Before the Buckeyes' Big Ten opener against Michigan State in East Lansing, Howard criticized the strength of Ohio State's schedule on its non-conference roster, or lack thereof, during an appearance on ESPN's College Football Live on Friday.

Desmond Howard says the Buckeyes took the entire month off because they didn't have a conference schedule: But Ohio State is finally welcome to the 2024 college football season in East Lansing against Sparty. pic.twitter.com/Y66VXaAwVF

— Josh Poloha (@JorshP) September 27, 2024

“During the week I was preparing and I said, 'Hey, Marissa, you need to look something up,'” Howard said. “‘I look at the top 25 ranked teams in college football, and I look at Ohio State. Are they the only team that hasn't played a Power Four team in four weeks? And she said, 'Yeah, Desmond, you're right.' So Ohio State basically took the whole month off – the whole first month – and now they're playing Michigan State.

“They’re finally playing a Power Four team,” he continued. “I'm going on the road and playing against a Michigan State team that leads the conference defensively in sacks and tackles for losses. The trenches, look at the fighting in the trenches. I'm not sure – I'll have to ask Pete.” (Thamel) later, because Michigan State lost at least three wide receivers to start the season… But Ohio State, finally, welcome to the 2024 college football season in East Lansing against Sparty.

“All I’m saying is they didn’t play anyone. Week 5, and they didn't play a Power Four team. That’s crazy.”

The Buckeyes' non-conference schedule has been pretty easy, no one is disputing that. According to ESPN, OSU's schedule through Week 4 – Akron, Western Michigan and Marshall – ranks 131st out of 134 FBS teams.

Ohio State was originally scheduled to play Washington on this year's non-conference schedule as part of a home game for this season and 2025, but the Buckeyes canceled that series and replaced it with a home game against Marshall on this year's schedule. They no longer have any non-conference Power 4 opponents.

That said, while Michigan played (and lost to) Texas in Ann Arbor in Week 2, a matchup that topped the non-conference list, the Wolverines' non-conference schedules in 2022 and 2023 were quite up for grabs comparable to those of non-conference Ohio State. Conference program this year. All six of Howard's alma mater's non-conference opponents over the last two seasons – Colorado State, Hawai'i, UConn, East Carolina, UNLV and Bowling Green – were Group 5 teams.

Pete Thamel brought up this very point after Howard's comments had the former Michigan star responding by saying, “Are you a Buckeye defenseman?”…We're talking about 2024, Pete.”

Kudos to you, Pete Thamel.

Howard has done his part to anger Ohio State fans for quite some time, particularly over the past year, calling Ryan Day “thin-skinned” and claiming the Buckeyes had “no excuses” when they were in last year The Michigan game was about the firing of Connor Stalions and the denigration of the Big Ten's handling of the scandals surrounding the Wolverines football team.

Unfortunately, Ohio State has taken care of non-conference business and now sets its sights on bigger tests for the future, starting Saturday night in East Lansing, with kickoff between the Buckeyes and Spartans set for 7:30 a.m. at Peacock.

The Buckeyes are slated to face much better non-conference opponents in the coming years. The games are scheduled for 2025 (home) and 2026 (away) against Texas, 2027 (home) and 2028 (away) against Alabama and 2030 (away) against Georgia. and 2031 (Home).