If we don't at least win one of those two, I will lose a whole lot of faith.

I don't know about noticeably better ... but they still play in the Big XII and we caught them last year early in the season.

Not say they will be good .... or even competitive in the Big XII this year ... but by the end of the year they beat Texas, lost by 1 to TCU and was fairly competitive in over half of their Big XII games.

And not to mention they were embarrassed by Ohio at home last year ... have lost something like 37 straight road games ... so they will certainly have this game circled.

If Maxwell/Rourke haven't figured things out after Hampton/Purdue ... this could be an L for Bobcats.

I know most chalk it up as almost an automatic W .... I'm not so quick to put it in the gimmie column.

Remember ... this is also an Ohio team that lost to Texas State at home last year.

Anything is possible.

I think we most likely split with Purdue/KU .... winning both would be tremendous and could lead to a 4-0 non-conference season. Lose both ... and I wouldn't be stunned if Ohio was 1-3 in the non-league portion of the schedule.

Until this program turns the corner (12 years and counting now) .... I don't think there is an automatic win EVER on their schedule (outside of FCS games). They are good enough to win them all, but they've also shown too many tendencies to lose just about any game on their schedule over the years.

I just wish it was a night game rather than wasting that on freakin' Hampton.

Win or lose against Kansas or Purdue, the real victory would be getting past those games injury free, so as to head into MAC Competition at full strength.

Good insight. I hadn't considered that. Let's hope that's not the case this year.

I'm not letting the "Power Five" labeling of either one of these two teams fool me. And no, I am not saying that aren't "technically" P5 teams. They are. But simply by conference affiliation only. They are two of the worst P5 teams in the country and have been for the last several years. It reminds me of the case with Temple back when it was in the Big East and was the cellar dweller of a BCS conference. Kansas and Purdue may be P5 teams, but they are weaker than a number of G5 teams out there, they simply reside in P5 conferences. These are exactly the type of P5 teams Ohio's AD has made the norm to schedule.They were two of the worst P5 teams in the land when the games were contracted and they are still like that several years later heading into the season. It's no different with Virginia who - NOT surprising - is on Ohio's schedule for next season.

Targeting these crappy P5 teams does next to nothing for me personally. It's also a big reason why Ohio has never ever beaten a Top 25 team. How can you beat a Top 25 team when you rarely ever even play one? We have squandered a lot of opportunities with some teams capable of those type of wins with this sort of scheduling philosophy. The win over Kansas last year was pretty blah. Ohio was clearly the better team and the win made next to zero national headlines because Kansas is a P5 afterthought. I think we all can agree that beating MAC foe Toledo last year was a heck of a lot better of a win than beating Kansas and it certainly generated more attention and excitement. The Kansas and Purdue games are essentially feel-good wins if they occur. We can pat ourselves on the back if Ohio wins one or both, but they're equal to some of the competition we'll face in the MAC and do nothing of the national scale. These two schools are speed bumps in the Big 12 and Big 10 who occasional pull out an upset win when the stars align, and they'd be nothing more than a pothole if they played in the MAC. They are the cupcakes of the P5 and Ohio has them both. I just hope our AD has factored in the cost a team trip to the dentist because the team is gonna need a good teeth cleaning after the overload of cream puff P5 teams he's thrown at them in their careers.