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LGHL Players to Watch: Mylan Graham looks like more than a Spring Game phenom
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Players to Watch: Mylan Graham looks like more than a Spring Game phenom
Michael Citro via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by David Rosenblum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Spring Game excellence can be deceiving, but all signs point to the second-year wide receiver starting to blossom.
From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about the Buckeyes we expect to excel this season. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all our “Players to Watch” articles here.
Wide receiver Mylan Graham arrived at Ohio State in the summer of 2024, and has quickly built a reputation as a player who will excel at the collegiate level. The sophomore out of New Haven, Indiana didn’t catch a pass last season, but he didn’t have to. The Buckeyes have been loaded at the position, allowing Graham to learn the offense and settle into college life and Mickey Marotti’s weight-training program.
Had Graham been able to enroll early and participate in spring practice in 2024, he might have made a slightly bigger impact, but with Jeremiah Smith, Emeka Egbuka, Carnell Tate, and Brandon Inniss on the squad, Ryan Day had the luxury of slow-playing the freshman in 2024.
A five-star prospect, Graham was ranked as high as the No. 14 overall player and No. 5 wide receiver in last year’s class. He built his reputation with more than 2,000 career receiving yards and 21 touchdowns as a prep player, including 1,149 yards receiving in his junior year to go along with 13 touchdowns on 48 receptions. He averaged more than 80 receiving yards per game his final season.
His 2023 highlight reel shows all the tools, including his speed and ability in the open field.
Graham has the attention of his current and former teammates, and considering the Buckeyes are coming off a national championship, that’s a good indicator that he’s got a bright future. Another positive sign was his performance in the 2025 Ohio State Spring Game, in which Graham caught four passes for 104 yards.
That included a sensational 51-yard touchdown catch and run thrown by Lincoln Kienholz, showing off Graham’s playmaking ability. Only a couple of excellent defensive plays kept Graham from having an even bigger performance on April 12 against his fellow Buckeyes.
Players like NFL-bound former Buckeye cornerback Denzel Burke have been talking about the young receiver as though it’s a matter of when, not if, Graham will become another Zone 6 star under Brian Hartline’s tutelage.
“He could be a great player. He’s quick, good hands, good catch radius, good releases,” Burke said after battling him in practice daily. “I’m excited for him and his future.”
With his first full offseason now under his belt, Graham will enter preseason camp with an opportunity to make his case for snaps in 2025. He will push those ahead of him to be better and could find himself spelling the likes of Tate and Inniss with the first team.
His confidence level will be high after his performance in the Spring Game, and by now he’ll have learned a lot about pre-snap and post-snap reads — often the biggest adjustment receivers have to make between high school and college — from Hartline, Day, and the more veteran receivers on the team.
Graham has the talent and tools to get meaningful snaps in 2025, but even if those entering the fall ahead of him on the depth chart don’t falter, he’ll be one of the first options off the bench.
In a position group where everyone is a player to watch, I’m eager to see how Graham’s career blossoms.
Continue reading...
Michael Citro via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by David Rosenblum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Spring Game excellence can be deceiving, but all signs point to the second-year wide receiver starting to blossom.
From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about the Buckeyes we expect to excel this season. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all our “Players to Watch” articles here.
Wide receiver Mylan Graham arrived at Ohio State in the summer of 2024, and has quickly built a reputation as a player who will excel at the collegiate level. The sophomore out of New Haven, Indiana didn’t catch a pass last season, but he didn’t have to. The Buckeyes have been loaded at the position, allowing Graham to learn the offense and settle into college life and Mickey Marotti’s weight-training program.
Had Graham been able to enroll early and participate in spring practice in 2024, he might have made a slightly bigger impact, but with Jeremiah Smith, Emeka Egbuka, Carnell Tate, and Brandon Inniss on the squad, Ryan Day had the luxury of slow-playing the freshman in 2024.
A five-star prospect, Graham was ranked as high as the No. 14 overall player and No. 5 wide receiver in last year’s class. He built his reputation with more than 2,000 career receiving yards and 21 touchdowns as a prep player, including 1,149 yards receiving in his junior year to go along with 13 touchdowns on 48 receptions. He averaged more than 80 receiving yards per game his final season.
His 2023 highlight reel shows all the tools, including his speed and ability in the open field.
Graham has the attention of his current and former teammates, and considering the Buckeyes are coming off a national championship, that’s a good indicator that he’s got a bright future. Another positive sign was his performance in the 2025 Ohio State Spring Game, in which Graham caught four passes for 104 yards.
That included a sensational 51-yard touchdown catch and run thrown by Lincoln Kienholz, showing off Graham’s playmaking ability. Only a couple of excellent defensive plays kept Graham from having an even bigger performance on April 12 against his fellow Buckeyes.
Players like NFL-bound former Buckeye cornerback Denzel Burke have been talking about the young receiver as though it’s a matter of when, not if, Graham will become another Zone 6 star under Brian Hartline’s tutelage.
“He could be a great player. He’s quick, good hands, good catch radius, good releases,” Burke said after battling him in practice daily. “I’m excited for him and his future.”
With his first full offseason now under his belt, Graham will enter preseason camp with an opportunity to make his case for snaps in 2025. He will push those ahead of him to be better and could find himself spelling the likes of Tate and Inniss with the first team.
His confidence level will be high after his performance in the Spring Game, and by now he’ll have learned a lot about pre-snap and post-snap reads — often the biggest adjustment receivers have to make between high school and college — from Hartline, Day, and the more veteran receivers on the team.
Graham has the talent and tools to get meaningful snaps in 2025, but even if those entering the fall ahead of him on the depth chart don’t falter, he’ll be one of the first options off the bench.
In a position group where everyone is a player to watch, I’m eager to see how Graham’s career blossoms.
Continue reading...
LGHL You’re Nuts: Which Ohio State player is a sleeper to be a 2026 first-round pick?
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You’re Nuts: Which Ohio State player is a sleeper to be a 2026 first-round pick?
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Ben Jackson/Getty Images
Your (almost) daily dose of good-natured, Ohio State banter.
From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about the Buckeyes we expect to excel this season. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all our “Players to Watch” articles here.
At this year’s NFL Draft, Ohio State saw 14 players selected, tying a school record. Had one other Ohio State player been taken in the seven-round event, the Buckeyes would have tied Georgia for the most players picked in a single draft. Emeka Egbuka was the first Buckeye selected when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers took the wide receiver with the 19th pick in the first round. Overall, four Ohio State players were selected in the first round of this year’s draft, marking the 10th straight season in which at least one Buckeye was drafted in the first round.
Now that the 2025 NFL Draft has been completed, it’s time to start looking towards the 2026 NFL Draft! To anyone who has watched even a little bit of Ohio State football, it’s pretty obvious that safety Caleb Downs is going to be a top-10 pick next year when he is eligible to enter the draft. Who might join Downs in the first round next April isn’t quite as obvious. If recent trends continue, smart money would be on Carnell Tate since the Buckeyes have had five wide receivers selected in the first round over the last four drafts.
Today, as part of our Players to Watch Week, we want to know what Ohio State “sleeper” you are targeting to be selected in the first round next year. Since Downs is consistently mocked in the top 10 of next year’s draft, he wouldn’t qualify as a sleeper. The rest of the team is fair game, though.
Maybe you see Tate flourishing as he steps into a bigger role, or Sonny Styles is primed to take another big step in his second season as a starter at linebacker. Since the Buckeyes are loaded with talent, there are plenty of options that could be choices here.
The name might not be familiar to Ohio State fans quite yet, but they’ll certainly know it by the fall. Since arriving at Rice in 2021, the offensive tackle has started 34 games for the Owls. Onianwa started 25 games at right tackle from 2021 to 2023 before moving to left tackle last season. Expect Onianwa to take over at left tackle for Ohio State this fall, while Minnesota transfer Phillip Daniels is slated to be the starter at right tackle for the Buckeyes.
What makes Onianwa an intriguing prospect is that he is massive, even by offensive tackle standards. The former three-star recruit measures 6-6 and tips the scales at 345 pounds. It’s obvious that Onianwa is getting better each year on the field since Ohio State wouldn’t have targeted him in the transfer portal if they didn’t think he could step right in and be productive on an offensive line that will be tasked with protecting a new starting quarterback, as well as trying to clear running lanes for a backfield that will be trying to replace TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins.
I feel like Onianwa could follow the same type of path that Josh Simmons did to get to the NFL. Simmons started his career at San Diego State before transferring to Ohio State, where he would start in 2023 and 2024 at right tackle before suffering a season-ending knee injury against Oregon in October. Despite the injury concerns, Simmons went on to be taken at the end of the first round by the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday. Onianwa should immediately step in to be the starter at left tackle, which will allow scouts to get a good look at him when the Buckeyes host Texas in the season opener.
I’m not claiming to be some draft guru, I just think Onianwa has the tools and size that will make him attractive to NFL teams. While Onianwa isn’t mocked in the first round of the 2026 draft, a lot can change in a year. Cam Ward wasn’t projected to be the top pick in the draft last year at this time, and nobody was expecting Quinn Ewers to drop to the seventh round. I think by the time Ohio State’s 2025 season ends and draft talk starts heating up, Onianwa will be gaining momentum to be a first-round pick.
Is Sonny a sleeper? I mean, he was a five-star prospect coming out of high school. He was the No. 1 safety in the 2022 recruiting class. His father played six seasons in the NFL and won a Super Bowl. So, there is probably no one in or around the college football world who was ever truly sleeping on Sonny Styles.
And yet, things really didn’t go as planned for Sonny. After reclassifying, he recorded only nine tackles as a true freshman, playing nearly the entire regular season as a 17-year-old. As a sophomore, he earned a spot as a starting safety, notching 53 tackles. Despite the fact that he was fairly successful in Jim Knowles' safety-focused defense, at 6-foot-4 and 235 pounds, his body was much more in line with that of a linebacker.
So, in his third season, he moved to LB where he started alongside veteran Cody Simon. Styles started the season with the green dot on his helmet, indicating that he could hear the coaches through the radio in his helmet; meaning that he would be making the calls for the defense. However, as the season progressed, that responsibility eventually fell to Simon.
Despite the change, Styles earned second-team all-conference honors and finished the national championship run with exactly 100 tackles. I have to imagine that in the world that the Styles family initially envisioned, Sonny would have already been doing OTAs with an NFL team at this point. A prized recruit doesn’t usually reclassify with the intention of playing four years of college football, yet Sonny will be back in the scarlet and gray this fall as one of the veteran most players on the defense.
Given the athleticism that Styles has always shown, it will be interesting to see him with a full year of playing time as a linebacker under his belt. Last year, despite his stats and accolades, he was only the 16th-rated OSU defender from Pro Football Focus, and the fourth-rated linebacker behind Simon, Reese, and backup Gabe Powers; but he only played 29 snaps on the season, so that comparison isn’t exactly fair.
Nonetheless, everyone has always known what Styles could do from an athletic standpoint, and now that he has a year’s worth of experience to couple with that physical prowess, I think that come next spring, we could finally see Sonny in the first round, where we always thought he would be... just a year later than anticipated. Although, had he remained a member of the 2023 class, as he originally planned, 2026 would have been the earliest he could have entered the NFL Draft anyway, so no harm, no foul, I suppose.
Continue reading...
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Ben Jackson/Getty Images
Your (almost) daily dose of good-natured, Ohio State banter.
From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about the Buckeyes we expect to excel this season. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all our “Players to Watch” articles here.
At this year’s NFL Draft, Ohio State saw 14 players selected, tying a school record. Had one other Ohio State player been taken in the seven-round event, the Buckeyes would have tied Georgia for the most players picked in a single draft. Emeka Egbuka was the first Buckeye selected when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers took the wide receiver with the 19th pick in the first round. Overall, four Ohio State players were selected in the first round of this year’s draft, marking the 10th straight season in which at least one Buckeye was drafted in the first round.
Now that the 2025 NFL Draft has been completed, it’s time to start looking towards the 2026 NFL Draft! To anyone who has watched even a little bit of Ohio State football, it’s pretty obvious that safety Caleb Downs is going to be a top-10 pick next year when he is eligible to enter the draft. Who might join Downs in the first round next April isn’t quite as obvious. If recent trends continue, smart money would be on Carnell Tate since the Buckeyes have had five wide receivers selected in the first round over the last four drafts.
Today, as part of our Players to Watch Week, we want to know what Ohio State “sleeper” you are targeting to be selected in the first round next year. Since Downs is consistently mocked in the top 10 of next year’s draft, he wouldn’t qualify as a sleeper. The rest of the team is fair game, though.
Maybe you see Tate flourishing as he steps into a bigger role, or Sonny Styles is primed to take another big step in his second season as a starter at linebacker. Since the Buckeyes are loaded with talent, there are plenty of options that could be choices here.
You’re Nuts: Which Ohio State player is a sleeper to be a 2026 first-round pick?
We’d love to hear your choices. Either respond to us on Twitter at @Landgrant33 or leave your choice in the comments.
Brett’s answer: Ethan Onianwa
The name might not be familiar to Ohio State fans quite yet, but they’ll certainly know it by the fall. Since arriving at Rice in 2021, the offensive tackle has started 34 games for the Owls. Onianwa started 25 games at right tackle from 2021 to 2023 before moving to left tackle last season. Expect Onianwa to take over at left tackle for Ohio State this fall, while Minnesota transfer Phillip Daniels is slated to be the starter at right tackle for the Buckeyes.
What makes Onianwa an intriguing prospect is that he is massive, even by offensive tackle standards. The former three-star recruit measures 6-6 and tips the scales at 345 pounds. It’s obvious that Onianwa is getting better each year on the field since Ohio State wouldn’t have targeted him in the transfer portal if they didn’t think he could step right in and be productive on an offensive line that will be tasked with protecting a new starting quarterback, as well as trying to clear running lanes for a backfield that will be trying to replace TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins.
I feel like Onianwa could follow the same type of path that Josh Simmons did to get to the NFL. Simmons started his career at San Diego State before transferring to Ohio State, where he would start in 2023 and 2024 at right tackle before suffering a season-ending knee injury against Oregon in October. Despite the injury concerns, Simmons went on to be taken at the end of the first round by the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday. Onianwa should immediately step in to be the starter at left tackle, which will allow scouts to get a good look at him when the Buckeyes host Texas in the season opener.
I’m not claiming to be some draft guru, I just think Onianwa has the tools and size that will make him attractive to NFL teams. While Onianwa isn’t mocked in the first round of the 2026 draft, a lot can change in a year. Cam Ward wasn’t projected to be the top pick in the draft last year at this time, and nobody was expecting Quinn Ewers to drop to the seventh round. I think by the time Ohio State’s 2025 season ends and draft talk starts heating up, Onianwa will be gaining momentum to be a first-round pick.
Matt’s answer: Sonny Styles
Is Sonny a sleeper? I mean, he was a five-star prospect coming out of high school. He was the No. 1 safety in the 2022 recruiting class. His father played six seasons in the NFL and won a Super Bowl. So, there is probably no one in or around the college football world who was ever truly sleeping on Sonny Styles.
And yet, things really didn’t go as planned for Sonny. After reclassifying, he recorded only nine tackles as a true freshman, playing nearly the entire regular season as a 17-year-old. As a sophomore, he earned a spot as a starting safety, notching 53 tackles. Despite the fact that he was fairly successful in Jim Knowles' safety-focused defense, at 6-foot-4 and 235 pounds, his body was much more in line with that of a linebacker.
So, in his third season, he moved to LB where he started alongside veteran Cody Simon. Styles started the season with the green dot on his helmet, indicating that he could hear the coaches through the radio in his helmet; meaning that he would be making the calls for the defense. However, as the season progressed, that responsibility eventually fell to Simon.
Despite the change, Styles earned second-team all-conference honors and finished the national championship run with exactly 100 tackles. I have to imagine that in the world that the Styles family initially envisioned, Sonny would have already been doing OTAs with an NFL team at this point. A prized recruit doesn’t usually reclassify with the intention of playing four years of college football, yet Sonny will be back in the scarlet and gray this fall as one of the veteran most players on the defense.
Given the athleticism that Styles has always shown, it will be interesting to see him with a full year of playing time as a linebacker under his belt. Last year, despite his stats and accolades, he was only the 16th-rated OSU defender from Pro Football Focus, and the fourth-rated linebacker behind Simon, Reese, and backup Gabe Powers; but he only played 29 snaps on the season, so that comparison isn’t exactly fair.
Nonetheless, everyone has always known what Styles could do from an athletic standpoint, and now that he has a year’s worth of experience to couple with that physical prowess, I think that come next spring, we could finally see Sonny in the first round, where we always thought he would be... just a year later than anticipated. Although, had he remained a member of the 2023 class, as he originally planned, 2026 would have been the earliest he could have entered the NFL Draft anyway, so no harm, no foul, I suppose.
Continue reading...
LGHL Ohio State are to open fall camp to fans, multiple Buckeyes set records at NCAA T&F championships
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Ohio State are to open fall camp to fans, multiple Buckeyes set records at NCAA T&F championships
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Jason Mowry/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
All the Buckeye news thats fit to re-print.
Look, we get it. Your days are busy and you don’t have time to read all of the stories and tweets from the three dozen websites dedicated to covering Ohio State athletics, or the 237 Buckeye beat writers churning out hot takes and #content on a daily basis. But that’s ok, that’s what your friends at Land-Grant Holy Land are here for.
Monday through Friday, we’ll be collecting all of the articles, tweets, features, interviews, videos, podcasts, memes, photos, and whatever else we stumble across on the interwebz and putting them in our daily “Why is this News?” article. That way, you’ll have a one-stop shop for all of the most important Buckeye news, jokes, and analysis.
You’re welcome!
Subscribe to the Land-Grant Podcast Network for all of your Ohio State needs
Matt Tamanini, Land-Grant Holy Land
Subscribe: RSS | Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio
You’re Nuts: What is your most unpopular opinion on college athletics?
Brett Ludwiczak and Matt Tamanini, Land-Grant Holy Land
Unpopular Opinion: The College Football Playoff needs less teams, not more
Brett Ludwiczak, Land-Grant Holy Land
Unpopular Opinion: Is winning a national title more important than beating Michigan?
Alex Frank, Land-Grant Holy Land
Three Fall Camp Football Practices Open to the Fans
Ohio State Athletics
Defensive Line Reinforcements, Dynamic Freshman Running Back Highlight Ohio State’s 2025 Class of Summer Enrollees
Dan Hope, Eleven Warriors
How does Athlon Sports have Buckeyes factored into Big Ten, CFB Playoff races?
Steve Helwagen, Bucknuts
Ohio State’s title proved that the expanded CFP has devalued the regular season
Matt Tamanini, Land-Grant Holy Land
Tim Walton Working with Davison Igbinosun to Master Fundamentals As Ohio State Cornerback Looks to Reduce Penalties in Senior Season
Dan Hope, Eleven Warriors
Ohio State Roundup: Another offseason month in rearview mirror
Austin Ward, Dotting The Eyes
Three keys for Buckeyes to ace pivotal month of June
Spencer Holbrook, Lettermen Row
It’s Time To Scrap Conference Championship Games
Tony Gerdeman, Buckeye Huddle
Ohio State commit Dorian Jones not expected to enroll this summer
Connor Lemons, Land-Grant Holy Land
You’re Nuts: How can John Mobley Jr. improve next season?
Connor Lemons and Justin Golba, Land-Grant Holy Land
Former OSU and MLB pitcher Scott Klingenbeck dies at 54
The Columbus Dispatch
Braxton Brann sets Ohio State record in 110 hurdles at NCAA first round
The Columbus Dispatch
Leah Bertrand sets OSU record in 100 meters at NCAA first round
The Columbus Dispatch
Women’s Track & Field: Buckeyes Conclude NCAA East First Round with 15 National Qualifiers
Ohio State Athletics
Men’s Volleyball: Buckeyes Place 12 on Academic All-MIVA List
Ohio State Athletics
Continue reading...
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Jason Mowry/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
All the Buckeye news thats fit to re-print.
Look, we get it. Your days are busy and you don’t have time to read all of the stories and tweets from the three dozen websites dedicated to covering Ohio State athletics, or the 237 Buckeye beat writers churning out hot takes and #content on a daily basis. But that’s ok, that’s what your friends at Land-Grant Holy Land are here for.
Monday through Friday, we’ll be collecting all of the articles, tweets, features, interviews, videos, podcasts, memes, photos, and whatever else we stumble across on the interwebz and putting them in our daily “Why is this News?” article. That way, you’ll have a one-stop shop for all of the most important Buckeye news, jokes, and analysis.
You’re welcome!
For your Earholes...
Subscribe to the Land-Grant Podcast Network for all of your Ohio State needs
Matt Tamanini, Land-Grant Holy Land
Subscribe: RSS | Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio
Wrapping up Unpopular Opinion Week
You’re Nuts: What is your most unpopular opinion on college athletics?
Brett Ludwiczak and Matt Tamanini, Land-Grant Holy Land
Unpopular Opinion: The College Football Playoff needs less teams, not more
Brett Ludwiczak, Land-Grant Holy Land
Unpopular Opinion: Is winning a national title more important than beating Michigan?
Alex Frank, Land-Grant Holy Land
On the Gridiron
Three Fall Camp Football Practices Open to the Fans
Ohio State Athletics
Defensive Line Reinforcements, Dynamic Freshman Running Back Highlight Ohio State’s 2025 Class of Summer Enrollees
Dan Hope, Eleven Warriors
How does Athlon Sports have Buckeyes factored into Big Ten, CFB Playoff races?
Steve Helwagen, Bucknuts
️SU V!Ds (@OSUViDs) Ohio State’s title proved that the expanded CFP has devalued the regular season
Matt Tamanini, Land-Grant Holy Land
Tim Walton Working with Davison Igbinosun to Master Fundamentals As Ohio State Cornerback Looks to Reduce Penalties in Senior Season
Dan Hope, Eleven Warriors
Ohio State Roundup: Another offseason month in rearview mirror
Austin Ward, Dotting The Eyes
Three keys for Buckeyes to ace pivotal month of June
Spencer Holbrook, Lettermen Row
It’s Time To Scrap Conference Championship Games
Tony Gerdeman, Buckeye Huddle
On the Hardwood
Ohio State commit Dorian Jones not expected to enroll this summer
Connor Lemons, Land-Grant Holy Land
You’re Nuts: How can John Mobley Jr. improve next season?
Connor Lemons and Justin Golba, Land-Grant Holy Land
Welcome H me @amarebynumm#GoBucks | #FightToTheEnd pic.twitter.com/0XJrvzvxXU
— Ohio State Hoops (@OhioStateHoops) June 1, 2025
Outside the Shoe and Schott
Former OSU and MLB pitcher Scott Klingenbeck dies at 54
The Columbus Dispatch
Braxton Brann sets Ohio State record in 110 hurdles at NCAA first round
The Columbus Dispatch
Leah Bertrand sets OSU record in 100 meters at NCAA first round
The Columbus Dispatch
Women’s Track & Field: Buckeyes Conclude NCAA East First Round with 15 National Qualifiers
Ohio State Athletics
Men’s Volleyball: Buckeyes Place 12 on Academic All-MIVA List
Ohio State Athletics
And now for something completely different...
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LGHL Pair of 2026 OL put Ohio State in top schools, Buckeyes complete massive visitor weekend
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Pair of 2026 OL put Ohio State in top schools, Buckeyes complete massive visitor weekend
Gene Ross via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
2026 five-star OT Felix Ojo | via @Hayesfawcett3 on Twitter
Recruiting is in full swing in Columbus.
Columbus, Ohio was the place to be this past weekend, as a large number of highly regarded prospects flocked to Ohio State’s campus for both official and unofficial visits to kick off what should be a loaded summer of recruiting for the Buckeyes.
Before we get to that, Ryan Day’s group — and more specifically Tyler Bowen’s position group — got things started on Friday as a pair of 2026 offensive lineman cut down their lists and included Ohio State among their top schools.
First up, offensive tackle Chancellor Campbell narrowed his focus from over two dozen scholarship offers down to a final five, with the Buckeyes among the smaller group alongside Colorado, Florida, Georgia and Penn State.
A Florida native, Campbell is currently listed as the No. 37 OT and No. 55 player out of the Sunshine State in the 2026 class, per 247Sports’ rankings. A three-star prospect, Campbell is listed at a whopping 6-foot-8, 295 pounds, and is a multi-sport athlete, competing on the hardwood as well for Lakewood High School. Bowen will get a chance to further impress the big-bodied tackle during his official visit to Columbus, which is scheduled for June 13.
Elsewhere, another Florida native offensive lineman gave an update on his recruitment as four-star IOL Micah Smith also cut his list down on Friday afternoon, trimming things to a final six schools which included the Buckeyes in addition to Alabama, Illinois, South Carolina, Tennessee and UCLA.
Smith ranks as the No. 10 IOL and No. 165 player nationally per the 247Sports Composite, in addition to the No. 23 prospect in Florida in this cycle. The 6-foot-5.5, 325-pound lineman has made official visits to both Illinois and UCLA, and with a commitment date set for June 7, it looks like the Bruins will ultimately be the destination for Smith.
Even if Smith chooses the West Coast school over Ohio State, there is a ton of time between now and when pen meets paper in December. Look for Bowen and the Buckeyes to remain active in this recruitment and attempt to get Smith on campus sometime before the door is officially closed.
As previously mentioned, this past weekend functioned as Ohio State’s first big recruiting weekend of the summer, with a number of high four and five-star prospects in attendance over the past few days. Below are some of the big names in the 2026 class who made the trek to Columbus.
All rankings are via the 247Sports Composite.
Continue reading...
Gene Ross via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
2026 five-star OT Felix Ojo | via @Hayesfawcett3 on Twitter
Recruiting is in full swing in Columbus.
Columbus, Ohio was the place to be this past weekend, as a large number of highly regarded prospects flocked to Ohio State’s campus for both official and unofficial visits to kick off what should be a loaded summer of recruiting for the Buckeyes.
Before we get to that, Ryan Day’s group — and more specifically Tyler Bowen’s position group — got things started on Friday as a pair of 2026 offensive lineman cut down their lists and included Ohio State among their top schools.
First up, offensive tackle Chancellor Campbell narrowed his focus from over two dozen scholarship offers down to a final five, with the Buckeyes among the smaller group alongside Colorado, Florida, Georgia and Penn State.
NEWS: Class of 2026 OT Chancellor Campbell is down to 5 Schools, he tells me for @on3reruits
The 6’8 305 OT from Saint Petersburg, FL will choose between Ohio State, Florida, Georgia, Colorado, & Penn State
Where Should He Go?https://t.co/hocBg6juIi pic.twitter.com/l7mPBgXP7y
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) May 30, 2025
A Florida native, Campbell is currently listed as the No. 37 OT and No. 55 player out of the Sunshine State in the 2026 class, per 247Sports’ rankings. A three-star prospect, Campbell is listed at a whopping 6-foot-8, 295 pounds, and is a multi-sport athlete, competing on the hardwood as well for Lakewood High School. Bowen will get a chance to further impress the big-bodied tackle during his official visit to Columbus, which is scheduled for June 13.
Elsewhere, another Florida native offensive lineman gave an update on his recruitment as four-star IOL Micah Smith also cut his list down on Friday afternoon, trimming things to a final six schools which included the Buckeyes in addition to Alabama, Illinois, South Carolina, Tennessee and UCLA.
BREAKING: 4️ (26’) IOL Micah Smith tells me he’s down to 6 SCHOOLS and will commit on June 7th.
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Smith attends Vero Beach in FL. He is ranked as a top 10 IOL in the nation!
-
Where should Micah go?
— CFB Ralb (@CfbRalb) May 30, 2025
Smith ranks as the No. 10 IOL and No. 165 player nationally per the 247Sports Composite, in addition to the No. 23 prospect in Florida in this cycle. The 6-foot-5.5, 325-pound lineman has made official visits to both Illinois and UCLA, and with a commitment date set for June 7, it looks like the Bruins will ultimately be the destination for Smith.
Even if Smith chooses the West Coast school over Ohio State, there is a ton of time between now and when pen meets paper in December. Look for Bowen and the Buckeyes to remain active in this recruitment and attempt to get Smith on campus sometime before the door is officially closed.
A star-studded weekend on campus
As previously mentioned, this past weekend functioned as Ohio State’s first big recruiting weekend of the summer, with a number of high four and five-star prospects in attendance over the past few days. Below are some of the big names in the 2026 class who made the trek to Columbus.
All rankings are via the 247Sports Composite.
- Five-star OT Felix Ojo (No. 2 OT, No. 7 Natl.)
- Four-star EDGE Jake Kruel (No. 4 EDGE, No. 31 Natl.)
Thank you @OhioStateFB for a great OV.
Go ’s pic.twitter.com/IendQVSUc0
— Jake Kreul 5
- Five-star LB Xavier Griffin (No. 2 LB, No. 27 Natl.)
- Five-star RB Savion Hiter (No. 1 RB, No. 17 Natl.)
OVthis weekend #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/KPSgs9NEs8
— Savion “Cinco” Hiter (High-ter) (@5starsavi) May 28, 2025
- Three-star OT Aaron Thomas (No. 50 OT, No. 8 AZ)
- Three-star TE Corbyn Fordham (No. 23 TE, No. 473 Natl. - Ohio State commit)
- Four-star TE Mack Sutter (No. 6 TE, No. 81 Natl.)
Continue reading...
LGHL You’re Nuts: What is your most unpopular opinion on college athletics?
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- 0 Replies
You’re Nuts: What is your most unpopular opinion on college athletics?
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Your (almost) daily dose of good-natured, Ohio State banter.
From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about unpopular opinions. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all our “Unpopular Opinion” articles here.
We all have some opinions that make people raise an eyebrow. It could be about sports, entertainment, or politics. Since you came to an Ohio State sports website, luckily you won’t have to deal with any opinions on politics. Instead, we are going to reveal our most unpopular opinions on college athletics. When we say unpopular, we don’t mean hurtful; more so, we mean opinions that are a bit unconventional.
When it comes to college athletics, there are plenty of areas to dive into. NIL, the Transfer Portal, how many teams should be included in the College Football Playoff/NCAA Tournament, and rules of the game and how they are interpreted are just the tip of the iceberg of areas that grind the gears of some people. Today, we don’t really need solutions to your unpopular opinions, since in many cases those fixes can be very complicated, we just want to know some things about college athletics that may be popular with others that have gotten under your skin.
Just to be clear, I’m not saying that I don’t think college athletes should be able to transfer. Having to wait a year to play after transferring was a bit ridiculous, especially when college coaches could move to another coaching position and not have to wait to coach. I don’t think that the transfer portal is currently utilized is what those in charge had in mind when they made it easier for student-athletes to transfer. Now you are seeing some college athletes transfer three or four times during their college career. At the very most, I think college athletes should be able to transfer twice during their college careers.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/26007929/2197868658.jpg "2025 CFP National Championship Presented by AT&T- Ohio State v Notre Dame")
Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images
I have no issues with what Will Howard did. He spent a lot of time at Kansas State and then came to Ohio State to close out his college career. I can’t say the same about Dillon Gabriel. After starting his career at UCF, he transferred to Oklahoma, followed by a spot at Oregon for the final season of his college career. It just seems odd to me that a college athlete can play for three different schools. I understand that he had a redshirt season due to an injury and a COVID year, but even with those, it’s hard to believe that things were so bad at times that he needed to transfer twice during his college career.
Things feel even worse when it comes to basketball. Usually, in the fall before the college basketball season begins, I need to take a crash course to remember who is playing where now. Then, just as soon as fans are getting used to having a player on their team, they have moved on to greener pastures. After transferring out of Auburn following the season, Chad Baker-Mazara is now playing for his fifth team, with four of them being at the Division I level.
That just seems crazy to me. As soon as you become comfortable with players, coaches, and a school, players are hitting the portal. At Ohio State, Aaron Bradshaw and Sean Stewart transferred to Columbus following their freshman season, and now both are elsewhere after spending one year with the Buckeyes.
I guess this is just how the world is these days. Our attention spans have become so short that it’s easy to see why college athletes are so quick to jump to a new school. Ohio State’s 2024 football season was so special because you had a bunch of players who were Buckeyes their whole college careers, finally getting to the top of the mountain after a number of close calls.
As the years go on, it feels like we’ll see less of that just because college athletes are constantly on the move these days, and there are no signs of it slowing down anytime soon.
On the Land-Grant Podcast Network this week, I spoke to The Athletic’s Editor in Chief for college football, Stewart Mandel. He ran me through some of the ridiculous proposals that the SEC and Big Ten commissioners are seemingly pushing for the next round of College Football Playoff tweaks.
While nothing has been decided, and Mandel notes that the seemingly disastrous proposals could just be a negotiating tactic (and a much more sane plan does appear to be gaining traction), but it got me thinking.
If the CFP were to go with a more robust automatic bid process, similar to what happens in the UEFA Champions League, where participants are determined solely by their finish in their respective home country leagues. In that case, college football should also adopt one of the aspects that makes European soccer so exciting: relegation.
Say, the B1G and SEC’s plan to expand the playoff to 14 teams goes through and the two power conferences get four autobids apiece, then two each for the ACC and Big 12, and the Group of 5 would get one. That would mean that conference rankings would determine the vast majority of playoff spots, rendering non-conference play irrelovent.
So, if the goal is to pick the best teams based on how they play in their league, then we should do everything possible to make sure that the play in those leagues is at the highest possible level.
For example, the Purdue Boilermakers finished 0-9 last season in B1G play. Due to that, they should be relegated to Big 12. They still have a chance at two AQ spots in the playoffs, but not the four afforded the Big Ten. Conversely, SMU went 8-0 in the ACC, so they would be bumped up to the SEC for this season, giving them an even better shot at a playoff berth, despite the stiffer competition.
This would also work at the lower levels. Army was 8-0 in the AAC last season, so the Black Knights would become members of the ACC for this season, and the 0-9 Oklahoma State Cowboys would be relegated out of the Big 12 and into Comferemce USA.
If the goal — as it would seem to be by this playoff berth proposal — is to emphasize conference performance, then the entire college football system should do everything in its power to keep those conferences competitive and interesting. Suddenly, the end of the season is important for the teams at the bottom of the barrel.
The 2024 version of Mississippi State would have been relegated out of the SEC thanks to its 0-8 conference record, but would the coaching staff and players approached the last month of the season differently if they knew relegation was on the table?
Sure, there would be things that would need to be worked out, including a team like Florida State who went 1-7 in the ACC last season; once the ‘Noles realize that their season is essentially done, would they tank to get bumped down into a conference with an easier path to a playoff berth? Not if you institute the rule that a team who gets relegated can’t go to the playoff the following year!
Regardless of what future playoff system the college football powers that be come up with, the entire landscape of the sport will be different, and they need to embrace more forward-thinking, innovative ways to keep the sport compelling to fans. I don’t know if relegation would work or not, but what I definitely don’t want is for the beautiful, chaotic sport that college football is to become another cold, cookie-cutter version of pro sports in America.
So, if that means we’ve got to kick some teams out of conferences every year, I’m all for it.
Continue reading...
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Your (almost) daily dose of good-natured, Ohio State banter.
From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about unpopular opinions. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all our “Unpopular Opinion” articles here.
We all have some opinions that make people raise an eyebrow. It could be about sports, entertainment, or politics. Since you came to an Ohio State sports website, luckily you won’t have to deal with any opinions on politics. Instead, we are going to reveal our most unpopular opinions on college athletics. When we say unpopular, we don’t mean hurtful; more so, we mean opinions that are a bit unconventional.
When it comes to college athletics, there are plenty of areas to dive into. NIL, the Transfer Portal, how many teams should be included in the College Football Playoff/NCAA Tournament, and rules of the game and how they are interpreted are just the tip of the iceberg of areas that grind the gears of some people. Today, we don’t really need solutions to your unpopular opinions, since in many cases those fixes can be very complicated, we just want to know some things about college athletics that may be popular with others that have gotten under your skin.
Today’s question: What is your most unpopular opinion on college athletics?
We’d love to hear your choices. Either respond to us on Twitter at @Landgrant33 or leave your choice in the comments.
Brett’s answer: The Transfer Portal
Just to be clear, I’m not saying that I don’t think college athletes should be able to transfer. Having to wait a year to play after transferring was a bit ridiculous, especially when college coaches could move to another coaching position and not have to wait to coach. I don’t think that the transfer portal is currently utilized is what those in charge had in mind when they made it easier for student-athletes to transfer. Now you are seeing some college athletes transfer three or four times during their college career. At the very most, I think college athletes should be able to transfer twice during their college careers.
I have no issues with what Will Howard did. He spent a lot of time at Kansas State and then came to Ohio State to close out his college career. I can’t say the same about Dillon Gabriel. After starting his career at UCF, he transferred to Oklahoma, followed by a spot at Oregon for the final season of his college career. It just seems odd to me that a college athlete can play for three different schools. I understand that he had a redshirt season due to an injury and a COVID year, but even with those, it’s hard to believe that things were so bad at times that he needed to transfer twice during his college career.
Things feel even worse when it comes to basketball. Usually, in the fall before the college basketball season begins, I need to take a crash course to remember who is playing where now. Then, just as soon as fans are getting used to having a player on their team, they have moved on to greener pastures. After transferring out of Auburn following the season, Chad Baker-Mazara is now playing for his fifth team, with four of them being at the Division I level.
That just seems crazy to me. As soon as you become comfortable with players, coaches, and a school, players are hitting the portal. At Ohio State, Aaron Bradshaw and Sean Stewart transferred to Columbus following their freshman season, and now both are elsewhere after spending one year with the Buckeyes.
I guess this is just how the world is these days. Our attention spans have become so short that it’s easy to see why college athletes are so quick to jump to a new school. Ohio State’s 2024 football season was so special because you had a bunch of players who were Buckeyes their whole college careers, finally getting to the top of the mountain after a number of close calls.
As the years go on, it feels like we’ll see less of that just because college athletes are constantly on the move these days, and there are no signs of it slowing down anytime soon.
Matt’s answer: College football should adopt relegation
On the Land-Grant Podcast Network this week, I spoke to The Athletic’s Editor in Chief for college football, Stewart Mandel. He ran me through some of the ridiculous proposals that the SEC and Big Ten commissioners are seemingly pushing for the next round of College Football Playoff tweaks.
While nothing has been decided, and Mandel notes that the seemingly disastrous proposals could just be a negotiating tactic (and a much more sane plan does appear to be gaining traction), but it got me thinking.
If the CFP were to go with a more robust automatic bid process, similar to what happens in the UEFA Champions League, where participants are determined solely by their finish in their respective home country leagues. In that case, college football should also adopt one of the aspects that makes European soccer so exciting: relegation.
Say, the B1G and SEC’s plan to expand the playoff to 14 teams goes through and the two power conferences get four autobids apiece, then two each for the ACC and Big 12, and the Group of 5 would get one. That would mean that conference rankings would determine the vast majority of playoff spots, rendering non-conference play irrelovent.
So, if the goal is to pick the best teams based on how they play in their league, then we should do everything possible to make sure that the play in those leagues is at the highest possible level.
For example, the Purdue Boilermakers finished 0-9 last season in B1G play. Due to that, they should be relegated to Big 12. They still have a chance at two AQ spots in the playoffs, but not the four afforded the Big Ten. Conversely, SMU went 8-0 in the ACC, so they would be bumped up to the SEC for this season, giving them an even better shot at a playoff berth, despite the stiffer competition.
This would also work at the lower levels. Army was 8-0 in the AAC last season, so the Black Knights would become members of the ACC for this season, and the 0-9 Oklahoma State Cowboys would be relegated out of the Big 12 and into Comferemce USA.
If the goal — as it would seem to be by this playoff berth proposal — is to emphasize conference performance, then the entire college football system should do everything in its power to keep those conferences competitive and interesting. Suddenly, the end of the season is important for the teams at the bottom of the barrel.
The 2024 version of Mississippi State would have been relegated out of the SEC thanks to its 0-8 conference record, but would the coaching staff and players approached the last month of the season differently if they knew relegation was on the table?
Sure, there would be things that would need to be worked out, including a team like Florida State who went 1-7 in the ACC last season; once the ‘Noles realize that their season is essentially done, would they tank to get bumped down into a conference with an easier path to a playoff berth? Not if you institute the rule that a team who gets relegated can’t go to the playoff the following year!
Regardless of what future playoff system the college football powers that be come up with, the entire landscape of the sport will be different, and they need to embrace more forward-thinking, innovative ways to keep the sport compelling to fans. I don’t know if relegation would work or not, but what I definitely don’t want is for the beautiful, chaotic sport that college football is to become another cold, cookie-cutter version of pro sports in America.
So, if that means we’ve got to kick some teams out of conferences every year, I’m all for it.
Continue reading...
LGHL Ohio State’s title proved that the expanded CFP has devalued the regular season
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Ohio State’s title proved that the expanded CFP has devalued the regular season
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Don’t get me wrong, the Buckeyes winning the national championship is great, but it was only possible because the regular season doesn’t mean as much as it did before.
From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about unpopular opinions. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all our “Unpopular Opinion” articles here.
There is no doubt that one of the things that makes college football the greatest sport that the gods have ever created is the fact that each and every game carries with it an inordinate amount of excitement and stakes. From the regional rivalries to the relatively small number of games, from the centuries of history to the institutional pride, everything about this sport is built to engender deep emotions from fans, meaning that for many, we live and die with the result of each individual game... and as Buckeye fans, we know that death often feels preferable to a loss.
However, thanks to the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff, Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes might have officially proven that the days in which the college football regular season was sacrosanct have passed us by. We have seen national champions lose games before; of course, our beloved Buckeyes lost to Virginia Tech before winning out to claim the first-ever four-team playoff title.
But we have never seen a national champion drop two regular-season games, especially one that was as unfathomable as OSU’s embarrassing, demoralizing, regular-season-ending 13-10 defeat to the hands of Michigan. At the time, many onlookers — myself included — considered that to be the worst loss in Ohio State history.
Now, though, my feelings on the defeat have softened. Yes, I still think that Buckeye team losing to that Wolverine team in the way that they did is unforgivable, but my anger and resentment have been understandably tempered for the four games that followed.
Day — with the help of a player-led team meeting — was able to rally his squad to go on one of the most dominant and impressive runs in college football history. But that run does raise the potentially painful question of whether or not the expanded playoff has devalued the greatest regular season in all of sports.
While the individual games of college football’s regular season will always be more important than those in baseball, basketball, or hockey, by virtue of the limited inventory that the sport allows for, now that we know that teams can have not one but two regular season losses — including an all-time epic one — and still win the title, it can’t not undermine the way that we value everything that comes before the playoff, at least from a traditional perspective.
Of course, this new 12 (and potentially 14 or 16-team) playoff does create new benefits for the regular season as well. The expanded playoff opens up paths to the postseason for more teams, which inherently means that more regular-season games have meaning, but that is a different way to look at the sport than we are used to.
In the olden days (literally the 2023-24 season and before), the games that truly mattered down the stretch were exclusively the ones featuring teams at the top of the rankings and conference standings. However, while those games still obviously have meaning, that meaning is now far less than it ever has been before.
Come November, any team in the top six is essentially guaranteed a spot in the CFP, barring an epic collapse; so again, they still have meaning, but since a loss no longer completely ruins their season, the meaning is less than it would have been in the old systems.
Before last year’s playoff, I was someone who argued that while that was obviously true, the ripples cast throughout the sport — making more teams viable contenders for playoff berths — would more than make up for the lost meaning at the top of the sport.
However, looking back on what the Buckeyes were able to accomplish, I have begun to change my mind in some specific ways. I still wholeheartedly believe that more teams having access to the title is undeniably better for the game. I still wholeheartedly believe that the uniquely chaotic regular season of college football is what makes the sport so special.
But I cannot deny that, in the first year of this experiment, the Buckeyes made things more complicated. It wasn’t simply that OSU lost two games, including the regular-season finale to their rivals, before winning the title that changed my mind. It was that between The Game and the first round of the CFP, Ohio State had an opportunity to completely retool everything it did and, in many ways, emerge from a difficult and bitter chrysalis process a completely different team.
While the weeks between the regular and postseasons have always afforded teams time to get healthy, gameplan, and make adjustments, when it comes to a title run, that had never before applied to teams that had so fundamentally failed during the regular season. Obviously, in hindsight (and honestly at the time as well), everyone knew how good the Buckeyes were, but for whatever reason (whether it be coaching, chemistry, or whatever), they hadn’t nearly approached their potential.
Had the playoff not been expanded, the 2024 Buckeyes would have been conscined to the “What Could Have Been” shelf of recent OSU history with the 2015, 2018, and 2019; a group of teams that had more than enough the talent to win it all, but couldn’t quite get out of their own ways en route to doing it. Two of those teams were ultimately thwarted by disappointing regular-season performances. In a four-team playoff, you just can’t afford to have losses like 2015’s defeat to Michigan State or 2018’s loss to Purdue.
However, in a 12-team setup, not only can you survive those types of missteps, but you are rewarded with an opportunity to use them as motivation. In no other year in college football history would Ohio State have won the national championship following the 2024 regular season. But thanks to the expanded playoffs, they were able to do just that, and I am eternally grateful for that. And while I still believe that having 12 (or potentially up to 16 teams) is good for the sport, there is no denying that Ryan Day’s Ohio State Buckeyes proved that the college football regular season doesn’t carry the same value as it did in the past.
Continue reading...
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Don’t get me wrong, the Buckeyes winning the national championship is great, but it was only possible because the regular season doesn’t mean as much as it did before.
From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about unpopular opinions. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all our “Unpopular Opinion” articles here.
There is no doubt that one of the things that makes college football the greatest sport that the gods have ever created is the fact that each and every game carries with it an inordinate amount of excitement and stakes. From the regional rivalries to the relatively small number of games, from the centuries of history to the institutional pride, everything about this sport is built to engender deep emotions from fans, meaning that for many, we live and die with the result of each individual game... and as Buckeye fans, we know that death often feels preferable to a loss.
However, thanks to the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff, Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes might have officially proven that the days in which the college football regular season was sacrosanct have passed us by. We have seen national champions lose games before; of course, our beloved Buckeyes lost to Virginia Tech before winning out to claim the first-ever four-team playoff title.
But we have never seen a national champion drop two regular-season games, especially one that was as unfathomable as OSU’s embarrassing, demoralizing, regular-season-ending 13-10 defeat to the hands of Michigan. At the time, many onlookers — myself included — considered that to be the worst loss in Ohio State history.
Now, though, my feelings on the defeat have softened. Yes, I still think that Buckeye team losing to that Wolverine team in the way that they did is unforgivable, but my anger and resentment have been understandably tempered for the four games that followed.
Day — with the help of a player-led team meeting — was able to rally his squad to go on one of the most dominant and impressive runs in college football history. But that run does raise the potentially painful question of whether or not the expanded playoff has devalued the greatest regular season in all of sports.
While the individual games of college football’s regular season will always be more important than those in baseball, basketball, or hockey, by virtue of the limited inventory that the sport allows for, now that we know that teams can have not one but two regular season losses — including an all-time epic one — and still win the title, it can’t not undermine the way that we value everything that comes before the playoff, at least from a traditional perspective.
Of course, this new 12 (and potentially 14 or 16-team) playoff does create new benefits for the regular season as well. The expanded playoff opens up paths to the postseason for more teams, which inherently means that more regular-season games have meaning, but that is a different way to look at the sport than we are used to.
In the olden days (literally the 2023-24 season and before), the games that truly mattered down the stretch were exclusively the ones featuring teams at the top of the rankings and conference standings. However, while those games still obviously have meaning, that meaning is now far less than it ever has been before.
Come November, any team in the top six is essentially guaranteed a spot in the CFP, barring an epic collapse; so again, they still have meaning, but since a loss no longer completely ruins their season, the meaning is less than it would have been in the old systems.
Before last year’s playoff, I was someone who argued that while that was obviously true, the ripples cast throughout the sport — making more teams viable contenders for playoff berths — would more than make up for the lost meaning at the top of the sport.
However, looking back on what the Buckeyes were able to accomplish, I have begun to change my mind in some specific ways. I still wholeheartedly believe that more teams having access to the title is undeniably better for the game. I still wholeheartedly believe that the uniquely chaotic regular season of college football is what makes the sport so special.
But I cannot deny that, in the first year of this experiment, the Buckeyes made things more complicated. It wasn’t simply that OSU lost two games, including the regular-season finale to their rivals, before winning the title that changed my mind. It was that between The Game and the first round of the CFP, Ohio State had an opportunity to completely retool everything it did and, in many ways, emerge from a difficult and bitter chrysalis process a completely different team.
While the weeks between the regular and postseasons have always afforded teams time to get healthy, gameplan, and make adjustments, when it comes to a title run, that had never before applied to teams that had so fundamentally failed during the regular season. Obviously, in hindsight (and honestly at the time as well), everyone knew how good the Buckeyes were, but for whatever reason (whether it be coaching, chemistry, or whatever), they hadn’t nearly approached their potential.
Had the playoff not been expanded, the 2024 Buckeyes would have been conscined to the “What Could Have Been” shelf of recent OSU history with the 2015, 2018, and 2019; a group of teams that had more than enough the talent to win it all, but couldn’t quite get out of their own ways en route to doing it. Two of those teams were ultimately thwarted by disappointing regular-season performances. In a four-team playoff, you just can’t afford to have losses like 2015’s defeat to Michigan State or 2018’s loss to Purdue.
However, in a 12-team setup, not only can you survive those types of missteps, but you are rewarded with an opportunity to use them as motivation. In no other year in college football history would Ohio State have won the national championship following the 2024 regular season. But thanks to the expanded playoffs, they were able to do just that, and I am eternally grateful for that. And while I still believe that having 12 (or potentially up to 16 teams) is good for the sport, there is no denying that Ryan Day’s Ohio State Buckeyes proved that the college football regular season doesn’t carry the same value as it did in the past.
Continue reading...
LGHL Unpopular Opinion: Is winning a national title more important than beating Michigan?
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- 0 Replies
Unpopular Opinion: Is winning a national title more important than beating Michigan?
Cincinnati1968 via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
COLUMBUS, OHIO - NOVEMBER 30: Davison Igbinosun #1 of the Ohio State Buckeyes grabs a Michigan flag following his team’s defeat against the Michigan Wolverines at Ohio Stadium on November 30, 2024 in Columbus, Ohio. | Photo by Jason Mowry/Getty Images
Ohio State is the defending national champion despite losing to its rival in the regular season.
From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about unpopular opinions. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all our “Unpopular Opinion” articles here.
Ryan Day once said that the Ohio State Football program always has one eye on what That Team Up North is doing. If that’s not a clear indicator of how serious the rivalry is between Ohio State and Michigan then I don’t know what is.
We hear head coaches all the time talk about how they’re solely focused on their team’s next opponent, so to hear Day say that they always have one eye on what Michigan is doing is not only different, but also succinct, honest and noteworthy.
In the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, there is a clock that counts down to the next game against Michigan. As soon as that game against the Wolverines ends, the clock resets and begins counting down to the next edition of “The Game.”
The on-field melee after Ohio State lost to Michigan 13-10 in Ohio Stadium this past November showed just how much it means to the Buckeyes players to beat the Wolverines. Frustration was very evident amongst the players. Fans took to social media to voice their frustrations and anger.
What could have been a disappointing ending to the season instead lit a fire within the Buckeyes, as they ultimately won four straight College Football Playoff games to win the National Championship. It got me thinking about what’s more important: beating Michigan or winning the national championship?
Rivalries are a huge part of what makes college football so beloved in America. There is no rivalry in the sport that best exemplifies this than Ohio State and Michigan. Everywhere that there is a letter “M” on Ohio State’s campus gets a big red “x” put through it the week leading up to “The Game.” There’s a greater sense of intensity and urgency the week leading up “The Game” than there is leading up to any other game during the season.
In Kirk Herbstreit’s autobiography “Out of the Pocket,” he described that the Buckeyes game against Michigan was taken very seriously in his house growing up. It wasn’t a game for fun, even for the Herbstreits as fans.
But now in the 12-team College Football Playoff era, a loss to Michigan is not the end of the world. It felt like that in 2021 and 2023 when losses to the Wolverines ended any chance the Buckeyes had to get into the Playoff, and it was almost that way in 2022. But that was when just four teams made the Playoff.
After Ohio State’s loss to Michigan last November, they still had the College Football Playoff in front of them. Fans, though, were still angry even the day of the First Round game against Tennessee. But as Ohio State crushed the Volunteers and started advancing further in the Playoff, fans started getting excited about the possibility of the Buckeyes just maybe winning the National Championship.
The feeling of losing to Michigan back in November had also started to dissipate. Perhaps Buckeyes fans were realizing that winning a national championship is what, ultimately, really mattered and more so than beating Michigan.
Here’s the thing: Beating your rival is always a great feeling. But unless that comes in the National Championship, it shouldn’t be the ultimate goal for a season. The ultimate goal, especially at a school like Ohio State, should be to win the national championship.
I’m not taking away any ounce of importance of Ohio State beating Michiagn. It still means everything to the program and Buckeyes fans to beat The Team Up North. But it’s not the only thing, especially in the 12-team CFP era.
Tradition is gradually dissipating as the new landscape of college football continues to evolve. While “The Game” still holds immense significance to Buckeyes fans, the Buckeyes should always have a shot to win three or four Playoff games to win a national championship regardless of what happens against The Team Up North.
Beating Michigan is still a huge goal every season, but there’s now, almost, a guaranteed second chance and shot at a bigger, ultimate prize if the Buckeyes get upset by the Wolverines. That’s what happened this past season, and it’s made me question what’s more important for the Buckeyes.
Is beating The Team Up North more important than winning the national championship?
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COLUMBUS, OHIO - NOVEMBER 30: Davison Igbinosun #1 of the Ohio State Buckeyes grabs a Michigan flag following his team’s defeat against the Michigan Wolverines at Ohio Stadium on November 30, 2024 in Columbus, Ohio. | Photo by Jason Mowry/Getty Images
Ohio State is the defending national champion despite losing to its rival in the regular season.
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Ryan Day once said that the Ohio State Football program always has one eye on what That Team Up North is doing. If that’s not a clear indicator of how serious the rivalry is between Ohio State and Michigan then I don’t know what is.
We hear head coaches all the time talk about how they’re solely focused on their team’s next opponent, so to hear Day say that they always have one eye on what Michigan is doing is not only different, but also succinct, honest and noteworthy.
In the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, there is a clock that counts down to the next game against Michigan. As soon as that game against the Wolverines ends, the clock resets and begins counting down to the next edition of “The Game.”
The on-field melee after Ohio State lost to Michigan 13-10 in Ohio Stadium this past November showed just how much it means to the Buckeyes players to beat the Wolverines. Frustration was very evident amongst the players. Fans took to social media to voice their frustrations and anger.
What could have been a disappointing ending to the season instead lit a fire within the Buckeyes, as they ultimately won four straight College Football Playoff games to win the National Championship. It got me thinking about what’s more important: beating Michigan or winning the national championship?
Rivalries are a huge part of what makes college football so beloved in America. There is no rivalry in the sport that best exemplifies this than Ohio State and Michigan. Everywhere that there is a letter “M” on Ohio State’s campus gets a big red “x” put through it the week leading up to “The Game.” There’s a greater sense of intensity and urgency the week leading up “The Game” than there is leading up to any other game during the season.
In Kirk Herbstreit’s autobiography “Out of the Pocket,” he described that the Buckeyes game against Michigan was taken very seriously in his house growing up. It wasn’t a game for fun, even for the Herbstreits as fans.
But now in the 12-team College Football Playoff era, a loss to Michigan is not the end of the world. It felt like that in 2021 and 2023 when losses to the Wolverines ended any chance the Buckeyes had to get into the Playoff, and it was almost that way in 2022. But that was when just four teams made the Playoff.
After Ohio State’s loss to Michigan last November, they still had the College Football Playoff in front of them. Fans, though, were still angry even the day of the First Round game against Tennessee. But as Ohio State crushed the Volunteers and started advancing further in the Playoff, fans started getting excited about the possibility of the Buckeyes just maybe winning the National Championship.
The feeling of losing to Michigan back in November had also started to dissipate. Perhaps Buckeyes fans were realizing that winning a national championship is what, ultimately, really mattered and more so than beating Michigan.
Here’s the thing: Beating your rival is always a great feeling. But unless that comes in the National Championship, it shouldn’t be the ultimate goal for a season. The ultimate goal, especially at a school like Ohio State, should be to win the national championship.
I’m not taking away any ounce of importance of Ohio State beating Michiagn. It still means everything to the program and Buckeyes fans to beat The Team Up North. But it’s not the only thing, especially in the 12-team CFP era.
Tradition is gradually dissipating as the new landscape of college football continues to evolve. While “The Game” still holds immense significance to Buckeyes fans, the Buckeyes should always have a shot to win three or four Playoff games to win a national championship regardless of what happens against The Team Up North.
Beating Michigan is still a huge goal every season, but there’s now, almost, a guaranteed second chance and shot at a bigger, ultimate prize if the Buckeyes get upset by the Wolverines. That’s what happened this past season, and it’s made me question what’s more important for the Buckeyes.
Is beating The Team Up North more important than winning the national championship?
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