Ohio State's regular-season schedule will test the strength of this year's Buckeyes, and we take a look at how each of the 12 opponents stack up entering the 2022 season.
Ohio State returns to the gridiron this fall off the heels of its first multi-loss regular season since 2017. It wasn’t the year the Buckeyes expected, though anything less than beating Michigan, winning a Big Ten title and hoisting a national championship trophy is seen as subpar in Columbus.
On the bright side, Day’s team starts the 2022 season with a 0-0 record and one of the most high-powered offenses in college football. Stroud returns as a Heisman Trophy favorite, Smith-Njigba steps into a featured role in the passing attack after a breakout year as a sophomore and TreVeyon Henderson looks to build upon an impressive freshman campaign.
Notre Dame saw starting quarterback Jack Coan, leading rusher Kyren Williams and top receiver Kevin Austin depart the program after 2021. Safety Kyle Hamilton also declared for the NFL Draft and became the No. 14 overall pick to the Baltimore Ravens. Freeman landed All-American safety Brandon Joseph from Northwestern in the summer, which lessens the severity of Hamilton’s departure. Joseph has nine interceptions since the 2020 season and recorded 79 tackles in 2021. The former Wildcat joins a talented Notre Dame defense returning eight starters, including preseason All-American defensive end Isaiah Foskey.
On offense, Arkansas State isn’t quite an air raid, but it likes to toss the football around the field. Layne Hatcher and James Blackman split snaps at quarterback last season, but neither player found successful footing. Hatcher transferred to Texas State after the season, which means Blackman will likely take over the starting role for the Red Wolves in 2022. He completed 59.6 percent of his passes for 1,344 yards, eight touchdowns and four interceptions.
Ohio State is favored to win by multiple scores and should win comfortably, but don’t be surprised if the Rockets last a few rounds with the Buckeyes. Sophomore quarterback Dequan Finn is the centerpiece of a Toledo offense that led the Mid-American Conference in scoring last season. Finn was an excellent dual-threat option in 2021, tossing 18 touchdowns with only two interceptions and using his feet for nine more scores.
Ohio State’s first Big Ten opponent will be a familiar one in Wisconsin. The Buckeyes and Badgers have met repeatedly over the years, with most of their matchups taking place at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis for the conference title game. Graham Mertz will be this year’s starter after a rocky 2021 campaign. In Wisconsin’s first four games, Mertz completed only 56.4 percent of his passes and paired two touchdowns with six interceptions. Mertz improved for the rest of the season with a 61.5 percent completion rate, eight touchdowns and five interceptions, leading the Badgers to wins in eight of their last nine games.
Wimsatt, a four-star prospect who reclassified into the 2021 class, joined the program last year and appeared in four games last season, maintaining his redshirt. But he saw significant time in the Gator Bowl, indicating that Schiano holds him in high esteem. Mel Tucker’s first season in East Lansing was a defining one as he led Michigan State to an 11-2 record with a win over Pittsburgh in the Peach Bowl.
Michigan State’s defense remains largely intact and will have nine returning starters. The Spartans return their entire linebacker and secondary units and will need only to replace edge rushers on the defensive line. Sophomores Khris Bogle and Jeff Pietrowksi will be relied on to continue the Spartans’ top-ranked pass rush that led the Big Ten with 43 sacks last season, but the Spartans need to improve on the back end after allowing a nation-worst 324.8 passing yards per game last year.
However, Campbell and Moss can only take care of their side of the football. Spencer Petras will likely be the starting quarterback for the third straight season. He was inconsistent last year and threw only 10 touchdowns with nine interceptions. If Iowa wants to go anywhere, they’ll need a more explosive offense.
Penn State’s most prominent question marks are with the offensive line, which only returns two starters. Even worse, last season’s offensive line allowed a conference-worst 34 sacks in 2021. Leading rusher Keyvone Lee will work behind them after a 530-yard 2021 season, and all eyes will be on five-star running back Nick Singleton as he hopes for a breakout freshman campaign.
After boasting one of the nation’s strongest defenses in 2020, Northwestern took a significant step back the following year. That regression could continue after Brandon Joseph’s transfer to Notre Dame. Fitzgerald’s teams usually thrive on that side of the ball, but his team may be heading for another subpar year of stopping opposing offenses.
What was Ohio State’s most challenging regular-season game from two years ago quickly became a snoozefest in Bloomington last year. Still, there is hope that the Hoosiers could rebound this fall and become more like the 2020 iteration of Indiana rather than the misfire that occurred last season. Mike Locksley led the Terrapins to their first bowl win in 11 years last season when they beat Virginia Tech 54-10 in the Pinstripe Bowl. However, it wasn’t exactly the year Maryland had hoped for after an impressive start.
No matter how talented the offense is, Maryland won’t go far without an improved defense. The Terrapins will have to do that without their top two tacklers from a season ago, Jordan Mosley and Nick Cross. Senior cornerback Jakorian Bennett should step up as the defense’s leader after a 2021 campaign where he collected 12 pass-breakups and three interceptions. Locksley will need him to be stellar, as his team allowed 403.5 yards and 30.
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