents: Florida Atlantic | Cincinnati | Indiana | Miami (OH) | Nebraska | Michigan State |

The college football season is still weeks away but anticipation is starting to build as the calendar turns from June to July and we are closing in on less than two months from the first kickoffs of the season.

Much has been made of Ohio State’s schedule this season with its lack of a Power Five non-conference opponent on it, but don’t let anyone convince you that this schedule does not pose more than its fair share of problems for a team that will be breaking in not only a new quarterback but essentially a new head coach as Ryan Day takes over for Urban Meyer as the Buckeyes look to defend their back-to-back Big Ten championships.

The lack of a P5 non-conference opponent may overshadow the fact that Ohio State has about as difficult of a crossover schedule as a Big Ten East team can have with games against Nebraska, Wisconsin and Northwestern and the schedule maker did this team no favors with a final two of Penn State and Michigan to wrap up the regular season in November.

Speaking of Northwestern, they are the next team up. The last time the Buckeyes faced the Wildcats, a Big Ten title and a potential spot in the College Football Playoff were on the table. Ohio State was able to secure the Big Ten title but the CFP bid was out of reach as the Buckeyes had shot themselves in the foot against Purdue earlier in the season.

The Wildcats were the surprise story of the Big Ten last year after starting off slowly and then running wild through the Big Ten West to earn a berth in the league title game.

The Wildcats will look different this time around as a bunch of key players have moved on but don’t think for a second that Pat Fitzgerald does not have a trick or two up his sleeve as he looks to try and get one back from the Buckeyes after Ohio State dashed Northwestern Rose Bowl dreams in Indy back in December.

Last Year: 9-5, 8-1 Big Ten West

Northwestern shocked the football establishment last year by winning the Big Ten West and all of that was made more impressive with the Cats starting out the season at 1-3. After a week one conference win over Purdue in West Lafayette (Ind.) the Wildcats went on a three-game losing streak with losses to Duke, Akron and Michigan and people were ready to write off Pat Fitzgerald’s team, despite the fact that Northwestern only lost to Michigan by three points. How could a team with three losses, granted only one of them in league play, win their division?

Well, that is when the magic started as the Wildcats went on to win their next four games including wins over ranked Michigan State and Wisconsin to set up an early-November match with Notre Dame in one of the biggest games in recent memory for the Northwestern program. The game was at home and the Cats had most of the nation on their side but the Fighting Irish got out to a 24-7 lead and despite a furious comeback that saw Northwestern close the lead to just three points with seven minutes left in the game, the Wildcats could not push through and dropped the game 31-21.

The Big Ten West had no clear leader in terms of who wanted to win that side of the league and Northwestern just kept winning league games and ran off three to close out the season at 8-1 in the conference and secured the bid to head to Indianapolis, the Wildcats’ first trip to the conference championship game. Ohio State waited for them there and Northwestern tried to make things interesting in the early second half and cut Ohio State’s lead to three points in the 3rd quarter before Ohio State would go on a 21-3 run to close out the game and win it going away. A trip to the Rose Bowl was taken away from Northwestern and ultimately, Northwestern’s four losses going into that game did not do Ohio State any favors as the Big Ten Champion was passed over for the College Football Playoff.

Northwestern would end up in the Holiday Bowl against Utah and would spot the Utes a 20-3 lead in the first half only to score the last 28 points of the game, all in the third quarter, to bring home the hardware with a 31-20 win.