* Open at home v. Syracuse. Coach Dino Babers, after the Orange lost to ND Saturday, said there are a lot of players on Syracuse's defense that can't compete with him in the weight room, even though he is almost 60 years old. He said they have to get stronger over the next nine months and they will be very good. The NBC announcer mentioned Ohio during Saturday's broadcast when a Syracuse player was ejected in the second half for an illegal hit, saying he'll have to also miss the first half of their opener at Ohio.

* At Lousiana. I sat behind this team's sideline last fall at Peden and was impressed with the size and athleticism of its players. Typically, teams at this level get players that are either big but not athletic or athletic but not big. Rarely do they get players that combine both but the Cajuns have several players of this nature. And they've been in the top 25 most of 2020.

* At Northwestern, who has clinched the big 10 west after a lousy 2019.

I think Ohio should be better next year. They're going to have to be with these early challenges. The schedules for the following years only get more ambitious.

Are we going to add a 4th opponent the week of 9/11?

It should be a FCS school and, apparently, as of now, it is Garner-Webb but they have a game at UNC-Charlotte on 9/11. Our game date is TBA. I'm sure Ohio would like to have an FCS opponent on 9/11. Maybe we are trying to rearrange things so that is possible.

Opening at home vs Syracuse is good for fans, but not a great schedule by our former AD. With this university strapped for cash, just like most of the MAC, why do a home and home with an ACC school? Not a wise decision.

Yeah, Most G5 OOC schedules are a payout game from a P5, a pay-in game with an FCS and two games as part of home and home series. The home and home games are usually against other G5s but on occasion they are against P5s. If you can do that it should usually help your attendance in your home games. Other than that it doesn't chance the financial dynamic very much. I'm not sure what there is to complain about

Man, if we are getting that many folks into Peden when the capacity is a thousand less, just think what we could produce with a state of the art 30-35k facility, double deck on West side of Peden. That may give us the needed revenue to join the Big East or some other better conference.

The Syracuse game has lost a lot of luster in a short period of time. When it was first announced a few years ago, the Orange appeared to be on the rise. Since then they have majorly plummeted. This version of Syracuse looks more like Kansas than it did a few years ago. Should be an Ohio win.

But that trip to Syracuse will take the place of what would be a trip to another G5 team and there will be a payout game from another P5 team that same year. Just think of Syracuse functioning as a G5 team for scheduling purposes here just as Kansas did a couple of years ago. It changes almost nothing dollars and cents wise from our normal scheduling.

We have a better chance of slightly more attendance in the home game with respect to most G5 teams and the two games have a better chance of being on ESPNU instead of ESPN3. That's all that is financially different.

Love what Louisiana is doing, but I wouldn't be shocked to see Billy Napier end up at a bigger job by 2021.

Hope you are correct OhioBobcat! Although I do think the Orange are a step above the Kansas teams Ohio defeated.