Alabama can't cancel Ohio State game now, not after what Buckeyes boss said

Blake Toppmeyer, USA TODAYWed, February 25, 2026 at 10:15 AM UTC

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Alabama can’t duck Ohio State now, right?

Surely, the SEC’s famed elephant can’t tuck trunk and run from playing scheduled games against the Buckeyes in the 2027 and ’28 seasons. Not after what Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork said.

Bjork all but dared Alabama to live up to its end of the bargain and play the games, as scheduled.

As Bjork tells it, the Buckeyes have no intention of ducking Alabama. Your move, Tide.

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“We expect (the two-game series) to be played,” Bjork said in a recent interview with the Columbus Dispatch, part of the USA TODAY Network. “We should never be afraid to play anybody. We're Ohio State. People probably should be afraid to play us, right?”

That’s straight from the Buckeyes boss, that anyone and everyone “should be afraid” to play Ohio State. Now, it’s left to Alabama to answer: Is it afraid to play Ohio State?

'No indication' Alabama wants to duck Ohio State. Good.

Just so we’re clear, here’s why this question is relevant: Alabama recently scheduled a nonconference game against Georgia State for 2028.

That might sound innocuous, until you consider Alabama already had Ohio State, Oklahoma State and Tennessee-Martin on the books for that season. So, Georgia State makes four nonconference opponents. The SEC’s new nine-game conference schedule only leaves room for three.

To make room for Georgia State, Alabama must ditch either Ohio State, Oklahoma State or Tennessee-Martin. Who’ll it be?

“No indication they want to get out of (playing Ohio State),” Bjork said.

Good. Play the game.

That’s what Ohio State says it wants. That’s what TV partners that finance this enterprise would want. That’s what Alabama fans paying big bucks for tickets should want, too, unless they’ve become so broken by Indiana they believe the Tide would have little hope of making the playoff if they host the Buckeyes instead playing of a feeble foe.

Anytime, anyplace. That’s what tough guys say.

Is Alabama still that program? Is the SEC still that conference?

Ohio State just threw down the gauntlet. Is Kalen DeBoer the type of coach who’s OK with an athletic director from enemy territory saying opponents “should be afraid” to play Ohio State? Or, will Alabama’s coach take that challenge, pin it to the bulletin board, and build a squad that’ll knock Brutus’ block off?

Why Alabama must dump a nonconference game

The SEC increasing its conference schedule to nine games creates an inevitability that Alabama will cancel some future nonconference games. That doesn’t mean it should be Ohio State.

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If Alabama fears it won’t make a 12- (or 16-)team playoff if it plays Ohio State, then, I’m sorry, it’s not Alabama anymore.

Ohio State and Alabama deserve more credit than some of their ilk. Several of Ohio State’s peers wouldn’t dare play an SEC giant in September.

Unlike the SEC, the Big Ten does not require its teams to play either Notre Dame or a Power Four nonconference opponent. How pathetic.

Indiana, Penn State, Southern Cal, Washington and Nebraska will take the easy way out in 2026, with no games against any opponent from the SEC, ACC or the Big 12 or Notre Dame. Indiana isn’t scheduled to play its next nonconference game worthy of the adults table until 2030 against Notre Dame.

Remember, Miami reaped reward of big nonconference victory

You might be thinking, didn’t Indiana just go undefeated and bathe itself in splendor after playing a pitiful nonconference schedule? Yep, it’s true. The Hoosiers became the third straight Big Ten team to win the national championship after playing a zero Power Four nonconference opponents.

College football being a business of copycats, look out for schools canceling big-boy nonconference games and lining up Slappy State, Slippery Tech and Westeastern Slumpy College.

Fans shrug their shoulders and go along with it. Because, if you celebrate amid the confetti, you hardly care if the path to glory gets paved with the carcasses of overmatched roadkill.

Except, nobody tells the other side of the story. That’s the story of Penn State, which got fat on three cupcakes to start last season, then lost six straight and fired its coach.

Eventually, bad football teams can’t hide, even if they start with Nevada, Florida International and Villanova, as Penn State did in James Franklin’s final season.

Yes, Indiana cashed in on a path of lesser resistance. Counterpoint: Miami would not have reached the playoff, let alone the national championship game, if it had not played and beaten Notre Dame.

Everyone thinks about the risk of these games, but you can’t ignore the reward. If Alabama and Ohio State play as scheduled, the winner will gain some resume body armor, just as Miami did for beating the Irish in a season opener.

Alabama lost three SEC games in 2024 and still almost qualified for the playoff. Why? Strength of schedule.

Last season, the Tide qualified at 10-3, including a loss to Florida State.

Blue bloods can play other blue bloods and still make the playoff. For all that Indiana accomplished, it did not eradicate that.

Please, for all things good about nonconference clashes, may there come a day when a 9-3 team earns playoff qualification ahead of a 10-2, causing some athletic director to wonder whether they got it wrong playing Slappy State instead of Behemoth University.

Ohio State thinks of itself as a behemoth. It wants to play another behemoth, as scheduled. It’s up to Alabama to honor this challenge, or accept Bjork is right when he says other teams are afraid of the Buckeyes.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Alabama football can't cancel Ohio State game after what Ross Bjork said

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