One of the biggest headaches this offseason for Ohio State is navigating arguably one of the toughest schedules we have seen in the last couple of years. However, according to a former Dallas Cowboys linebacker, this might be a blessing in disguise for Ryan Day after he claimed the Big Ten has finally caught up to reclaim the throne and debunk the SEC’s long-standing era of elite pride.

On February 15th, former Dallas Cowboys LB Bobby Carpenter hopped onto his 97.1 podcast and made it clear that the SEC’s benefit of the doubt days are over. He pointed to the Ohio State Buckeyes’ even-playing schedule and brutal gauntlet next season as the reason why.

“I think Ohio State, with their schedule next year, could be the first 9–3 team that would get in, should they potentially do that, just with how difficult their schedule is,” Bobby Carpenter said while laying out his case about unexpected SEC turmoil. “The SEC has also kind of lost some of that grace with the scheduling when the Big Ten has won the last three national titles.”

For years, SEC teams could lose two or even three games and still get into the title conversation because everyone assumed their schedule was just way tougher than anyone else’s. Bobby’s point is that those days are over because the Big Ten has bulked up so much that they now have the tough schedule trump card.

The numbers actually back him up for the upcoming 2026 season. Experts have officially ranked Ohio State as having the #1 hardest schedule in the entire country. Not only are they playing their rivals, but the Buckeyes also have five playoff-caliber teams waiting for revenge.

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They are playing five top-14 preseason-ranked teams next season. First, they’ve got a daunting road game against pre-season No. 4 ranked Texas and also head to Bloomington to face the undisputed natty championship Indiana Hoosiers (pre-season ranked 6).

Then they have to deal with powerhouses like the pre-season No. 2 ranked Oregon, No. 12 ranked USC, and 14th ranked Michigan. The chances of going 2-2 is more realistic than going 4-0 in this stretch. According to the seven-year NFL veteran, Ryan Day has a chance to turn this crisis into a blessing.

“And so that’s the other thing where they can’t champion, ‘Our 9–3 is better than yours.’Is it when you’ve got Texas, Michigan, USC, Oregon, right, Indiana, and then like Iowa and Illinois, which will probably be ranked in the top 25, too?”

Since we are sticking with the 12-team format for one more year, if the Ohio State Buckeyes edge 3–3 against those six heavy hitters and finish the season 9–3, their strength of schedule will probably keep them ranked high enough to snag one of those at-large bids. The 9–3 record would actually be an incredible achievement rather than a failure. The playoff committee would give Ohio State a similar benefit of the doubt as they gave to 9–3 Alabama last season.

One of the major reasons for this turnaround

One reason for this shift is because the Big Ten has been on an absolute tear for the last 3 years. The conference has won three straight national championships with 3 different teams: Michigan (2023), Ohio State (2024), and most recently, Indiana (2025). When your conference is actually and consistently bringing home the hardware year in and year out, the playoff committee stops giving the benefit of the doubt to the SEC and starts looking at the teams in the North.

End of the day, Bobby is calling out the “SEC exceptionalism” that used to dominate college football. He’s saying that if the SEC wants to claim their 9-3 teams are better, they have to prove it on the field again in the playoffs or by winning the natty or two.

Right now, with Ohio State sitting as a top favorite for the 2026 title (with +600 odds). They statistically got the best QB in the country in Julian Sayin, the best player in the country in Jeremiah Smith, and the top 5 RB in Bo Jackson. Fortunately, the Buckeyes will set the bar for what a championship-caliber team looks like.