Ohio State Football Gets a Chance to Defend Gordon Gee

The Ohio State Buckeyes' Athletic Director Gene Smith announced today that the football team will be playing a home and home series with Texas Christian University (or TCU) starting in 2018. Smith has been looking for tougher non-conference opponents for the Buckeyes to play over the next few years. The two-game series with TCU has the opportunity to be an exciting set of games that provides both schools with national attention. The game also gives the Buckeyes an opportunity to defend one of the schools most beloved figures.

Two years ago, OSU president Gordon Gee received national attention for his comments about TCU and Boise State. In a statement, Gee said that the Buckeyes "do not play the Little Sisters of the Poor" in reference to how tough the Big Ten conference is in comparison to the conferences that TCU and Boise State play in. Gee felt that the two schools did not deserve to play for a National Championship even if they were undefeated because of how easy their schedules were. Gee sounded ignorant to the national media especially when he claimed he "didn't know enough about the X's and O's of college football." Gee's statements angered many TCU fans and Gee was in somewhat of a PR nightmare.

The matchup with TCU offers Ohio State an opportunity to prove Gee's point. If the Buckeyes can outperform and defeat TCU each time it will validate what Gee said. It will provide Gee with an "I told you so" moment. TCU has not played many tough opponents in recent years and playing against the school whose president criticized them will provide plenty of media coverage.

The only risk for the Buckeyes is the possibility of TCU's football program declining and the game losing its luster by 2018. This happened to the Buckeyes this season when they played a subpar California team. The game was scheduled years ago when Cal was at its peak and had numerous star athletes. Unfortunately Cal arrived in Columbus as a mediocre team that the Buckeyes were expected to defeat easily.

When President Gee made his statements about TCU, there was little he could do to weather the media storm coming at him. However, if his school can dominate TCU in the coming years, there will not be much for TCU fans to say.