Ohio State Football: 4-Year Hiatus of OSU vs. Nebraska Robs Fans

Fans of both The Ohio State University and the Nebraska Cornhuskers were treated to a thrilling contest when the two teams met for the first time as Big Ten foes last October in Lincoln, as Nebraska stormed back from a 27-6 second-half deficit to stun the Buckeyes 34-27.

The two teams will meet again on October 6 in Columbus, and odds are fans will be treated to another great game. However, those same fans had better enjoy the showdown, as the two teams won't meet again in the regular season until 2017.

It was already known that Nebraska wasn't on the Buckeyes' schedule for 2013 or 2014. The Columbus Dispatch reports that when the 2015 and 2016 Big Ten schedule was released Tuesday the Cornhuskers were once again missing from Ohio State's slate, due to the way scheduling is determined now that the conference has two divisions.

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The four-year layoff is a byproduct of the divisional format the Big Ten adopted after Nebraska’s addition to the conference. Michigan is the Legends Division team that Ohio State is designated to play every year. That means the Buckeyes play only two other Legends teams per year, so one team won’t play the Buckeyes for consecutive two-year scheduling cycles.

It’s purely the luck of the draw that Nebraska is that team after the current two-year cycle ends this season, Big Ten senior associate commissioner Mark Rudner said.

“It was just random,” he said. “We had names in a hat, and we went that way and that was it.”

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Granted, there's an evil part of the fan in all of us that's giggling with glee at this news, as rather than facing Nebraska twice Ohio State must steel themselves to do battle against the gridiron juggernaut that is the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

On the other hand, wasn't part of the excitement of Nebraska joining the Big Ten the fact that rather than add a cupcake 12th member the conference added one of college football's most storied programs, a true challenge to the likes of Ohio State and Michigan?

Weren't you jumping out of your chairs during the first half last year, screaming with Buckeye pride as Ohio State took it to the Cornhuskers in their house?

For some reason, after halftime everything goes blank, but anyway...

We could still see Ohio State and Nebraska in the Big Ten title game, which I'll be pulling for during that stretch if only because the idea of Ohio State and Michigan having to play one another twice in a row still makes my ears bleed.

But still, for the sake of fans of both schools there has to be a way to insure that they meet more often than once every four years, so put the stupid hat down Mr. Rudner.

Let Minnesota play Indiana, and then let the big kids play.

And can we please do something about the division names? Please?