By Pete Quint
The Buckeyes will travel to Knoxville on September 1, 2018 and Tennessee
will return the favor in Columbus
on September 7, 2019. The last time the
two schools met was in the 1995 Citrus Bowl with the Heisman winner Eddie
George’s Buckeyes falling to Peyton Manning’s Volunteers 20-14. (Remember the
cleat scandal?) This will be the first
time the two schools have met in the regular season.
Last season’s embarrassment of a
schedule and the flack the university endured from the local and national media
has prompted the athletic department to step up the regular season
opponents. For the next ten years the
Buckeyes will play USC, Miami (FLA), Virginia Tech, Cal,
Oklahoma and now Tennessee in the pre-season.
I absolutely love the fact the
Buckeyes will be playing in premier games.
It makes for good ratings, great exposure and is invaluable to recruiting. The games will likely be in prime time so the
entire nation will be watching including young men who may rarely get to see
the Buckeyes play. I don’t expect Ohio State
to win every one of these games but it will certainly go a long way for recruiting
and the national reputation and respect of the university.
I just hope the Big Ten Network
doesn’t screw up things and make it impossible for anyone to see these
games.