Ohio State Doesn't Want To Play Louisville

Since Louisville's ascension from college football's bottom tiers, the program has struggled to land marquee non-conference opponents on its schedule. Teams like Texas and Penn State and Florida State had no problems scheduling the Cardinals when they were perceived as a guaranteed W, but landing those types of names has proven more and more difficult for U of L as the years have gone on (still love you, Miami).

The issue has reached a climax this offseason, as arguably the best Louisville football team in program history stares down arguably the worst schedule over that same stretch. The powers that be at U of L made furious attempts during the winter months to land Alabama, Texas A&M, Michigan and others on the schedule, but all proved to be fruitless.

Hoping to avoid a similar (non-conference) situation in the future, Charlie Strong stated publicly earlier this week that he'd "love to play" former boss Urban Meyer and Ohio State, which currently has two openings on its 2015 schedule.

Apparently the feeling is not mutual.

Martin Jarmond, the Ohio State associate athletic director whose duties include dealing with football schedules, said a neutral site game wouldn't work for 2015 and Louisville has not come up in discussions as a potential opponent. So that idea would have to be tabled for further down the line.

Ohio State has thought about a lot of other teams for 2015. The Buckeyes have their four nonconference games for 2014 lined up - in Baltimore against Navy, Kent State, Virginia Tech and Cincinnati. They have their three games for 2016, when the move to a nine-game Big Ten schedule reduces the nonconference load - Bowling Green, Tulsa and at Oklahoma.

Well, that's typical.