The Ohio State Buckeyes have announced that they have canceled a future home-and-home series with the Washington Huskies that was scheduled for the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
Ohio State and Washington scheduled their home-and-home series back in 2017. The series was set to begin on Sept. 14, 2024 at Husky Stadium in Seattle, Wash., before concluding the following season on Sept. 13, 2025 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.
“We initiated the cancellation,” Ohio State Senior Vice President and Athletic Director Gene Smith said. “I have the utmost respect for the University of Washington and for Director of Athletics Jennifer Cohen, and this was a very difficult call to make.
“Consistent with terms of the contract, we will be responsible for the $500,000 cancellation penalty that has to be paid by February 2025. As a result of the cancellation, we will add an eighth home game for the 2024 season, affording us the opportunity to have the funding to pay the penalty and guarantee for that eighth opponent.”
Ohio State now has a non-conference opening in both the 2024 and 2025 seasons. In 2024, both Southern Miss and Western Michigan are slated to visit Ohio Stadium, while the Buckeyes’ 2025 slate includes home matchups with Texas and UConn.
“We are very disappointed that our student-athletes, staff and Husky Nation won’t get to experience these two games with Ohio State,” said UW director of athletics Jennifer Cohen. “Everyone has had these dates circled for a number of years and we were looking forward to these opportunities to compete against the Buckeyes. We are in the process of finding new opponents for the 2024 and 2025 seasons and will provide an update as soon as we have one.”
Washington is also down to two non-conference opponents both seasons. The Huskies are slated to host Weber State and Eastern Michigan in 2024 and Colorado State and UC Davis in 2025.
Football Schedules
Instead a playing a usually good Wahington team in these two years, Ohio St. will instead schedule a couple body bag games in order to get that eighth home game. Not a fan of this.
Dave, I completely agree!! No wonder the Buckeyes can’t get over the top. They just want to play a soft non-conference schedule, hope to run the Big 10 and then hope for the best in the playoffs.
What’s the matter, Ohio State? Chicken??
Gotta make room for Akron and Youngstown St.
Washington should hook up with Oklahoma who has an open date that season to do a series in 2024 at Washington and then return the game to Norman in 2027. Then find another team to do a home and home with in 2025-26. Washington currently doesn’t have a Power 5 on the schedule after this coming season until 2028 when they host Michigan in a COVID makeup game. Definitely a bad look for Ohio State though, an 8th home game shouldn’t be a priority.
How about Penn State vs. Washington to fill that wraparound idea? PSU has an opening in 2025, and no Power 5 nonconference foe in 2026.
New OCC policy. Schedule a home and home with a quality opponent several years in advance and then cancel the year before it is scheduled if they appear to be any good. Ohio State could have canceled Texas, but wait, Washington handled Texas a few months ago in San Antonio in the Alamo bowl, so cancel the more difficult team.
It will be a conference game by then
Interesting take. You saw the minutes of the meeting just laying around when cleaning up the Big 10 office late at night? —-If not, this is a terrible look for ohio state university. No spin can make this look like osu is a quality competitive institution. big 10 commissioner bails for the nfl and looked weak bowing to pressure to cancel football season during covid, osu looks like a scheduling manipulator, michigan coach is on and off as deciding as to where he will coach next year. total dysfunction.
Maybe Little Sisters of the Poor University will be available for The Formerly The.
bowling green and toledo I think
Probably replacing the Washington Huskies with the Northern Illinois Huskies and Houston Christian Huskies.
You left out the UConn Huskies.