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Welcome back to Buckeye Talk. It is another market down Monday. I'm Nathan Baird from Cleveland.com along with Doug Lamrie Steven Means on vacation. So he will miss out on his big declaration for this week. But this is a week for us to talk about the Ohio State football schedule a week.

You know what where it's been and where it's going this week we're marking down when we think of how state will lose another non conference regular season game every time this the schedule comes out of schedule announcement. I feel like these are the things that fans want to know about they want to know who are the big games coming up they know every year there's going to be a throwaway game they know every year there's going to be kind of a mid tier game but a game or how station still have a big edge and then who's that third game when how state adds that third game.

And a given year that is sort of the game that not only is a big deal I think for how state fans but potentially has a chance to draw a lot of eyes around the country. Doug, you obviously even doing this for a while like what how important you think these big marquee non conference games are for the average fan like how badly do they feel like they they need to have a game like that on the schedule and a game like that on the home schedule probably at least every other year.

Yeah I mean I think it's the second most important game on the schedule every year after the Michigan game I think it's something I get excited about it and I know fans get excited about it you get excited when you look a couple years ahead and say oh who's it going to be like I wonder how good they'll be when Ohio State plays them and now there was a time Nathan when we discuss this a lot of like is it smart for Ohio State to do this well they keep doing it like Jean Smith.

I think we talked about it on the 2005 Ohio State Texas retalkables Jean Smith a new athletic director had been in the job like a year at that point was on the sideline young Jean.

Jean is aged well though I mean Jean like nothing against young Jean but like it's it's it's 16 years later and Jean looks pretty much the same he's been around a long time and looks like a vigorous young man.

They're interviewing Jean Smith on the sideline about like hey isn't this awesome Texas is here in Ohio State even he's like yeah we're going to keep doing this and like he has been true to that word is it's something he wanted to do and again they've done it before you know you go back.

Pre-Jean it's not only Jean but you know UCLA and North Carolina state and you know I'm losing they had done it but they really it has been awesome and.

I think in the 12 team playoff world you know some things are going to change with college sports and I do think the outcomes of some of these non conference games in a 12 team playoff world will matter less because you can lose and be okay.

But I don't think going into the game that they will be that much less because they're just freaking awesome like it's just fun it's just fun to play a team you don't normally play.

And the rest of college football you know you play basically the same teams all the time so when I think about the teams they've played since I've been here since 2005 it is just an awesome list.

And it's it's great that it's going to continue but I think it is an absolutely vital part of Ohio State football and honestly in 2019 they didn't play one.

Because that was the year they switched the 18 19 TCU series to they made it not a home in home they did it as a one off in Dallas right in 2018 and then in 19 they played Florida Atlantic Cincinnati and somebody else but like.

Like Cincinnati was the best game and they blew Cincinnati off the field even though Cincinnati is a good program and I think you felt it there felt like there was a whole kind of like a in the non conference schedule that year you were here for that there wasn't any juice to it absolutely I remember that even after that Cincinnati game that was the first indication we had.

Everybody knows going into that season there were doubts the varying amounts of doubts there were people who.

You know thought that this might not quite yet be a playoff team or would have to really fight to get there there were people who thought they would go 9 and 3 for example like there was a wide range of opinions in there and I don't think.

I don't remember I don't think it may not not in 3 I don't think anyone said 9 and 3 that would be insane I know that that sounds ludicrous now but I'm pretty sure I heard that I think.

Might again I was just coming on to the beat at that time but I didn't still I feel like have a good perspective on how good this team was yet and I think I might have if you had swapped out one of those early non conference games for someone better and again but in retrospect the Cincinnati game almost looks like that because of what Cincinnati has looked.

Like the last couple years outside of that Ohio State game that actually kind of was a game like the same playing Cincinnati home was better than playing a lesser power 5 at home I just don't know if we knew that quite yet at the time and it took I think just longer into the season for that recollection or that that record for us to recognize how great that team was.

And listen you can get tricked in the non conference to like you can play a traditional national power that you think is like this is going to be a test as we talk like Alabama is great if this they play a big name team that actually stinks and it's like it get to the end of the year and it's like hey Ohio Alabama got credit for that like top 15 win.

In the first two weekends of the season we got to the end of the year the team they beat was seven and six it was like oh that actually met nothing but meanwhile Alabama was you know sucking all the juice out of that win for six weeks in the in the rankings so it can trick you but.

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