
CBS Sports predicts first Ohio state football loss on 2025 schedule
With conference expansion and an expanded College Football Playoff, the prospects of going an entire season undefeated is becoming an almost impossible task. The best team in the game last year was Ohio State after going on the most impressive postseason run in the sports' history, but even the Buckeyes had two losses before figuring that all out.
Big Ten football media days just finished up last week, and with it, we've seen a lot of focus on some Big Ten predictions across local and national coverage, including teams' win/loss records and more. And while Buckeye fans would love to believe Ohio State will go undefeated next season and beat all teams by at least two touchdowns, that's simply not realistic.
CBS Sports' Brad Crawford published a piece predicting each Big Ten team's first loss of the 2025 schedule, and OSU fans probably won't like where he believes the Buckeyes will falter for the first time this fall. According to Crawford, he believes Ohio State will lose the season-opener against the Texas Longhorns on August 30.
"Two new coordinators. A first-year starting quarterback. A rebuilt defensive front seven. It might take time for the reigning national champions to gel, but there's no easing in -- not with Texas coming to town," wrote Crawford. "The Longhorns also have revenge on their minds after Ohio State kept them out of the title game last year."
It's hard to throw too much shade at Crawford for this. Rarely is there a season-opener as challenging as what Ohio State will face when it hosts Texas, but the game is on the banks of the Olentangy in the 'Shoe, so that should give the Buckeyes a significant boost. The game could really go either way, but don't be surprised if the Buckeyes can still take care of business in one whale of a first game of the year.
Related Stories:
Urban Meyer, Mack Brown predict Ohio State vs. TexasHeather Dinich picks winner of Ohio State vs. Texas
Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion. Follow Phil Harrison on X.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


USA Today
28 minutes ago
- USA Today
Cowboys' Micah Parsons requests trade, did Steelers' T.J. Watt play a role?
Thank you Dallas 🦁👑 🙏🏾! I One of the NFL's best edge rushers has officially requested a trade, as Micah Parsons took to social media to declare his desire to leave the Cowboys amid ongoing contract talks — but one can't help but wonder if Steelers star T.J. Watt inadvertently played a major role in the decision. After months of failed negotiations with Dallas — and continuous shots from Cowboys owner Jerry Jones — Parsons made the trade request official with a social media post captioned, "Thank you Dallas!" Here is a short excerpt from his message: "Up to today the team has not had a single conversation with my agent about a contract," Parsons wrote on X. "Not one demand has been made by my agent about money, years, or anything else. Still, I stayed quiet, but again, after repeated shots at myself and all the narratives, I have made a tough decision. I no longer want to play for the Dallas Cowboys. My trade request has been submitted to Stephen Jones personally." While Parsons alluded to other factors in play — like refusing to partake in negotiations without his agent present — the Cowboys star defender hinted at Watt's record-breaking deal and other edge rushers' contracts during training camp. 'When you go around the league, you see these other teams taking care of their best guys," Parsons said a few weeks ago. "I see T.J. got taken care of. Maxx [Crosby] got taken care of. Myles [Garrett] got taken care of, and he's got two years left on his deal. You see a lot of people in our league getting taken care of, and you wish you had that same type of energy." More from Micah Parsons:'You see these other teams taking care of their best guys. I see TJ (Watt) got taken care of. Maxx (Crosby) got taken care of. Myles (Garrett) got taken care of…I don't take it personally, I just don't understand it.'#DallasCowboys Despite claims that the trade request didn't stem from financial demands, his camp mentality tells a different story — and the Pittsburgh Steelers deserve more credit for getting Watt extended long-term, even if it meant making him the highest-paid non-QB in the NFL with an average annual salary of $41.5 million. For up-to-date Steelers coverage, follow us on X @TheSteelersWire and give our Facebook page a like.


USA Today
28 minutes ago
- USA Today
Michigan State football punter named to Ray Guy award watchlist
Michigan State football is starting to develop a reputation as one of the top programs for punters in the country. For the third year in a row, MSU punter Ryan Eckley has been named to the Ray Guy award watchlist, which is given to the top punter in college football. Michigan State has never had a punter win the prestigious award, although many fans believed Bryce Baringer should have taken the honor back in 2022, when he narrowly lost to Adam Korsak of Rutgers. Eckley took over for Baringer in 2023, and remarkably, there was barely a dip in performance. Eckley averaged 46.7 yards per punt in 2023 and 47.9 yards per punt last season. In 2024, 13.95 percent of his punts landed within the 20-yard line. Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Andrew Brewster on Twitter @IAmBrewster.


USA Today
28 minutes ago
- USA Today
Where ESPN ranks Clemson's 2025 schedule among toughest, easiest in college football
Week 1 of the 2025 college football season is less than a month away, and the Clemson Tigers have officially reported to fall camp. The Tigers, named the preseason favorites to win the ACC in the conference media poll, will face LSU on Aug. 30 at Memorial Stadium in a matchup that's as big as season openers get these days. A Clemson win would send a signal to the rest of college football that Dabo Swinney's Tigers are not only back, but that they're a serious threat to compete for the national title. A loss to LSU would hardly be fatal to Clemson's hopes of reaching the expanded College Football Playoff, but it would continue the narrative that the Tigers have been surpassed by their SEC counterparts after going 0-3 against them in head-to-head play last year, and just 3-7 since the 2019 national title game. As for the rest of Clemson's 2025 slate, ESPN senior college football writer Chris Low took a look at the toughest and easiest schedules for every Power Four conference team and FBS member. Here's what Low said about the Tigers' 2025 schedule. Clemson has toughest nonconference Power Four schedule, ESPN says In addition to Clemson's season opener with LSU, the Tigers will close the regular season against a South Carolina program that's on the rise after going 9-3 a year ago and winning their second straight trip to Death Valley. Having to face LSU's Garrett Nussmeier and South Carolina's LaNorris Sellers gives Clemson the toughest nonconference Power Four schedule in the nation, Low says. The veteran ESPN scribe put the Tigers' 12-game slate ahead of Stanford and Miami for the most difficult schedule (the Hurricanes face Notre Dame and the Florida Gators in nonconference play). "This was a coin flip between Clemson and Stanford until quarterback Jake Retzlaff departed BYU. Now the trip to No. 10 BYU on Sept. 6 doesn't look quite as daunting for the Cardinal, who end the season Nov. 29 at home against No. 7 Notre Dame. So Clemson gets the nod. The Tigers open the season Aug. 31 at home against No. 6 LSU, then close the season Nov. 29 on the road against bitter rival South Carolina, which is ranked No. 13. Clemson also faces Troy, a top contender in the Sun Belt Conference, at home a week after the LSU opener." --Chris Low, ESPN Low also put Clemson's matchups with LSU and South Carolina on his list of college football's 12 "must-see" games for 2025. Can Clemson, Dabo Swinney reverse fortunes against SEC heavyweights? For the second straight year and the third time since 2021, Clemson opens the season with a marquee nonconference showdown against an SEC opponent. The Tigers fell to the Georgia Bulldogs, 34-3, in Week 1 last year at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Clemson has dropped two of the past three meetings against South Carolina, as well as a lopsided defeat against Tennessee in the 2022 Orange Bowl, and a loss the 2021 opener against Georgia in Charlotte. The Tigers defeated the Gamecocks the last time the two rivals met in Columbia in 2023 and capped their season with a win over Kentucky in the Gator Bowl. "Clemson is 18-12 vs. the SEC since the start of the 2012 season, but the Tigers have lost seven of their past 10 games to SEC opponents, beginning with a 42-25 loss to LSU in the 2019 national championship game." --Chris Low, ESPN Easiest Power Four schedule belongs to ACC team, ESPN believes According to Low, the Power Four team with the easiest path to a bowl game in 2025 resides in the ACC: Wake Forest. A big reason why? The Deacs won't have Clemson on their schedule for the first time since before the ACC was even founded in 1953. Clemson and Wake Forest were two of the ACC's charter members, along with Duke, North Carolina, NC State, South Carolina and Maryland. "The Deacons avoid Clemson, Miami and Louisville in the ACC. Their first four games are at home along with two of their last three games. A game at No. 24 Ole Miss was replaced by a trip to Oregon State, meaning there are no Power 4 nonconference foes on the Deacons' schedule. Their only back-to-back conference games on the road are against Florida State and Virginia on Nov. 1 and Nov. 8, and those teams finished a combined 7-17 last season." --Chris Low, ESPN Clemson football schedule 2025 Clemson's season opener against LSU on Aug. 30 is set for a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff. The game will be televised on ABC. Here's a look at the Tigers' full 2025 schedule, with any announced start times. All times Eastern. Contact us @Clemson_Wire on X, and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Clemson Tigers news and notes, plus opinions.