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Just sayin': Here is an excellent 11W article explaining how Ohio State is apparently following what Indiana and Miami had done in building an "older" roster. Ohio State is currently positioned to field an older (i.e. more experienced) team in 2026. Needless to say, like it or not, with NIL and the transfer portal this is what college football has become.

Ohio State Following Formula Presented by Indiana, Miami In Building Older Roster Through Transfer Portal​

A lot of average age numbers were floated about Indiana’s 2025 football roster during and after the Hoosiers’ run to a national championship.

In truth, those figures can only be estimates. College football teams don’t hand out birthdates for their players. ESPN claimed during its College Football Playoff national championship broadcast (and Cam Newton claimed during his podcast) that the average age of Indiana's starting lineup was 23 years old. Google's AI, Gemini (not as reliable as you think, trust me), claims the same. Other... sources? Claimed it to be 24.

To be 23 years old playing college football means being a sixth-year player who was 18 years old as a true freshman, as the majority of college freshmen are in the fall. But if you're generous and say every freshman started at 19, that makes the average man in Indiana's starting lineup a fifth-year senior in terms of experience. 14 of the Hoosiers' 22 starters were fourth-year players or younger. The math is not mathing.

2025 Indiana Starters
Exaggerated age figures aside, the level of experience consistent throughout Curt Cignetti's national championship-winning roster is undeniable. Seventeen of his 22 starters were in their fourth year or later of college football. They started one sophomore on offense and two on defense, then the rest were juniors or older. And more than half of them arrived in Bloomington, Indiana, through the transfer portal. That included redshirt junior Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza, an import from Cal.

That last fact is also true of Miami, the team Indiana played in the College Football Playoff national championship and the only team outside the Hoosiers to beat Ohio State in 2025. The Hurricanes’ roster was built out of a majority of portal acquisitions, and 15 of their 22 starters were fourth or fifth-year players.

Call them mercenaries, sulk about the current state of affairs in a college football landscape with yearly unrestricted free agency for each of its players, but it’s reality. This is quickly becoming the way to win in this sport. Program-developed recruits have their place, but less of one than ever before. Get the proven portal players or play from behind the rest of the country.

It’s become clear from the movement to and from Ohio State in this transfer portal cycle that Ryan Day is not ignorant of this fact. Oxymoronically, the Buckeyes are modernizing by going older. The new pieces going out and coming in are skewing the average age of their team higher – even if the exact figures can’t be known. Let’s break it down.

An Exodus of Youth​

Was it the exact plan for Ohio State to shed no less than nine members of its 2025 freshman class after that group was on campus for less than a calendar year? Or for the Buckeyes to lose another 11 class of 2024 representatives as part of a 31-player flood from Columbus to the portal? Not those exact numbers, no. But the general trend, yes.

It happened everywhere during the portal’s 15-day window from Jan. 2 through Jan. 16. Alabama saw 21 players enter the portal, Texas had 25, notoriously huge NIL spender Oregon had 28 and Oklahoma had 27. These are all blueblood schools retaining their head coaches in 2026. Wonder what it’s like for a have-not undergoing a regime change? The now-Mike Gundy less Oklahoma State had 64 players portal out and has 54 commitments from the portal so far.

The harsh fact is, roster space needed to be cleared, and many of the players leaving the confines of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center weren’t going to contribute to Ohio State’s 2026 football team, and in many cases, weren’t ever going to contribute to any Ohio State football team. Not in games, at least. There are exceptions to that rule that hurt.

Five-star class of 2025 wide receiver Quincy Porter (Notre Dame) topped the list and the two top-100 2024 Ohio State prospects at cornerback, Bryce West (Wisconsin) and Aaron Scott Jr. (Oregon), had legitimate shots at playing time in 2026. So too did 2025 class member and defensive tackle Jarquez Carter (Miami) and rising third-year wide receiver Mylan Graham (Notre Dame).

Was it the exact plan for Ohio State to shed no less than nine members of its 2025 freshman class after that group was on campus for less than a calendar year? Or for the Buckeyes to lose another 11 class of 2024 representatives as part of a 31-player flood from Columbus to the portal? Not those exact numbers, no. But the general trend, yes.

It happened everywhere during the portal’s 15-day window from Jan. 2 through Jan. 16. Alabama saw 21 players enter the portal, Texas had 25, notoriously huge NIL spender Oregon had 28 and Oklahoma had 27. These are all blueblood schools retaining their head coaches in 2026. Wonder what it’s like for a have-not undergoing a regime change? The now-Mike Gundy less Oklahoma State had 64 players portal out and has 54 commitments from the portal so far.

The harsh fact is, roster space needed to be cleared, and many of the players leaving the confines of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center weren’t going to contribute to Ohio State’s 2026 football team, and in many cases, weren’t ever going to contribute to any Ohio State football team. Not in games, at least. There are exceptions to that rule that hurt.

Five-star class of 2025 wide receiver Quincy Porter (Notre Dame) topped the list and the two top-100 2024 Ohio State prospects at cornerback, Bryce West (Wisconsin) and Aaron Scott Jr. (Oregon), had legitimate shots at playing time in 2026. So too did 2025 class member and defensive tackle Jarquez Carter (Miami) and rising third-year wide receiver Mylan Graham (Notre Dame).

Those types of talents hurt to lose. At the same time, there needs to be a constant drive to win now for Ohio State, and a matter of resource allocation. Proper resource allocation toward retention of a pile of seniors and big transfer portal acquisitions like Caleb Downs, Seth McLaughlin, Quinshon Judkins and Will Howard led Ohio State to a national championship in 2024. The Buckeyes were ahead of the times in dedicating NIL dollars to roster retention. Now, the times call to allocate resources away from young, and perhaps more unknown, players (which other teams might be tampering to poach) and spend those funds on veterans with known value to achieve the best result possible seven months later.

And until guardrails are put in place to contain some of this chaos, that’s how the top teams in college football will be built. All-in pushes on portal veterans to win now. There is no longer the time or resources or patience from players and their agents for programs to build over multiple years.

An Influx of Experience​

Ohio State shed 20 players who just completed their first or second season in 2025 during this past portal window. The Buckeyes have added back 17 players since, and in the true mold of Indiana and Miami, 15 are fourth or fifth-year players. Only one portal signee, rising sophomore cornerback Dominick Kelly (Georgia), is an underclassman.

The targeted goal of building with experience is exemplified on the defensive side of the football. There’s a chance that a majority of the starters on Ohio State’s defense are redshirt juniors or seniors acquired via the portal. Safeties Terry Moore (Duke) and Earl Little Jr. (Florida State) and defensive tackle John Walker (UCF) are shoo-ins for starting jobs, while linebacker Christian Alliegro (Wisconsin), defensive tackles James Smith (Alabama) and defensive end Qua Russaw (Alabama) will have solid chances to win them in position battles.

Tight ends Mason Williams (Ohio) and Hunter Welcing (Northwestern) will bolster the top of the team’s depth chart at the position as a redshirt junior and redshirt senior, respectively. One of fourth-year wide receivers Kyle Parker (LSU) and Devin McCuin (UTSA) is likely to start alongside Jeremiah Smith and Brandon Inniss out wide, unless they are both overtaken by incoming five-star freshman Chris Henry Jr.

Even on special teams, core contributors will be grizzled veterans of other programs. Redshirt senior Dalton Riggs (UCF) is Ohio State’s new long snapper. Redshirt sophomore kicker Connor Hawkins joins Kelly as the Buckeyes’ only other transfer with less than three years of seasoning, and he gained plenty of experience as a redshirt freshman at Baylor in 2025, going 18-of-22 (81.8%) on field goals with a long of 54 yards.
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Ohio State is doing its best to modernize by getting older as Ryan Day enters his eighth season at the helm. 135 other FBS programs are doing the same. The portal has reshaped how contenders will rise and fall in the sport. Indiana is proof. One great class can win a natty. One bad class can blow up in catastrophic ways. But the Buckeyes chose to adapt rather than let any chances of a championship die in January, and hope their most one-year-mercenary-laden roster of the Day era takes them to the places they want to go.

Ohio State Hiring Former NFL Offensive Coordinator and Head Coach Arthur Smith As New Offensive Coordinator​

Ohio State is hiring a former NFL head coach and offensive coordinator as its new OC.

Arthur Smith, who was the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive coordinator for the past two years after three seasons as the Atlanta Falcons’ head coach, will be Ohio State’s new offensive coordinator for the 2026 season, according to multiple reports.

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Smith replaces Brian Hartline, who’s now the head coach at South Florida, as Ohio State’s offensive play caller.

He becomes the second former NFL head coach on Ohio State’s staff, joining second-year defensive coordinator Matt Patricia. It’s the second time in three years that Ohio State will have a former NFL head coach leading its offense, as Chip Kelly was OSU’s offensive coordinator in 2024 before he left to become the Las Vegas Raiders’ offensive coordinator.

Smith’s tenure in Pittsburgh was largely met with criticism from Steelers fans, as the Steelers ranked just 25th in total offense in 2025 and 23rd in total offense in 2024. He was far more successful, however, in his previous tenure as the Tennessee Titans’ offensive coordinator; the Titans’ offense ranked in the top 10 in the NFL in both of his seasons at the helm, finishing third in total offense and fourth in scoring offense in 2020.

That led to Smith becoming the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, a role he held from 2021-23. The Falcons went 7-10 in each of his three seasons as head coach.

While Smith has never been a full-time coach at the collegiate level – he was a graduate assistant at his alma mater North Carolina in 2006, and a defensive intern/administrative assistant at Ole Miss in 2010 – Ryan Day coveted a veteran offensive play caller with NFL experience to lead the offense. With Cortez Hankton replacing Hartline as wide receivers coach and Ohio State’s other nine assistant coaches from last season slated to return in 2026, Smith is not expected to be one of Ohio State’s 10 assistants who go out on the road as recruiters.

This came up on an alum site on Facebook from tOSU: We're excited to announce that the Archives just received a wonderful gift from Ken Hargreaves—a football uniform that belonged to his father, William Hargreaves of Akron, who played for OSU from 1935 to 1937! Thank you, Ken, for helping us preserve this amazing piece of history.

Class of 2026 Kicker Cooper Peterson Commits to Ohio State​

Ohio State has added a second new kicker to its roster for next season.

Class of 2026 kicker Cooper Peterson committed to the Buckeyes on Friday.

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Peterson went 8-of-9 on field goals with a long of 49 yards for Corvian Community School in Charlotte, North Carolina, as a high school senior in 2025. He had 57 touchbacks in 68 kickoffs and also handled punting duties for the Cardinals, averaging 47.3 yards per boot.

Peterson visited Ohio State for the Buckeyes' Week 3 game against Ohio during the 2025 regular season. He also held an offer from Michigan State

Sources: College Football Playoff to remain at 12 teams​

The College Football Playoff will remain a 12-team field in 2026, sources told ESPN's Pete Thamel.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has publicly supported a 16-team model, but Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti would only agree to it if Sankey committed to a 24-team field after three years, sources told ESPN. Multiple sources have said that's not something Sankey was ready to do at this time. Although there has been significant support for a 16-team field, staying at 12 was an expected result because of the stalemate that has existed for months between the Big Ten and SEC.

There hasn't been any pushback from CFP leaders, though, about remaining at 12 for at least another season, sources told ESPN, as it only will be the third year of the fledgling system. The Big Ten also is interested in seeing how the selection committee will evaluate teams this fall after the ACC and SEC move to nine-game league schedules. There's an expectation that there will be more two- and three-loss teams for the group to consider.

In March 2024, the CFP and ESPN agreed to a six-year, $7.8 billion contract that ensures the network will remain the sole media rights holder of the event through the 2031-32 season. During those contract negotiations, the 10 FBS conferences and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua signed a memorandum of understanding that gave the Big Ten and SEC the bulk of control over the playoff's future format.

The contract was built for either a 12- or 14-team field, but momentum for a 16-team playoff had increased in recent months. As the sole rights holder, ESPN imposed a deadline of Dec. 1, 2025, for the CFP to determine its format, but sources said the SEC asked for an extension, which was granted until Jan. 23.

CFP executive director Rich Clark said there will be a Dec. 1 deadline every year to inform ESPN of any format changes.

While the number of teams in the field will remain the same this fall, there will be some adjustments to how some are included. This season, the Power 4 conference champions will be guaranteed spots in the 12-team field, along with the highest-ranked conference champion from the Group of 6, which now includes the new-look Pac-12. Notre Dame will also be a lock for the playoff if it finishes in the selection committee's top 12.

Had those rules existed this season, both ACC champion Duke and Notre Dame would have qualified for the playoff -- and No. 10 seed Miami, which played for the national title, would have been excluded.

Not sure where this would go, but

Curious as it relates to NIL what the impact to could be of Value City declaring Chapter 11. Outside of Brian's involvement in "The Foundation", I assume the Schottennstein family has been one of the largest donors to OSU NIL?

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Class: 2027
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School: Fort Lauderdale (FL) Cardinal Gibbons
Height: 6'6"
Weight: 200 lbs

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Class: 2028
Position: DB
School: Winder (GA) Winder-Barrow
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 180 lbs

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Class: 2028
Position: DL
School: Thomasville (GA) Thomas County Central
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 275 lbs

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Class: 2028
Position: LB
School: Elmhurst (IL) Immaculate Conception
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 205 lbs

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Class: 2027
Position: DB
School: Marietta (GA) Walton
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 190 lbs

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B1G Teams

Oregon
Nebraska
UCLA
Washington

Others receiving votes: Arizona State (27), Virginia (25), Ohio State (23), Grand Canyon (22), Florida Atlantic (19), Auburn (16), UCF (7), BYU (2), Michigan (2), Missouri (1), Northwestern (1)

iu miami

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School: Birmingham (AL) Oak Mountain
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Since there is no Spring Transfer Portal it could be a little more accurate than previous years at this time; however, it is still the way-way-way too early. The downside is the poll looks to be just one man's opinion for the article.

....Look who is #1...

Way-too-early top 25 college football rankings for 2026 season: Ohio State, Texas, Georgia lead the way​

Now that the 2025 season has officially come to a close, we can start to look ahead to the incoming 2026 season​

The 2025 college football season earned its place among the best the sport has produced. Parity still hasn't fully arrived, but chaos certainly has. Out-of-nowhere upsets and unlikely risers kept puncturing the hierarchy, while several of the early-2020s powers like Alabama and Clemson continue to drift back toward the pack.

The season just ended, but most coaches flipped the page to 2026 weeks ago. A record-setting coaching carousel led to 32 new head coaches across the country, igniting another round of transfer-portal turbulence before the window closed last week. Rosters remain unsettled, but the ingredients are on the table waiting to be shaped -- and we're ready to start ranking the best teams.

Plenty of superstars return, too, and some with new homes: Arch Manning returns to Texas, Arizona State's Sam Leavitt is now with Lane Kiffin at LSU, Oregon's Dante Moore is bypassing the NFL Draft and Ohio State's Julian Sayin and Jeremiah Smith are back as the best QB-WR duo in the sport.

Everyone wants to know who will be the next Indiana. I'm telling you now: that lightning isn't striking again in 2026. But a few programs are positioned to surge back into relevance inside their leagues. For example, I'm a firm believer that Oklahoma State will rebound from one of the worst seasons ever to become a challenger in the Big 12 after Eric Morris' arrival from North Texas. He has completely rearranged the roster with an impressive haul from the portal, led by QB Drew Mestemaker.

You're here to find out who will challenge for supremacy across the national scene. The Big Ten and SEC lead the pack as usual in our way-too-early top 25. But don't ignore the ACC and the Big 12, which have a handful of teams equipped to chase the national title in 2026.

1. Ohio State​

The nation's most accurate passer, Julian Sayin, and the best player in the sport, Jeremiah Smith, return to Ohio State. That's enough to garner consideration for a top-five ranking. The Buckeyes should still have one of the more talented rosters in college football. The big question is how the defense reloads under coordinator Matt Patricia, who has already proven himself elite, having led a rebuild in his first season and turning the Buckeyes into a better version of themselves. Eight defenders arrive from a top-five portal class.

2. Texas​

Texas will be incredibly talented on offense, particularly after picking up Auburn receiver Cam Coleman as well as running backs Hollywood Smothers and Raleek Brown out of the portal. Quarterback Arch Manning returns after flipping the narrative in the second half of the season, showing his elite potential as a championship-caliber quarterback. It's playoff-or-bust for the Longhorns in 2026.

3. Georgia​

Kirby Smart is still a master coach, and with quarterback Gunner Stockton returning and running back Nate Frazier in the backfield, this offense may finally step up with more experienced receivers. The defense wasn't as impressive as it once was and struggled to sack the quarterback, ranking 122nd nationally in tackles for loss, so that needs to improve with several starters returning in the front seven.

4. Oregon​

Does Oregon have the best quarterback room in the country? Dante Moore shocked many when the first-round talent decided to return to the Ducks, and Nebraska's Dylan Raiola is now on campus as his backup. Remember, Oregon was relatively young last season, so this squad should be better by default next fall. The big question is how Dan Lanning adjusts after losing both coordinators to Power Four head-coaching gigs. The defense also needs a few new pieces to step up.

5. Notre Dame​

Marcus Freeman told players the motto this year is to "leave no doubt" after falling short of the CFP. The Irish added receivers Mylan Graham and Quincy Porter from the transfer portal. Freeman is still one of the five best coaches in college football, as evidenced by the rumors of NFL teams showing interest in the 40-year-old coach. The schedule sets up again nicely for a playoff run.

6. Texas A&M​

Quarterback Marcel Reed and receiver Mario Craver return from a team that started 11-0, but there are issues on defense that new defensive coordinator Lyle Hemphill will need to address, particularly against the run. The Aggies didn't go overboard in the transfer portal, adding 18 key players to rank No. 11, according to 247Sports. The Aggies are built to win again but, again, the defense needs to be more consistent.

7. Texas Tech​

Might Texas Tech be better in 2026 after its breakthrough season last fall? That's the word from the Red Raiders' camp after winning the Big 12 title and losing in a shutout in the second round of the CFP. They signed the nation's No. 8 portal class, led by Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby -- the best QB in the portal. Tech should be the preseason favorite in the Big 12.

8. Indiana​

We doubted Indiana could replicate the 2024 season by reloading again, and yet the Hoosiers were much better. Curt Cignetti will side with a different transfer quarterback for a third straight year, snagging the nation's passing leader, TCU's Josh Hoover, to lead the offense. The transfer class included more power conference players than ever before under Cignetti, a sign that the Hoosiers are here to stay.

9. Michigan​

The Wolverines might be the surprise team in the Big Ten next season. The hiring of Kyle Whittingham was a master stroke considering the timing and circumstances, but the addition of Utah offensive coordinator Jason Beck is the key. His offense at Utah was electric, and tapping into the potential of quarterback Bryce Underwood should send shivers down the spines of opposing coaches.

10. Oklahoma​

Oklahoma rode its defense into the playoff, but the offense didn't step up as many expected with quarterback John Mateer and offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle. The Sooners' defense should be elite once again. The offense should be better, too, even after losing productive receivers. Adding Virginia's Trell Harris and Texas' Parker Livingstone may have been the biggest pickups in the portal.

11. USC
12. BYU
13. Miami
14. LSU
15. Alabama
16. Louisville
17. Missouri
18. Utah
19. Washington
20. Ole Miss
21. Houston
22. Penn State
23. SMU
24. Virginia Tech
25. South Carolina

Just sayin': Hopefully 2026 is yet another season as a legitimate contender for the National Championship. I'm not sure how deep Ohio State will be at some positions; so the key to the 2026 season could very well be "keeping everyone healthy"....

Bucks host Minn Tuesday night. Another must have before heading into hell on Friday night