Ohio State coach Ryan Day’s Buckeyes will face a gauntlet of a schedule next season in their bid to regain their Big Ten crown and clinch a College Football Playoff berth. The Buckeyes benefited from beating the Texas Longhorns in their season opener last season, while coach Steve Sarkisian’s team ultimately failed to squeeze into the 12-team field.
Ohio State Insider Addresses Alabama Game Cancellation
The Buckeyes will continue to play tough non-conference games when they travel to Austin to face the Longhorns once again next season, one of the toughest in the Big Ten.
In addition, Day’s team will face the Alabama Crimson Tide in a home-and-home series in 2027 and 2028, which has raised speculation that the SEC powerhouse could cancel and downgrade to a lower-tier Power conference team.
During Thursday’s segment of the “Bobby Carpenter Show,” Ohio State insider Bobby Carpenter addressed the speculation surrounding the Buckeyes’ home-and-home series against the Crimson Tide.
“I did a radio hit with a friend of mine who lives in Tuscaloosa and does radio down there for Alabama. Super tied to the program,” Carpenter said. “He told me that he hadn’t heard yet that there was gonna be any cancellation for the Bama – Ohio State series, which starts in 2027 and 2028.”
Looks like the Ohio State-Alabama series is trending towards happening
“He told me that he hadn’t heard yet that there was going to be any cancellation of this.”
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— Bobby Carpenter Show (@BobbyCarpShow) February 12, 2026
Carpenter continued, “He said that the one other thing that Ohio State has going for it, unless they wanna cancel on their end, is the new SEC rules, they have to play one Power Four conference opponent or Notre Dame. So, you’re looking out a couple of years just to be able to replace Ohio State with a Purdue or a Kansas, maybe. I don’t know that this can be done.”
The SEC has adopted a new nine-game calendar, with the stipulation that each team must schedule a Power Four conference team or Notre Dame in its non-conference slate to maintain the sanctity of its schedule.
Analyst Links Bama, Ohio State Game to Kalen DeBoer’s Future
During an appearance on “97.1 The Fan,” ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum expressed doubt that the Crimson Tide would honor the game against the Buckeyes, given coach Kalen DeBoer’s tenuous position in Tuscaloosa.
“I sincerely doubt the Alabama game is going to happen based on what I’ve heard from Alabama’s AD,” Finebaum said. “He’s got a shaky situation there anyway with a coach who is in trouble. Georgia might do it because they’re a little more in-tune and aligned, but I really don’t think we’re going to go too far and see those games,” Finebaum said.
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He added, “I know what Ross Bjork has said, and I know what [Chris] Del Conte has said and other ADs have said, but the reality is that the ninth SEC game is going to be very costly for a lot of programs.”
The Buckeyes will be expected to be among the elites next season, despite a tough schedule that includes road games against the Iowa Hawkeyes, USC Trojans, and Indiana Hoosiers, before facing the Oregon Ducks at the Horseshoe.
