Ohio State has canceled its home-and-home series with Washington in 2024 and 2025, the athletics department announced Wednesday. Credit: Zachary Rilley | Photo Editor
Ohio State has canceled its home-and-home series with Washington in 2024 and 2025, the athletics department announced Wednesday.
According to a release, athletics director Gene Smith and the Buckeyes initiated the cancellation, and it will mean Ohio State must adjust its schedules for those two seasons.
“I have the utmost respect for the University of Washington and for Director of Athletics Jennifer Cohen, and this was a very difficult call to make,” Smith said in the release.
Ohio State will be responsible for paying Washington a $500,000 cancellation fee by February 2025, according to the release.
The Buckeyes will also need to host a nonconference contest Sept. 7, 2024, or Sept. 14, 2024, as a result, giving them an eighth home game that season, which will afford Ohio State “the opportunity to have the funding to pay the penalty and guarantee for that eighth opponent,” Smith said.
The impact on the 2025 season will also mean Ohio State will need to schedule a replacement game that year, also being a nonconference home game, on either Sept. 6, 2025, or Sept. 13, 2025, according to the release.
The changes come ahead of UCLA and the University of Southern California’s move from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten Conference, and the two programs will officially join the conference in August 2024.
While the Buckeyes’ full 2024 season schedule won’t be announced until October, it’s likely to include games against either or both the Bruins and USC.
Among the flurry of changes in college athletics and football the past several seasons, it’s also worth keeping in mind the 2024 campaign will be the first to feature the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff.
