Ohio State 2026 opponent breakdown: Week 1, Ball State

The Buckeyes will play the Cardinals for the first time on Sept. 5, as Ball State brings back some offensive line experience while adding two QBs.

Ball State last won the MAC in 2020 and will open the season against Ohio State, the first meeting ever between the two football programs. (Photo courtesy of Ball State Athletics.)

COLUMBUS — Welcome to the first of our 12 opponent previews for Ohio State’s regular season in 2026.

We will run through the schedule in order, giving you quick stats, breakdowns and players to know for the teams the Buckeyes will face this fall. That will include a YouTube/podcast interview with an expert on the other team, which you can find on our free feeds and will also be embedded here.

At the end of each breakdown, Bill and I will each assign a percent chance we believe Ohio State has to win the game. Over the course of the breakdown, we will multiply those percentages and get a final number for the percent chance we think the Buckeyes have to go undefeated.

The plan is to do one of these a week for the next 12 weeks, which will take us up to Big Ten Media Days at the end of July.

Only four months until Buckeye football.

Ball State Cardinals

Ohio State opponent No. 1

Sept. 5, 12:30, at Ohio Stadium

2025 record

4-8, 3-5, tied for ninth in the MAC

2025 stats

• 132 out of 136 FBS teams in final SP+ ratings

• 132 in FEI ratings (132 offense, 116 defense)

• 132 in adjusted EPA/play (133 offense, 73 defense)

• Scored 15.8 ppg (132); allowed 29.8 (101)

History vs. Buckeyes

This will be the first meeting between the schools. The game was announced in March of 2020, eight days before COVID was declared a global pandemic, so we maybe didn’t appreciate the historic nature of the announcement at the time.