Have any of you spoke to the current AD at Ohio and asked him if he scheduled two 1AA/FCS football schools for the 2026 season? Did any of you speak to former Bobcat ticket manager Ray Dixson, Radio guy Russ Eisenstein, former Associate AD Michael Stephens and others to ask them about "the hostile" work environment they experienced? Guessing none of you have done that. Also, "hostile" is the choice of words OCF used when describing the working conditions with the former Bobcat AD. But hey, you people are welcome to your own opinion.

Do you realize personnel turnover occurs in ALL companies, small businesses, universities, etc. You site 3 people above out of many in the athletic department. And of the above they all had other reasons to have left Ohio for other opportunities. You really need help to deal with reality.

LOL, 1996 isn't going down without a fight, unfortunately.

Hey, I'd take a home game with VT? ;-)

I was thinking JMU, not Va Tech. Wouldn’t be the first time they’ve come to Athens though.

That game was already on the schedule, but they must have acted quickly with the VT news because the San Diego State game was just announced a couple of days ago.

https://jmusports.com/news/2026/1/14/football-jmu-heads-t...

Wofford is off the schedule now. September 12 is now open for us.

https://x.com/FBSchedules/status/2016531297003286874

So after looking around, the only teams that are open 9/12 and don't have a full non conference schedule are Jacksonville State, Stanford, and USF. Neither USF or Jacksonville State have games with power schools yet so they might both seek a payout game at Stanford.

I think the most logical thing for us is to get a home and home starting in Athens in 2026 with Stanford. Yeah.

Ahh, I messed this up. The ACC is moving to a nine game conference slate. I thought they were still doing eight since some schools have four non conference games, but the ACC is honoring those contracts in what is a transition year. So Stanford is full.

We could also do Week 0 or a date later in the season. If we go that route, there are two other non-MAC G5 teams that have openings: FIU and Southern Miss. But both of them already have two road games.

UConn needs to fill a game. They are open Week 0 and October 17. They also already have seven home games accounted for so maybe they're open to a roadie.

The only power conference team that has an opening to fill is USC. They are open the same dates UConn is.

Kent has to fill a date and I assume they want a payout. They are already at South Carolina and Ohio State and Wofford actually jumped to them.

So to summarize - the teams that still have an opening are:

Ohio (would prefer a home game, I'm sure)
Kent (probably going after a buy game)
FIU (already plays two road games. Probably goes after FCS home game)
Southern Miss (already plays two road games)
USC (can do pretty much whatever they want. Already has two FBS home games and could schedule FCS)
UConn (probably wouldn't mind going on the road. Would they want to buy game or H/H USC? Or would they want something easier?)
USF (already plays at BG and doesn't have a P4 school on their schedule yet)
Jacksonville State (already plays at San Jose State and doesn't have a P4 school on their schedule yet)

PAC still has yet to announce their conference schedule. They were waiting for the 2026 CFP changes. They're meeting this week with how they'll handle an 8-team conference. Rumor is they're either going to have home-home with a select rival in conference or they're going to flex the final week of the season to determine their champion. Either way as it stands now, all 8 of those teams only have 11 games scheduled so far.

Also what a coincidence that Shab listed 8 teams needing a game!

I'd do USC if

1) They pay in the ball park of 50% more than Ohio State did OR
2) They pay a standard payout for them (if it's less than option 1) but throw in a H/H deal with men's basketball.

Could we end up playing a non-conference home and home with Kent State? It has been done by schools before when scheduling options are limited. I think Georgia Tech and NC State did it just last season.

Based on that if that schedule holds and given we have no idea who fills the 12th game slot, this has to be one of the worst home Ohio schedules in recent memory.

UMass (taking the NIU spot)
Western Michigan
Kent State
Ball State
Stonehill