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The Ohio State football team has made an adjustment to its 2025 slate. Rather than facing off against UCONN in October, the Buckeyes will face Grambling State in early September.
The move has made noise on social media, with many calling the program hypocritical after years of lambasting the SEC for “cupcake” scheduling.
OSU was expected to host the Huskies in ’25, welcoming UCONN to the Horseshoe to the tune of a $1.95 million payday. An independent with little success over the last few seasons, a blowout was anticipated.
Rather than moving forward with that meeting against a program chasing its first winning season in more than a decade, the Buckeyes opted to water down their schedule even further.
Ohio State paid the Huskies $650,000 to back out of the deal, and they’ll give Grambling State another $1 million to come to Columbus.
Ohio State, UConn cancel 2025 game in Columbus. Instead, Ohio State will host Grambling State next season
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) June 18, 2024
While the athletic department is actually saving money with the switch, and decreasing the level of competition in the process, the optics aren’t great.
There’s been constant mockery spewed in the SEC’s direction for its early and late season FCS scheduling often used to break up big-time college football matchups. That point wasn’t lost on fans.
“Cancelling a game against one of the worst teams in FBS to get an FCS team is something.”
“Wow, I knew Ohio State football was soft, but I didn’t expect them to be dodging UCONN.”
“But I heard only SEC schools play FCS teams!”
Interestingly enough, that Grambling State matchup will now come directly following a season opener against SEC foe Texas rather than having an OOC game sprinkled in during league play. The October date will become a bye week.
Again, the result likely wouldn’t have changed had UCONN stayed on the slate, but for a conference that’s sanctimoniously trolled its SEC rivals for facing FCS foes, it’s certainly a bit ironic.