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ttun recruiting (all classes)

To build on what @pnuts34 said, welcome to the wonderfully inexact science of scouting talent.

A good, experienced talent evaluator knows talent when they see it no matter the levelst to of competition it's going against because performance at centr
the time is only part of it. The rest is projection and that's where the guesswork comes in.

What a team like OSU can do though is not even have to play the guessing game. They can just sit back and take the pick of the litter in terms of current production and guys just dripping physical tools. They don't have to bet on all that many "projects", or any really. Thus the guys from Ohio that end up in the NFL but were never offered by OSU. At the time, they weren't OSU level offers.

I heard a baseball guy say it this way; That coach has more people who want to play for him than he has spots. He isn't recruiting, he's selecting.
Thanks. I get that. As a track coach who cocentrated on high jump and pole vault,it was easy to spot who could get their steps down- who had the speed, coordination, strength; and you always had specific heights as goals. You knew going into a meet who could clear 6/4 or 13/6. The head-to-head part could be used as motivation, but you seldom had the situation where a 5/10 jumper suddenly went 6/6 or a 6/4 jumper failed at 5/8.
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CBS Sportsline College Football Playoffs

Cool 11W (nostalgic) article on the CFP ideas back in 1975.

Remember When: College Football Playoff System Idea Rejected By Woody Hayes and Others in 1975

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A College Football Playoff-type system was proposed more than 50 years ago, before it debuted in the 2014 season.

Although the CFP has only been in place for 11 years, debuting as a four-team playoff in 2014 before increasing to 12 teams this past season, discussions of a playoff system were first discussed in 1975.
Fifty years ago, some called for a college football playoff system to decide the national champion, but Woody Hayes, among others, was against the idea.

From the Jan. 2, 1975 issue of The Lantern:

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While many Ohio State students interviewed had mixed reviews about the voting system compared to a BCS system, compared to a playoff system to decide a national champion, Hayes thought a playoff system would hurt other bowl games.

"A playoff for the national championship would hurt the bowl games. And that's not good, because many teams wouldn't normally get anywhere or go in the bowl games.

"The national championship is won right there on the football field during the bowl games. It was won in the last two minutes in the Rose Bowl by John McKay and his team. That's the way it should be."

According to Marvin Homan, the publicity director of the athletics department, it would have led to the college football season being too long.

"The NFL is not really comparable to the structure of college football. There are only 28 NFL teams while there are 126 college teams. For colleges to copy that idea isn't very wise.

"Besides, those men play football for a living. They aren't going to school. Many athletic administrations wouldn't be in favor of prolonging the season. This would be too much overemphasis on football."
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continued

Google AI: The College Football Playoff's new television deal, a six-year, $7.8 billion contract with ESPN, will generate $1.3 billion annually. This revenue is distributed to participating conferences and schools, with the Big Ten and SEC receiving the largest shares. Specifically, schools from these conferences will receive approximately $21 million each. The ACC and Big 12 will receive roughly $13 million and $12 million, respectively.

Just sayin': The attitudes about a CFP has rurally changed over the decades; needless to say, the driving force of change has been the money. Lots of money.
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LGHL Unpopular Opinion: Is winning a national title more important than beating Michigan?

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


Michigan v Ohio State

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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2025 tOSU Recruiting Discussion

Defensive Line Reinforcements, Dynamic Freshman Running Back Highlight Ohio State’s 2025 Class of Summer Enrollees

Ohio State’s 2025 Summer Enrollees
Pos Name Status
DE Beau Atkinson Transfer (North Carolina)
QB Eli Brickhandler Transfer (Houston Christian)
K Jackson Courville Transfer (Ball State)
OL Justin Terry Transfer (West Virginia)
LS Grant Mills Walk-on Transfer (North Carolina)
RB Anthony “Turbo” Rogers Freshman (★★★★)
DE Epi Sitanilei Freshman (★★★★)
TE Brody Lennon Freshman (★★★★)
DT Maxwell Roy Freshman (★★★★)
CB Jordyn Woods Freshman (★★★)
QB Jaystin Gwinn Walk-on Freshman (★★★)
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ttun recruiting (all classes)

I just wonder how you evaluate them. How many 11-man teams can there be in the Dakotas and Montana?

To build on what @pnuts34 said, welcome to the wonderfully inexact science of scouting talent.

A good, experienced talent evaluator knows talent when they see it no matter the level of competition it's going against because performance at the time is only part of it. The rest is projection and that's where the guesswork comes in.

What a team like OSU can do though is not even have to play the guessing game. They can just sit back and take the pick of the litter in terms of current production and guys just dripping physical tools. They don't have to bet on all that many "projects", or any really. Thus the guys from Ohio that end up in the NFL but were never offered by OSU. At the time, they weren't OSU level offers.

I heard a baseball guy say it this way; That coach has more people who want to play for him than he has spots. He isn't recruiting, he's selecting.
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Cincinnati Reds (2025 is our year! Haha thats actually funny)

I think they can get to 86-76, which would be a 9 game improvement over last year if they stay healthy. Miley might make a difference, especially for the bullpen whether they add him to the rotation and move a starter to the 'pen, or put him in the pen (best option).

Give Espinal several days off and see how he is at the plate upon returning. His mind doesn't seem to be in this. He makes a big difference when he's hitting.

I'd say they finish 81-81 with a 3 game variance either way.

There are just too many weaknesses to be a 85+ win team. MLB team ranking from Fangraphs team data as of this morning:

The only thing they do well is starting pitching (3rd best MLB/6.5 WAR)
Bullpen sucks (22nd)
Defense sucks (22nd)
Offense sucks (21st in team wRC+)
Baserunning is slightly above average (14th/.01)

This is a bottom of the middle of the pack MLB team with no hope of taking a next step in sight that doesn't involve a big leap forward from multiple young position players.
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2026 NV DB Jett Washington (Oregon Verbal)

If he's got the Mamba's quickness, then Hartline might just snag him away from the D. Just a thought, but agree that Coach Mick will get him in the weight room, and put about 30-40 pounds of muscle on him, and could turn out to be either a LB or DE. (probably need about another 20 for DE). Anyway, anyone know how come there's so many 5* Safeties this year? With only about 33-36 5*s to hand around, seems like there are too many (?) at this point in the season. PS, the basketball team might be able to use this guy as well....
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LGHL You’re Nuts: What is your most unpopular opinion on college athletics?

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


Syndication: The Columbus Dispatch

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.

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.


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.

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2026 CA WR Chris Henry Jr. Is a Buckeye!!!

Guess these guys just throw it up against the wall and see what sticks. This garbage is designed to be 'click bait' to get suckers (like me) to tap a button and read their illiterate junk, plus get your IP address to send even more garbage. Would wish they'd exhibit some literary integrity and maybe do some real research, but falls among those looking for a quick buck, based on number of clicks. It seems that is what this world is coming to, no real work done, but earning big incomes from repping stuff online. Seem to recollect from the olden days, put out an advertising program, and wait six months, and see if sales did in fact increase. If did, then was a good program. Madison Avenue was where it all went down. Now, it's in every podunk town in the nation. Not entirely certain that this's progress. PS, recall some people in grad school that were set on becoming a NY advertising guru.
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LGHL Unpopular Opinion: The College Football Playoff needs less teams, not more

Unpopular Opinion: The College Football Playoff needs less teams, not more
Brett Ludwiczak
via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Syndication: The Columbus Dispatch

Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The College Football Playoff had more games last season, but the product on the field wasn’t very competitive, and it will only get worse.

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.



Is bigger really better? All around sports, it feels like we are getting more of everything. The NFL now has 17 games in a regular season. The NBA has recently started holding a play-in tournament just before the playoffs. MLB has expanded its playoffs to include a wild-card round. Even college basketball is looking at the possibility of expanding the NCAA Tournament beyond the 68 teams that currently qualify for March Madness. In some cases, it feels like too much, since in reality, you’re not going to see those teams who only earned postseason spots because of playoff expansion going on to win it all.

It’s not that I don’t love there being more college football to watch, I just don’t feel like a 16-team College Football Playoff is necessary. A 12-team playoff already feels like too much, especially when you consider the wear and tear it puts on college athletes. While those concerns are a little easier to stomach now that college football players are being compensated with NIL deals, the expansion of the playoff is getting out of hand. How often are we going to see teams that fall in the expanded section of the playoffs truly contending for the title? We’d probably see teams that fall in the 12 to 16 range of the field making even the semifinals just a handful of times.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: JAN 20 CFP National Championship - Notre Dame vs Ohio State
Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

It’s understandable why the CFP field keeps expanding. If you air it, they will come, especially when brands that are ratings monsters like Ohio State are included in the field. The Buckeyes could be playing on a patch of dirt before sunrise on a Wednesday in the middle of January, and they would still draw an impressive TV number.

You just know the higher-ups had to be thrilled when Ohio State won the first 12-team playoff since it allowed ESPN to air four games with Buckeye Nation powering massive ratings. After seeing how well viewership did for the first 12-team playoff as a whole, it’s easy to see why executives are pushing for even more playoff games.

Even though more college football is something that everyone loves, let’s not pretend that the product in the first round of the playoffs was any good. The closest of the four games in the first round of the expanded CFP was decided by 10 points when Notre Dame beat Indiana 27-17, but the game never felt that close after the Fighting Irish jumped out to a sizable lead.

Only two of the 11 games in last season’s playoffs were decided by single digits. Texas beat Arizona State 39-31 in overtime in the quarterfinals, followed by Notre Dame beating Penn State 27-24 to earn a spot in the title game against Ohio State. Otherwise, there wasn’t a lot of drama in the playoff games.

If we’re being honest, an eight-team playoff feels like it would be the sweet spot for a college football postseason. The field would be composed of automatic qualifiers from the conference champions from the SEC, Big Ten, ACC, and Big 12, along with the top Group of Five school, and three at-large bids.

No byes, you have to win three playoff games if you want to be a national champion. While this model would unfortunately eliminate the on-campus first-round games since there is no way the CFP is going to get rid of their tie-ins with the prestigious bowl games, we would get a better product on the field in playoff games.

I know what you’re probably thinking right about now. If there were only eight teams in last year’s playoff, then Ohio State likely would have been left on the outside looking in following their loss to Michigan. With a 12 or 16-team playoff field, the annual battle with That Team Up North doesn’t feel quite as important as it used to be. The first year of the playoff was the perfect example since despite the Buckeyes losing in Columbus in their final game of the regular season, the pain of the loss was eased a bit a couple of months later since Buckeye Nation was able to celebrate a national title.

One person who is undoubtedly happy about an expanded playoff is head coach Ryan Day, since the heat on his seat cooled significantly after losing his fourth straight game to the Wolverines after he led the Buckeyes to glory in the playoff.

2025 CFP National Championship Presented by AT&T- Ohio State v Notre Dame
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

You could expand the College Football Playoff to 100 teams, and there will be people arguing that the 101st team in the country had a case to be part of the playoff field. At some point, we have to say enough. When a college football season starts, there are only a handful of teams with a true shot at a national title.

With NIL and depth advantages that teams like Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio State have, we don’t need the fourth or fifth-place teams in the Big Ten or SEC to be part of the playoff. Last year, Bret Bielema and Illinois felt they had a case to be a part of the playoff, but you’re crazy if you think the Fighting Illini had a real chance to make any noise in the postseason.

Anyone who knows me probably thinks I’ve gone crazy for even thinking about shrinking the playoff field, just because when it comes to sports, I can never get enough. More games mean more action to watch and bet on, and who doesn’t love that?

I guess I’m getting old and am moving into my “get off my lawn” stage since I’d rather the playoff be smaller if it leads to better action on the field. As a bonus, with the playoff features not as many teams, maybe we could see the college football season closer to New Year’s Day rather than mid to late January. Last season, the semifinals and title game felt a little more like an afterthought since they took place when the focus of the football world was on the NFL playoffs.

The fact that football is so physical also makes it tougher to watch with more games. By the time the playoffs rolled around last season, there were a number of teams that were really struggling with injuries. Georgia had to start their backup quarterback after Carson Beck was injured, while Notre Dame and Ohio State were banged up heading into the title game.

Even though injuries can happen in any game, they are more likely to occur as the season goes on and there is already considerable wear and tear on players from the grind of the regular season.

In a time when we are demanding more of everything, we need to have a bit of restraint when it comes to deciding a national champion in college football. Continuing to expand the field only waters down the games and takes away from the product.

If we’re not careful, there will be a time soon when we are begging to see the number of teams in the playoff contracted because the games in the early rounds could end up being largely uncompetitive, even more so than we saw in the first year of the 12-team playoff.

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