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Texas at Ohio State ranked as the No. 2 non-conference game on the 2025 schedule

Joe Cookby:Joe Cook•04/03/25•

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Tre Wisner
Quintrevion Wisner (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

Every year, there are marquee non-conference games in the early portions of the season that provide a light at the end of the long offseason tunnel. These games feature teams that often travel across the country to battle in rare instances of sharing the field together. And over the past decade, the Texas Longhorns have regularly been involved in those types of games.

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Non-conference matchups against Notre Dame, USC, LSU, Arkansas, Alabama, and Michigan have been played by the Longhorns. The next marquee out-of-conference game for the Longhorns? On3 considers it to be the No. 2 non-conference matchup in the entire 2025 schedule.

It just so happens it’s against the Ohio State Buckeyes, the defending national champions and the team that ended Texas’ 2024 season in the Cotton Bowl in January.

Here’s what Ari Wasserman, who put together the top 10 list, had to say about the August 30 matchup in Columbus, Ohio.

Ohio State is the defending national champion and Texas should enter the 2025 season as the favorite to win it all. This game isn’t only a rematch of a thrilling game in the College Football Playoff semifinals, it is also the starting debut for Texas quarterback Arch Manning. Add in that Ohio State will have a much different roster than a year ago and the Buckeyes will also be breaking in a new quarterback. Will it be Julian Sayin or someone else? Regardless, this game will give us a good idea of whether Texas is as good as the hype and will also reveal if the Buckeyes reloaded or are in for a rebuilding year.

It will be the fifth matchup between Texas and Ohio State in their respective histories. The two teams played regular season games in 2005 and 2006, with the Longhorns’ win in Ohio Stadium in 2005 functioning as the kickstart to a national championship season. A No. 1 vs. No. 2 battle took place in Austin the year after, with Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium serving as the launch pad for Troy Smith‘s Heisman campaign.

The most recent matchup prior to 2025 between the two powerhouse programs was after the 2008 season, when Texas defeated OSU in the Fiesta Bowl thanks to a last-minute connection between Colt McCoy and Quan Cosby.

As Wasserman mentioned, Ohio State loses plenty but returns star players like Caleb Downs and Jeremiah Smith. Texas starts the Manning era in a high profile way in a game that’s likely to kick off at 11 a.m. Central. The current get-in-the-door price on Gametime.co for one ticket is $399.

Texas remains committed to playing at least one big out-of-conference matchup in the early season before embarking on Southeastern Conference play. Texas will host Ohio State in 2026, host Michigan in 2027, play at Notre Dame in 2028, host the Fighting Irish in 2029, travel to Arizona State in 2032, then host the Sun Devils in 2033.

Here are the games Texas joined as part as the best non-conference battles the 2025 season has to offer.

On3’s 10 best nonconference games in the 2025

  1. LSU at Clemson, Aug. 30
  2. Texas at Ohio State, Aug. 30
  3. Florida at Miami, Sept. 20
  4. Michigan at Oklahoma, Sept. 6
  5. Alabama at Florida State, Aug. 30
  6. Clemson at South Carolina, Nov. 29
  7. TCU at North Carolina, Sept. 1
  8. Notre Dame at Miami, Aug. 30
  9. Illinois at Duke, Sept. 6
  10. Auburn at Baylor, Aug. 30

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