Andy & Ari On3 - How many college football teams have a REAL national title shot in 2024? | Ohio State check-in

Episode Date: April 3, 2024

Want to watch the Final Four without cable? Prime Video has you covered. Watch every game live, on your phone, on your laptop, or relax and watch at home on Prime Video, with a subscription. Prime Video gives you choices to add on channels like Paramount Plus and Max, both featuring March Madness tournament games, all in one place. It’s March, it’s Madness, stream it all on Prime Video.Learn more now…https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/storefront/ref=atv_hm_spo_c_rEmqNT_6_2?contentType=tournament&contentId=amzn1.dv.icid.64a44c0e-3ac7-4b14-ad4d-c2a438001f2c&jic=8%7CEgNhbGw%3D(0:00-5:10) Intro - College Basketball News with Eric Musselman and Bronny James(5:11-18:59) Jesse Simonton Joins(19:00-23:32) What Teams can win it all?(23:33-43:47) Which Stone do you choose?(43:48-45:47) Conclusion with Jesse(45:48-1:09:14) Spencer Holbrook joins to discuss Ohio State(1:09:15-1:11:31) Conclusion/Wrapping Up - Dear Andy Tomorrow! [e-mail]3 national writer Jesse Simonton joins Andy to debate which teams have a real chance to win the 2024 college football national title. Jesse wrote a column this week detailing which teams had real chances to be the first champion to emerge from a 12-team College Football Playoff. That format matters a lot. A team now must win at least three and possibly four consecutive games against the best of the best to claim the national title. Who is deep enough to survive that gauntlet? But Andy wonders if any team is deep enough in the transfer portal era to avoid a surprise loss.Next, Spencer Holbrook of On3’s Lettermen Row joins to talk Ohio State as the Buckeyes — one of the teams that definitely belong on the can-win-the-national-title-list — continue spring practice. This is the most loaded Ohio State roster in years, but how do the pieces fit together? Is Kansas State transfer Will Howard definitely QB1, or does Devin Brown still have a chance? How does Alabama transfer Caleb Downs change the defense? Is receiver Jeremiah Smith, the nation’s top recruit in the class of 2024, as good as advertised?Want to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube! https://youtube.com/live/d1WxeD5kH40

Welcome to Andy Staples on three. We are back with some deep dive college football discussion. Jesse Simonson on three national writer will be joining us in a few minutes. He had a column that I'm sure didn't piss anybody off about how many teams are actually capable of winning the national title. And I thought we needed to bring Jesse on and talk about that because it's an interesting question given conference realignment, given the 12-team playoff format, given how rosters are constructed now, because I think there's a couple things at play here. You have to win at least three and possibly four games against the best teams in the country in a row, which I think eliminates some teams. But I'm not sure anybody's as deep as the old Alabama teams or the old Georgia teams.

I say old. I mean, like from 10 years ago, because everybody's rosters get rated at the bottom. If there's somebody who's good, who's not playing, they go play somewhere else. So is everybody susceptible to that one game in a single elimination situation? And it's interesting because I think we can kind of use the NCAA basketball tournament as a guide for us because we're seeing those rosters even out. We're seeing that talent get distributed more evenly. But what's funny is right now there's one team that seems to just tower over the other ones in college basketball.

And that's UConn. And it seems so designed for tournament play. Maybe we'll see with Alabama on Saturday. And then if they get past Alabama, they're going to have to play a very good team in the national title game, either Purdue or NC state, especially if it's Purdue, we'll see if there's somebody that can compete with them. But I do think that we can, we can compare those two things because I think there are elements of the basketball tournament now that we weren't used to in football that we may get to see a little bit in the football tournament. And we may have to consider them going into seasons.

But I do think depth still matters the most. And who's deep enough to go on that run? We'll talk about that with Jesse. We have a little bit to talk about, though, in terms of coaching carousel on the basketball side and it's one of those things just a warning to ad's to coaches you got to be a little careful when you have a situation where maybe your coach had some people sniffing around or maybe that coach's agent was intimating that things were happening and people were sniffing around in order to get a raise. You got to make sure the carousel stops spinning before you put out anything that would appear definitive.

Here's an example of that. So last week. Arkansas coach Eric Musselman, subject of many rumors. There was SMU, Louisville was open, and Arkansas had a terrible year last year. But in general, his tenure has been pretty good there. They have quite a bit of money. They're the type of school that pays to keep coaches they like.

So the question was, is he going to go after one of these jobs? Is he going to stay at Arkansas? And last week, Hunter Jurczyk, the question was, is he going to go after one of these jobs? Is he going to stay at Arkansas? And last week, Hunter Jurczyk, the Arkansas AD, put out this video. Buckle up! Wait a minute, you're still here? Obviously, Eric Musselman is participating in this video, so that's a good sign, though he has not interacted with it on social media since it was posted last week. And it doesn't say you're here forever.

It says you're still here. But that's the sort of thing that as the AD you put out when you know your guy's staying, you've locked them down. Now, Hunter Urchak did an interview yesterday saying, no new contract done, not locked down. Meanwhile, Scott Schrader of WeRSC on Three's USC site reports that Muscleman is scheduled to interview for the Open USC job. It opened when Andy Enfield went to SMU. So guys got to be careful with those videos. It's fun to put out the funny Twitter video, but you got to be careful. You got to wait till all the dust is settled.

So we'll see what happens with Eric Musselman. We'll see what happens with Hunter Juracek. We'll see what happens with Eric Musselman. We'll see what happens with Hunter Juracek. We'll see what happens with USC basketball. There was a report on Tuesday night that Bronny James was going to enter the transfer portal. Hoops Weiss, longtime college basketball writer. He reported that. He walked that back a few hours later. So we don't know what's going to happen.

But got to be careful with those videos. Nothing definitive. Don't have fun with it until you know the dust has settled. We're a long way from the dust settling on the 2024 college football season where it hasn't even risen yet. But we have a lot to talk about because we have, none of us knows how this is, how this is actually going to look or work when it finally starts we've talked about it over and over the college football

playoff format the 12 team format that debuts this season they've been talking about it actually started designing it five years ago and we've talked about it ad nauseum for two or three years but now the actual season is coming the teams that will play in that actual season are in the middle of spring practice and it is really interesting trying to handicap what's going to happen next so let us bring on jesse simonson on three national writer because he had a very interesting column earlier this week about how many teams can actually win the national title. And Jesse, you were inspired by something Kirby Smart said. So what was it that he said that got you thinking about this? Well, thanks for having me on, Andy.

Before we dive in, you know how Hunter Jurczyk could get past this? He should promote Arkansas's spring game with a new commercial that instead of Eric Musselman it's Sam Pittman saying are you still here and Sam Pittman pops out and says yes sir and then Bobby Petrino drives by on a motorcycle yes oh I mean like this just I mean like we just solved his PR you know crisis immediately right here. I think that I think promote the spring game. You got your football coaches. Boom.

Solve. No, but before, before you do that, can you imagine if you have that, that video, like you do it after, like if,

let's say must takes the USC job. Yeah. You do it after that. Sam Pittman is now the bus driver and, but he runs the bus into a ditch, and then Bobby Petrino rides up on a motorcycle while wearing the neck brace. Or he runs into Bobby Petrino, which then causes the Bobby Petrino to wear a neck brace.

Because, I mean, like, does he actually want Bobby Petrino to be his offensive coordinator? I don't know. But for a guy that Sam Pittman once worked for, to answer your question, Andy Kirby smart. Yeah. He did a, he did an interview with ESPN over the weekend. And he commented on, on a lot of different things. And he's obviously become one of the preeminent voices in the sport,

but he was asked about, you know, his thoughts in the 12 team playoff. And one thing he said is, Hey, you know, now you can, you know, uh, lose a game or two and your team can still be invested because, uh, those championship aspirations don't go away. You know, we're going to see 10 and two, nine and three teams get into the playoffs. And, you know, immediately, I think a lot of fans are probably like, Oh, maybe that, maybe that's our team. You know, we can, We can find our way in.

Representation. Yes, the 12-team playoff is going to give more schools, more fan bases representation. But from my vantage point, I think actually the pool of teams that could win the national championship is even shorter. It's going to be the Georgias, the Alabamas, the Texases that frankly can survive playing a gauntlet schedule and then rolling through the playoffs. I don't think people realize that this is the first season that teams are going to have to win or play 17 or 18 games. Yeah, it's so many rosters that can handle that. Right. They can even handle that number of games and have a serviceable 2D depth. Team still standing.

Right. Exactly. So Sandman23 in the chat, who's a Texas fan, says the answer is only six teams have a legit shot at the daddy, none of which are A&M or OU, which is a Texas fan rubbing it in on the two rivals. We'll get to that because I actually would argue that a Texas A&M or an Oklahoma, if they could survive their schedule, would be capable of going deep in the playoff. The question is, could they survive that schedule? And at this point, no one is predicting that either one of those teams is going to be 10 and two or 11 and one at the end of the season. David G in the chat takes his guess at those six, Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Oregon,

Ole Miss, and LSU. LSU would be one I'm not sure about just because I'm not sure they would make it because they're going to take a step back offensively. They've got to be better defensively than they were last year. I'd push back on Ole Miss, but yeah. I wouldn't push back on Ole Miss right now. Here's why. I take small issue with your reasoning here because you're saying nobody's deep enough to do this.

My argument is there's going to be an element of variability and wildness in it that we're not thinking about. Maybe a little more of the basketball tournament than we thought, because what happens in the basketball tournament? You see some crazy upsets. You see teams like, okay, in football, there will be no equivalent of Fairleigh Dickinson beating Purdue. That's not going to happen. There's not going to be, we've got Florida Gulf Coast on the screen. There's not going to be Dunk City winning two games in two days. That sort of thing, there will not be an equivalent of in football, but there could be an equivalent of NC State this year because NC State

is an 11 seat. NC State was awful at the end of the season, end of the regular season. And then they've gone on this magical run. They have really good players and compared to the other teams that are left in the final four. And also the other teams that were around in the Elite Eight, they're as deep and as talented. I'll go back. I'll use Kirby Smart's team as an example. Last year, Georgia was the deepest team in the country. In a 12-team playoff, I think Georgia probably would have won, probably. But Georgia didn't make the four-team playoff because in the SEC championship game, they were so banged up at receiver, they could not run their offense as effectively

as they had earlier in the Ole Miss game or the Florida game. It didn't look as good as it had. So that was what killed them. And I think every team, even the deepest teams, has a position group that if that group is banged up enough on the wrong day, they can lose and all of a sudden they're done. I agree with that, Andy. I will say this. You were talking about pushing back.

First off, part of this was just a premise and that there is no answer. We don't know yet we're going to need several years of data to find out what this new threshold is uh you know in terms of what it takes to be a requisite championship or champion team i will say i push back on your nc state comparison because i would say that's akin to a TCU or a Washington that we've just seen. They made the national championship in the four-team playoff because they just had to win one game. Now you're talking about TCU actually lost two of their last three games last season, yet they played in the national championship. Yeah, I think TCU from 2022 and Washington from 2023, different teams. I think the 2023 Washington team was capable.

Let's say they'd had to play Texas first in the playoff, and then they had to play another really good team afterward. Because if you think about their path, they beat Oregon in the Pac-12 championship game, and then they beat Texas. Very close. Close game. That's two games.

So they would have to win two games just to get to the title probably yeah but they they were a team that could win multiple games in the playoff as long as they didn't hit the wrong team agreed we're in agreement there that again this is why i i joked i used the princess bride miracle max thing there's a difference between being almost dead and and you know totally dead there's a difference between being there's a difference between making the playoff and winning the playoff i absolutely agree that a lot of these teams can make the playoff and old miss i think oh i could totally foresee an old miss making the playoff this year missouri making the playoff this year and winning a game or two. But can you win four times?

Because, again, a lot of these teams are not going to have that bye. And then you have to add that each round is going to get more difficult. So, yes, we saw Washington a year ago. They were able to get by Oregon again. That was a great win. You win the Pac-12. They then, you know, by the skin of their neck, beat Texas. Awesome game.

Pennix is a maestro, majestic, and they have nothing left for Michigan. They would have needed to, in this new scenario, in this new world that we're all existing in now, they'd have to then beat Michigan and then win another game to win a national championship. That's why it's so difficult for how many of these teams can survive. It's going to be fascinating to see how it plays out. Well, and Ryan in the chat, who's a Bama fan,

Ole Miss, let me know when they reach Atlanta. Laughable. You don't have to reach Atlanta to go to the playoff. This is the other part that people are missing. The world has changed. You don't have to reach your conference championship game even. Now, I would argue, Jesse, that based on what you're saying, and I think you're right about this, in terms of the depth that you need to win the national title, you probably do need to be one of those two teams that makes the SEC the Big Ten championship

game. That probably is a good indicator that you can handle this, but you don't have to. Now, let me throw this at you because this is a question that we've been debating for the last few weeks as we talk about this stuff. Would you rather be a team that made the championship your conference championship game and lost or would you rather be like a number three team in a conference wind up that number five seed where you don't play a conference championship game you do get a home game and it's against the worst team in the playoff. Yeah, I mean, Kirby Smart also opined on this. I am in agreement that if you are guaranteed that five seed,

I think you'd rather have that than if you lose in the SEC championship game or lose in the Big Ten championship game. The path there is quite favorable compared to what happens if you play in that game, lose, and then suddenly you're, you know, seventh seed or something like that. So I think, you know, if you finish third in the SEC this year, and you're a top six-ish team, you're, you're, you're feeling pretty good about, you know, the spot that you're sitting in. Yeah. Yeah. And, and Georgia now Georgia probably would have been, Georgia would have been the five seed last year after now they would have lost the SEC championship game, but they would have started in a very advantageous place. Florida state was,

Oh, that's right. Florida State would have been the five seed. Although I don't think Florida State would have been the five seed. I agree. I agree. I think if they actually did it, Georgia probably would have been the five seed, but technically Florida State was the five seed.

Yeah. It's going to be really fascinating to see how that plays out. I think the Notre Dame model of we're okay with not ever being able to have the bye as long as we can maybe host a home game. Like when we're really good, we can host a home game. And because here's the thing about the seeding process, why five is so advantageous.

Because you have the top four seeds are guaranteed to be conference champions. The top four seeds are going to be deliberately misseeded. So number four is going to be worse than number five and probably worse than number five, six, seven, or eight. And so number five will get the lowest ranked team in the playoff, which could be 12, but they also could be like number 23 because it's the highest ranked group of five champ. They then will play the number four team, which they're probably already better than. Right. And the wild card in that too, that I don't think people are probably considering is that, and I think you you and i both agree with this as well that it's stupid but that's going to be a uh neutral site game right now now yes i believe that they should play that game they should play that game on campus but for now

you're getting maybe the big 12 team you know in the cotton bowl or something like that whereas instead of maybe having to go to oklahoma state or having to go to Cotton Bowl or something like that. Whereas instead of maybe having to go to Oklahoma State or having to go to Utah or something like that. So that makes the game even more appealing for that five seed. Now, if they do, you know, reverse course and decide, hey, we're actually going to do this NFL model. Why don't we actually do the NFL model and just play one Super Bowl, one championship game

at a neutral site and everybody else is playing in their home stadiums as they should, then that game maybe becomes a little more difficult. But yeah, you get the worst, you get the G5 team, and then you probably get the Big 12. It's an appealing spot. All right, let's figure out actual teams. Let's see who can actually win the national title? We'll go off the top of our heads with the easy ones, the ones we're sure are in the mix. Ohio State, for sure. We're going to talk to Spencer Holbrook from Letterman Road later in the show about the Buckeyes. Off-season champs. you go through what they have like yeah no they've won the offseason for sure so Ohio State

Georgia obviously Alabama is still up there Oregon I think is one that we can we can throw in that mix because that's a team that can certainly win the big 10 this year so those those four Texas coming off a playoff appearance brings back a ton. So that's five. Who else do you think just is an obvious one, belongs on the list? I'm not saying they're going to win, but we're saying they have all the pieces necessary that if the chemistry is right, they can win a national title. See, I hit the pause button there, Andy. I think this is where you step back and this is where it becomes a real debate because historically, basically since the BCS, if you had half your roster, over 50%, basically, if they were a four or five star, now with the transfer portal,

you add in those guys, would be guys that we have re-ranked. If those guys were a four or five star prospect, you had a chance. I don't think, you know, 2010 Auburn, even as awesome as Super Cam was Cam Newton, because they barely made that threshold. I don't think that they would be able to win four games, you know, or three games in a playoff. Right. And that team had played so many close games during the season.

Like when they played a bunch of great teams in a row that they were going to have a problem. So my point is they're drawing a line. What is the new threshold? We don't know what that is. I think if you're looking at it, yes, an LSU, they do have they have some major question marks defensively. Still, that secondary is a seed. Obviously Obviously they've revamped that entire defensive staff Blake Baker is the highest paid coordinator in the country Offensively, I think Nussmeier is going to be good But you're probably going to take a step back But they would at least fill that threshold of

Hey, they're probably going to be north of that 60-65% Who else would maybe be in that mix? Clemson's going to be north of that 60, 65%. Who else would maybe be in that mix? Clemson's going to be right around there. But I'm kind of skeptical about the Tigers. Are those both two paper Tigers? I don't know. Texas A&M, you teased them at the beginning. Texas A&M and Oklahoma technically would qualify for like a north of 60% threshold.

Do we feel like they're actually championship teams you know i don't think so uh and again that's where it gets you know i i don't think they they are now but i also think they have the the mix of talent and the capability like if you can win enough games against the schedule you have like if let's say texas a&m somehow is is 11 and one goes to atlanta loses the sec championship game i'm not going to count them out as a potential national title contender because they'll have shown us that they are good enough to to win those games they, they'll have gotten through enough, but I feel that way about basically any sec team, like any sec team that, that can get, it can be one of the top three teams in that conference this year.

I feel like they on given the right set of circumstances, they could win three or four games, big 10, pretty much the same like Penn state. If Penn state can be better than Ohio state or better than Michigan or better than Oregon and win the big 10 or get be in the mix to win the big 10, be one of the top two teams, top three teams in the big 10. I don't have a problem thinking they can do this. Like, so again, where that cut line is drawn, I don't think it's definitive because that one position group thing that we talked about at the beginning becomes an issue for everybody. It's not just the Penn States or the Ole Misses that we don't traditionally think of as being as deep as these

other teams, everybody's susceptible to it if they have the wrong position group have bad injury luck. If I gave you two stones, one black, one white, like this is like John Lock and Lost over here. And I had in one hand, I have this one stone is Ohio State, Georgia, and Texas. And the other stone is the field. Yep. Which one would you be more comfortable taking? Ohio State, Georgia, and Texas. Exactly.

No question. Well, actually, I take that back because you've given me Alabama. I have. I'm giving you Alabama and Oregon. I get Alabama, Oregon, Ole Miss, Penn State, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, LSU. One black, one white. Florida State, Clemson.

Are you a man of faith or are you a man of science? Because right now I'm saying I'm a man of science, and I'm taking that one stone. But I'm not sure I'm being a man of faith. The longer I go or I get more, if you're giving me that field, especially if you're giving me Alabama. Because Alabama. Alabama, and I purposely included Alabama because Alabama is,

and I noted this in my very column. I mean, I think Alabama is the exact sort of team Kirby Smart was kind of referencing. His own team, obviously, as well, because they lost a game a year ago and missed the playoff. But, yeah, I mean, you could totally foresee a 9-3 Alabama stumbling a couple times, you know, early in the Caleb Nabor era, yet finding their footing late, and then that roster is going to be, especially in this post-Portal Spring window. It's an interesting question.

So I tossed you a bone there, including Alabama. If I was being really a man of science, I would probably take those four teams. I would include Alabama in my stone and then give you everybody else. So that would be Oregon, Missouri, Ole Miss or whatever. But I think it's an interesting debate because I, I think it's a shorter list than maybe you do right now. And we'll see. That's what's going to be awesome to see.

I'm excited to see it. So the, the Alabama, yeah. And we'll see. That's what's going to be awesome to see. I'm excited to see it. So having Alabama in the field just feels weird to me, not being in that one special group. But it makes sense. If you go to FanDuel and look at the win totals, Alabama's actually not in that group necessarily. They're in the Ole Miss, you know, that group. So, yeah, because Georgia, Texas, Ohio State, and Oregon

are the 10.5 win total teams. They're the highest win total teams on FanDuel right now. So I like the way you constructed that exercise because it's one of those like, oh, you saw. I'll definitely take the special group. And then I'm like, wait a second, wait a second. I don't think I'm being that faithful. I think I've, I think I've got some empirical evidence behind me with that Alabama roster. I also think that the Ole Miss roster, like the Florida state roster is a very interesting

question this year. We don't know what Florida State's going to be. We assume they're going to be pretty good because they've gotten better every year under Mike Norvell. But what Florida State represents is something entirely different in this new era, this particular year. Because who did Florida State pillage in the transfer portal this time? It wasn't South Carolina, who they usually have been pillaging. It was Alabama and Georgia. It was the guys that were going to compete for jobs this spring, but were not guaranteed to win them.

And they are now at Florida State and they're going to be Florida State starters. That is really interesting because they are the ones who plucked off the very depth that would have made Georgia and Alabama nearly invincible. But what if those players together are good enough to beat those teams? Yeah, I think Florida State's going to qualify for the very good but not great team this season. Look at the guys. I think the other side of that coin would be look who they're replacing. They're replacing guys that are, yes, who are not competing for jobs,

who are now going to the NFL. They're going to get jobs in the NFL. Yeah, you're replacing Jared Burse, and Keon Coleman, uh, you know, and those guys, I mean, I we'll see what happens with DJ you at quarterback. You know, you're replacing a guy, you know, Jordan Travis, isn't going to be an NFL quarterback, but his development over the last three seasons has been as impressive as, as really anybody in the country. All right. So let's add to our list. We've got five teams right now that we feel very comfortable having on our list.

They are deep enough to win the national title. You may cut your list off at five, Jesse. That may be where you stop. I will add Ole Miss because I look at the way they've worked in the transfer. Their top end talent can certainly compete with everybody. Whether they have the depth to compete in this situation is the question. But again, I question everybody's depth right now. So I'll throw Ole Miss in that mix. I will throw Michigan back in that mix. And we don't know anything about whether Michigan can be a national title team this year, other than they're going to have good players on both lines of scrimmage.

And that's kind of good enough for me. We need to see what they're going to do at quarterback. That may not be answered till after spring practice, till the spring portal window. But I do think Michigan is capable. I will throw Penn State in that mix. I think they've got to build a more dynamic offense. That's up to Andy Kotelnicki and company. The defense is going to be good enough to compete with anybody.

I'm good with Penn State being on that list. So I'm now up to eight. I would push back on Michigan personally. I, you know, in terms of returning production, they're, I think, second worst in the country, and they don't have, or among all power conference teams, and they don't have, you know, kind of the foundational talent on the roster like Alabama, which also is replacing a bunch.

You know, Sharon Moore has done a lot. And Mason Graham are the foundational talent and if you don't believe me try to lift them it would be like trying to lift the foundation of a house they they are they are one side of the the coin there though that offensive line you're replacing seven guys you know and that's just that's a lot it's just frankly i just you know you know i think right now sh now Sharon Moore is kind of playing with house money a little bit because of the success the program had a year ago. And obviously Ohio State's going all in.

I think Michigan's still going to be a quality team, but I'm not sure they have lost. You're about to send 18 guys to the NFL, 18 guys who were invited to the combine, an NFL record. I think probably Penn State has more on the roster right now just in terms of depth. I think one team that was not on your list that, again, you kind of brought up at the beginning,

we're just kind of an LSU fit in there, you know, because they do have uh the foundational talent elite offensive tackles right it you know yeah there's and there's always talent on the roster now they have to be better defensively right shockingly they've been terrible in the secondary which doesn't make any sense where LSU has always had talent there. So, but, but that may be one where they can build it back up pretty quickly. Oklahoma and Texas A&M. We talked about like, we're not, they're probably not ready yet to do it this season.

Notre Dame on your list. That's the question. I don't know if the Notre Dame is on my list. Playoff. I don't know if Notre Dame's on my list. I need to see a year of them having some dynamic pass catchers where they have, like, I want to see Notre Dame go into a full regular season where every game there's somebody who scares you in the passing game. It hasn't happened yet. It hasn't happened in a long time. Same thing for Penn State, right? Exactly.

That's also the problem. Penn State's defense can be so good, though, that if it happens for Penn State, like if that offense happens, that defense can carry them. Yeah, I mean, I love the move of Carter to defensive end. I think that's going to be... Oh, yeah.

And Tom Allen is a great defensive coach. Tom Allen is a fantastic DC. No, it didn't work out in Indiana. Guess what? It doesn't usually work out for the Indiana head coach. I think he'll be fantastic in that job. All right, let's talk about the ACC and the Big 12, because we've only mentioned SEC and Big 10

teams so far. The supposition is that the national champ will come from one of those two leagues. Perfectly understandable. I think the ACC and the Big 12 are different in this respect, because in the ACC, I do think Florida State and Clemson can do this. They can be deep enough. I worry about Clemson for the same reason you do. I don't think their roster is as efficiently built as everybody else's because Dabo doesn't use the transfer portal. Florida State is a more functionally talented roster because they've been evaluating as they go and changing pieces as they go.

Yeah, I mean, I think they at least have a shot. I don't think the Big 12, you could make a case of not can they win it, when's the first time they may even make it to the national championship game. Because when you're talking about roster recruiting, talent acquisition, those rosters just don't have that makeup. None of those teams in the newly formed Big 12 even recruit annually at a top 25 level. And so it's going to be very difficult. You could have an Oklahoma State or a Kansas State that maybe spurs an upset,

but can they do that three times? That I don't foresee. So Clemson, Florida State, they at least have the the base there that if you know the the cards come up correct that perhaps they could you know uh you know basically hit the river or get a full house i don't see it for any team in the big 12 you know right now at least yeah you would need an ultra special quarterback the potential for an ultra special quarter the best quarterbacks in the big 12 if you think about it i think you know established ones you got shadur sanders which they're not going to have the line of scrimmage players to even come close i don't

think they're going to rise yeah i don't think they'll be able to colorado will be able to compete for the big 12 title even uh cam rising in utah will uh you've also got nofafita back in arizona at new coaching staff with brent brennan but they still bring back a lot of players but that's not another that's another one that i wouldn't necessarily be able to put as a somebody who could compete game in game out with the superpowers we were talking about i think avery johnson at kansas state has the potential to be the most special of those quarterbacks when all is said and done. But I'm not sure that's the talents around him to do that. It's hard.

It's the body blow theory, Andy. You're only going to have so many dudes at the end of this. and so when you haven't been recruiting at a comparable level to the, you know, not even know how to say it to Georgia's, but to the Missouri's, Kentucky's, and South Carolina's, it's just going to be very difficult for those programs to withstand that many games. You know, when you're adding the totals that you, you line it up and you're having,

you know, with stain is a, is a mix of withstand and sustain. I like that word. That's fantastic. Okay. You, you just mentioned Missouri,

like Missouri and Tennessee. So those two are kind of like high expectation. If they exceed expectations even slightly, we're talking about probably playoff teams. Do you feel like they could do this? They are in my cookie jar of very good, but probably not great. I think that's where I kind of land on those teams. And I frankly have Ole Miss in that category as well.

We'll see. Lane has certainly assembled a hell of a two deep there. What's behind those guys? TBD. But I would have all three of those sec teams as absolutely could see them making the dance don't see them winning it yeah that's that's the part i i try to figure out because again i go back to what i said earlier about any team in the sec or any team the big 10 that can win 10 games or can win 11 games i feel like has a possibility to do this

because we may have just misjudged the talent on the roster. Like, you know, Tennessee, I saw them last week, super deep on the defensive line, deeper in the secondary than we thought they were going to be, deeper receiver than we probably thought they were going to be. They need some injury luck on the offensive line. Like they need to stay healthy on the offensive line to be as good as they can be.

But I feel like that's a team that can play with anybody if they're, if they, if Nico is as good as we think he's going to be. Yeah. And, and I, you know, if you're, if you're going to make the argument for the Vols, you would say, Hey, if Nico's transcendent and then you have James Pierce on the other side, maybe perhaps the best individual defensive player in the SEC in 2024, you know, is that the formula? Can you survive enough, like you said, on the offensive line?

I like that receiver room. You get Brew back. You get the nice transfer from Tulane, Squirrel White. You know, there are at least some elements there that if you wanted to make the case, I could hear it. You could lay it out. But, again, I would have them in the cookie jar. Very good, probably not great.

And obviously for a lot of these guys, for a lot of these teams, frankly, you're having to bet on what are you going to get from the quarterback position because that is so important. Nico, the ability, the raw talent, obviously there. It's just about now we just have to actually see the production and the development on the field. Yeah, I still, man, I keep going back to your one-hand, two-hand question. The field versus the fearsome foursome.

It'll be fun to kind of update or kind of see how, you know, by October, where are we feeling? You know, by November, does the weight change? Is one hand looking stronger than the other you know it'll be fun to kind of update you know the man of science man of faith or black and white however you want to put it of those two camps I think well one thing I love that is that you got that group of four all four of those like regular season matchups in conference for for all those teams like ohio state's going to oregon georgia's going to texas like we're going to see them play and we're going to have an idea based on those games where everybody fits and yeah that god bless you if you're trying to get a hotel room in Austin the weekend of the Texas-Georgia game, which also is the weekend of the F1 race.

I was going to say, there's an F1 dance happening at the same time, I believe. So Parker in the chat, I don't think people realize what potential Oklahoma has. They're recruiting better than they have in 15 years. Three to four years from now, they're lethal. Well, I think that's the thing. We don't think they're there yet. I don't think anybody's saying that Oklahoma's never going. Well, I do think there are people saying, Oh, Oklahoma is never going to be able to compete in the sec. Those people don't know their history. I've not followed how any of this works. Oklahoma will be competitive in the sec. We're just not sure they're going to be super competitive right now,

right off the bat in the SEC. But we could be wrong. They beat Texas last year. If they can beat Texas this year, they could be a playoff team. And if you think Oklahoma's good, you need to go to FanDuel right now and lay some wood. Hammer that over. I think that over-under win total I think is like seven and a half.

So it is. If you're, if you're in that camp, you know, you have a prime opportunity to put your money where your mouth is because there does seem to be some skepticism about Oklahoma in 2024. I, I, again, I mean, look at, look at Oklahoma's history. They basically been a recession proof program for almost, I mean, look at, look at Oklahoma's history. They've basically been a recession-proof program for almost, you know, 40 years outside of a small blip there in the early 90s. Try 80 years.

80 years, there you go. Going back to Bud Wilkinson. Okay, yeah, well, that's way, well, way, way before my time. But, yes, they have been, they have been a consistent winner. So betting against the Sooners would probably be a bad idea. Yeah, I think they're going to be fine, but I don't think they're going to be dominant right off the bat. But a lot of that has to do with – it's interesting because a lot of that

has to do with how I feel about Texas, or I think Texas is in a better place right now, more ready to compete for the national title right now. That said, they did play last year in Oklahoma one. So it's not it's not that big of a distinction. So, Jesse, I cannot wait for this. I'm so excited. talk about this stuff i get more excited because this national title race like i don't feel like we're going to to be saying at the end of october oh these are the only three teams that are left these are the only three teams we're worried about right now

what that's what's gonna be fun to play out. But again, it's funny because, you know, enjoy the journey along the way, right? I mean, like the 12-team playoff, maybe it is only hope in a form of representation. But the Tennessees, the Florida States, the Clemsons, the Notre Dames, they can at least, you know, dream. And maybe it only is a dream. We'll see how it plays out. I think the list is going to be fairly short, but we're also going to need several years of data to actually fundamentally answer this question. So it's, it was a fun exercise.

We'll kind of see how it all unfolds. And I, I'm excited to chat it up with you you know as this season can as this offseason continues and as we get closer to the actual season yeah it's it's great and I like discussions like this because it helps us kind of digest what is coming because I still think I don't know about you Jesse I think there's gonna be a lot of people who get to August, get to September, and it's just going to slap them in the face that this is a completely different sport this year, completely different. And it's going to take so long.

It's going to, you know, the one, one of the things that, that I think a lot of fans are going to struggle with as we kind of wrap up is I think the fans are going to struggle with by the end of the season, you know,

that you're going to crown national champions with probably one or two losses there, maybe three. The idea of an undefeated team going 17-0, that is going to be an even greater historical outlier. You're going to have a little, you might have a little crooked number next to your name. Yeah. What you saw from Michigan last year,

probably not going to see that in, in the new world. We'll, we'll find out. Jesse, thank you so much. Thanks for having me, Andy. Jesse Simonton. Fascinating question. He asked me, I put, I put it out for everybody on twitter i'm curious i actually i'll put it out as a poll because i want to see what everybody decides because throwing alabama in the field is is a very tricky very tricky thing. And that makes it way more interesting. All right.

There is one team though, that I think is an easy favorite. I think Ohio state and Georgia, we look at them and say, they're the ones we expect to wind up playing for the national title this year. Ohio state, especially we've joked about them being offseason champs. There are reasons to be very excited about what Ohio State's done. Let's talk to Spencer Holbrook right now from Letterman Row on 3's Ohio State site about what Ohio State looks like on the field. He was just at one of their spring practices this past weekend. Got a very up-close look at what that team looks like now.

Let's break it down. We are joined by Spencer Holbrook of Letterman Row. That's on 3's Ohio State site. Spencer, this is about as excited as people have been for the Buckeyes since what? 2019? Ryan Day's first year when as a head coach when they they had a loaded defense like they have now? Uh yeah probably. I mean but even 2019 um you remember that Justin Fields went four of thirteen in the spring game and looked well kind of pedestrian

and so the the steam kind of went out of that in the summer. year it's full steam ahead at all times um and all they've got to do is figure out quarterback it's it's a tough i've never been like in a building that was that juiced up for a spring practice as i was on saturday uh when we got to watch the buccas full practice well and that's the thing so you got to see jeremiah smith the number one recruit in the country the next in the in the line of great Ohio State receivers. You got to see Will Howard, the Kansas State transfer, Quinshawn Judkins, the Ole Miss transfer, Caleb Downs, the Alabama transfer. It's so strange because I keep mentioning, I mentioned a freshman, I mentioned a bunch of transfers, but then you also like

JT Tui Malau coming back, Jack Sawyer coming back, Latham Ransom coming back. Like all of those people that a lot of them would have been in the NFL, I think if the season had maybe gone differently last year, it does feel like a similar situation to the one more run vibe that was going around Michigan this time last year. Yeah. And it's been that way all off season, right? Like they know what's at stake. And so they're not really wasting it. And I thought heading into Saturday, when we looked out of practice, like we would see some breaks for Travion, for Quintan, for those defenders, but no, they went through the entire practice. And I think that tells you a lot about what the mindset of this team is like, Hey, we can take breaks in the third quarter, fourth quarter, when we're, you know, beating the tar out of Western Kentucky, or, you know,

I think Akron's first on the schedule. Like that's when we can get our breaks. We don't need breaks right now in the middle of spring. We need to be going. And, you know, that's not to say that they're not building that depth that they need, but also like those guys just aren't taking the reps off that maybe I thought the rest days that, that maybe we thought they were having, they're getting their rest in for sure but also like they're not uh just because they're veterans doesn't mean that they're taking the spring off and i think that's it's something

that we had to be reminded of but it's also something that i didn't really see coming because you know this is a really veteran group and you know all of those guys like you mentioned and the list keeps going beyond just the guys that you mentioned, but like the talent that came back is absurd. You put that with the young guys that they believe are going to be able to help this team. And, and the collection of talent is just, it's off the charts. I've never seen anything like it in this building. Well, and that's, that's the thing. When you say that about Ohio state, it jumps off because they've obviously had incredibly talented rosters, but this does feel more stacked than what we've seen and now my my question is is how does Ryan Day manage that

and and his staff manage that? It's not look it's not abnormal to have two really good running backs like Travion Henderson and Quinshaw Judkins but it do you have to balance that out or is it one of those deals where hey look there's enough for everybody here yeah it's like a it's that everybody eats mindset right like just because you're not both gonna have 1500 yards doesn't mean you're not incredible players the

receivers have been that way for a few years now where you know maybe they're not gonna have three 1000 yard receivers they might have two though and they might have another guy who runs for 500 yards. And I could see that actually being the same way this year because, like, you know, you've got Emeka Ibuka and Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate and Brandon Ennis, and those are just four of them. And then in the running back room, you've got Travion Henderson and Quinchon Judkins, but then you've also got Dallin Hayden,

who's been a really, really talented back. And so, you know, it might be one of those situations where, hey, we might have 1,900 at 600. It doesn't have to be 1,400, 1,300, and 200. And so that everybody eats mindset may be the best way to approach it. And then the defensive side is the exact same way. The defensive tackle is a great example. They absolutely love what they're seeing from former four-star prospect

and former three-star prospect Kata McDonald, the former three-star Jason Moore, the former top 100. Those guys are the backups right now. They're second-year players. But the buzz coming out of camp right now is that those guys are showing ridiculously good things. And when you've got Ty Hamilton, Ty Lee Williams, well now those guys might not have to play 50, 60 snaps a game.

They might not have to have 13- a half tackles for loss to make this defensive line as good as it can be. They don't have to be out there, you know, in the third quarter when it's 35 to 10. They can already be taking their breathers because the guy's behind them. So, like, it's that everybody eats mentality, I think, that's fueling this team right now. They know how talented they are from not just one to 25, but maybe one to 65. And then those last 20 are coming along pretty well as well. One of the things that the additions allowed that I think is the most

interesting is we've, you know, we talk about how old that defense is, how established a lot of those guys are in their roles, but Caleb Downs coming and allowing Sonny Stiles to become a linebacker. Yeah, that feels like maybe the most important move of the season of the offseason. Well, and it has a chain reaction because Sonny Stiles being a linebacker now helps C.J. Hicks be, as Jim Knowles said last offseason, unleashed is what they wanted to do with him. Well, they're playing more traditional linebacker roles and C.J. really couldn't do that. Saturday, we go in there to watch, there to watch the open practice that we had, and it's the only one we're going to get other than the spring game.

And CJ Hicks is blitzing pretty normally, and Sonny Stiles is playing more of a linebacker. Cody Simon is playing more of a linebacker. They throw a third linebacker out there at CJ Hicks, and he's more of a rush end or a blitz specialist up the middle. That unlocks a different level for him. So Caleb Downs lets Sonny Stiles come back to the linebacker room. Sonny Stiles lets C.J. Hicks kind of hone his craft as a pass rusher and what he does best, sideline to

sideline. That allows JT to him all along. Jack Sawyer to kind of be freed up on the edges a little bit. The chain reaction of Caleb Downs is more than just, hey, you added an All-American who had 107 tackles in his first ever college football season for Alabama. You added him. That's not just where it stops because it has that chain reaction all through the defense. And I think that, like you said, it's the most important part, but it's a part that sometimes we kind of overlook just because of how important that Downs addition is for the entire defense.

It just unlocked a few different layers that you're going to see late in the season we're like oh yeah i forgot that guy now can play that role because of downs yeah ransom well and it's so interesting in the transfer portal era because the transfer portals allow talent to move so efficiently that it's actually kind of hard for even the blue blood teams to have people exactly where they need to be playing like you may have to have a better athlete that you need to stick at a position that's maybe not his best position because that gives you your best 11. ohio state it feels like now they can put everywhere where they fit best as opposed to just trying to get

the best 11 out there well yeah you saw that last year a little bit with Jordan Hancock. He's one of the best 11, bar none. I think he's one of the most underrated players in the Big Ten, perhaps the entire country. The season he had last year was remarkable. He had to play the slot corner last year. By all accounts, he's very, very good on the outside. But with David Sinek-Benosin transferring in last year, he started with Denzel Burke. What did that do? It allowed Ohio State to play Jordan in a blitz role, but also in the slot corner role

where he's very good defending those slot fades that are near impossible to defend. He is really good at being a willing tackler against run sets from that nickel spot. It unlocked that layer of the secondary where three of your best 11 are corners. Well, okay, well then that means one of them gets to go to the slot position instead of having a safety there. Well, this year is the same exact way. Hancock's still there, but like you said, Downs is now one of the best 11. He's one of the best two, and he's not number two on that defense, which means Ransom is coming back also.

Sonny Stiles gets to go to linebacker, and then the whole front seven transforms into a unit that you're really, really relying on rather than one that after you lose two linebackers to the NFL in Steel Chambers and Tommy Eikenberg, well, how do we replace them? Well, we don't replace them. We replace a safety, and then that allows got to be careful if I'm being honest, making sure that, that there's not, you know, it's not too perfect in a way. And then he talks himself into some schemes that may bite him, you know, down the road. And I think that's something that they're kind of working on this spring. Yeah. They did clean up the giving up the big plays last year. So hopefully they don't get back to that because that, that was the one thing that

defense needed to clean up. Now you've got to marry it with a better offense. And it, by all accounts, it looks like that's what's happening. Let's talk quarterbacks because Will Howard comes from Kansas state. We saw him lead Kansas state to a big 12 title a couple of years ago. He's big, he can run, He's got a decent arm, but Ohio State still has quarterbacks that were already on the roster. And Devin Brown's an interesting one because he didn't really get a chance in the bowl game to show what he could do. He got hurt so quickly. He was supposed, that was supposed to be his game. We never really saw what he could be. So how's he looked and how is Will Howard looked?

Yeah, they had some really good moments on Saturday. Devin Brown had one of the best throws of the day. He uncorked one between two defenders to Bryson Rogers, upcoming wide receiver who ran for a 70 yard touchdown. You're also seeing the throw that he had to Jeremiah Smith, which a little bit lofted up there, but Jeremiah is Jeremiah and he's going to do that against any corner because he's doing it against the best corner possibly in the Big Ten in Denzel Burke, and then Caleb Downs is right there in coverage too. So these quarterbacks don't have to be perfect.

Then you get Will Howard, who's such a run threat. He's not going to wow you in 7-on-7. He's really not going to wow you in light contact 11-on-11. Where he's going to make up for that, though, is when you get full contact, bringing him down is really difficult and big 12 defenses will you know Jim Knowles could probably even attest to that from his time in the big 12 it is hard to bring down Will Howard and he just looks big out there so Devin Brown's had his moments he looks good uh Will Howard's had his moments he looks good

Lincoln Keenholz had some moments on Saturday that made you say wow he looks pretty good and then the freshman Julian Sayen had a couple of the best throws of the day. Just an incredible, incredible talent there, but he's a true freshman. So you wonder if that's going to hit a wall at some point. This quarterback room is in really good hands. And I think that as last year, we were kind of debating on, well, if you have two, do you have none? Is Kyle McCord separating from Devin Brown? If he's not, is that an indictment on McCord or is that a good thing when you think about Devin Brown? Well, I think it could be a little bit of both. This year, I think Devin Brown has taken another step forward and Will Howard has challenged him to do that. And I think it's not a, if you have two,

you have none. It's you have two really good options and Ohio State could probably go with either of them and feel pretty confident. I still think at the end of the day, because of that 11 on 11 full contact edge that I think Will Howard has, I think that will end up prevailing, but I'm nowhere near ready to declare a winner. And I know Ohio State's not because Devin Brown has shown some really good things this spring. Well, and it doesn't make any sense to declare a winner right now. I think, you know, you look at the circumstances of Will Howard's transfer. I would be very surprised if it's not him, but you know, it, it's interesting. You, you mentioned that, you know, how hard he is to bring down.

I think he's, he's probably like a bigger version of Dorian Thompson Robinson, who Chip Kelly had in his UCLA offense for so long. And that's what I've had a lot of people ask me, and I'm curious from what you've seen so far, like how much of this is Chip Kelly bringing in a lot of the stuff he did at UCLA or how much of this is Chip Kelly taking over what Ohio State was already doing? Because I know he and Ryan Day's paths diverged, and Chip Kelly was just trying to build the best offense he could with what he had at UCLA. He's obviously got a little bit different set of personnel at

Ohio State to work with. There's a lot more run diversity Saturday than I've seen in a couple years at Ohio State. And I think that's a direct result of Chip Kelly. That is, it was fun to watch him, you know, kind of cook on Saturday against Jim Knowles in that defense. And there were a few different plays where instead of handing it to the running back, you saw Will Howard and Devin Brown pull it down and run themselves. And it faked out a couple of the camera guys I was standing next to, and they were pretty upset about that. But it's that you have to be very careful when you're defending this team

because Quinshawn and Travion can beat you to the edge and score a touchdown on any play. And then if you got the quarterback who can pull it, and again, we saw that with Dorian Thompson-Robinson ran it so effectively with Zach Charbonnet there at UCLA. Well, that was a Chip Kelly, Justin Fry offense. Well, guess what they have right now? A Chip Kelly and Justin Fry offense. So that can be very, very effective, especially when you mix in the talent that they didn't have at UCLA. They add that talent now at Ohio State. And the quarterback run i think is going to be a much bigger part of this offense we saw it time and time again on saturday like i said you know the quarterback's

just pulling it down faking some folks out and scoring you know we saw a couple touchdowns on quarterback run i know it was two hand touch they're not bringing the quarterbacks to the ground but that's an exciting development because people at Ohio State have been wanting the quarterback run game for a while. And Dwayne Haskins didn't do it. Justin Fields didn't have to do it because they had a 2,000-yard back in J.K. Dobbins. But he did it some. And then C.J. Stroud, you know, I ain't no damn running back is what he said. And, you know, that's fine.

But they didn't run with him until he had to against Georgia in that Peach Bowl. And Kyle McCord certainly couldn't run as well as Ohio State fans wanted him to. Now you can't go wrong when it comes to running quarterback. Devin Brown, mobile. Will Howard, we know exactly what he can do with his feet. And that is music to Chip Kelly's ears. I think Chip Kelly's going to utilize those guys really well. I saw Chip's first interview session,

and he seemed like he had weight lifted off his shoulders. He talked about, I just want to be happy. And it's interesting because I think everybody looks at it from the outside, like why in the world would you leave a head coaching job for a coordinator job in the same conference? Well, Chip was going to get fired at ucla this year probably and he's also not your typical college head coach like i don't think he needs to be the boss to feel satisfied with his job like he he strikes me as someone who probably enjoys the football piece of it a lot more than any of the other stuff yeah and the interview last year kind of piqued my interest when he was talking about you know all of the things that he would change to

college football and it just seemed like you know all the things that they ask a head coach to do didn't really fit what he wants to do like he would still be happy um you know hanging out by the beach and also coaching football in new ham, if that would, you know, pay him the level that he's paid now. I think it's safe to say that he would be happy coaching a high school team if he was just allowed to, you know, focus on football. And that's the thing here is like, he wants to be a football coach. He talked about, he lost his quarterbacks coach to, I think, Oregon State right before the bowl game. And so he had to become the quarterbacks coach again for bowl prep. Well, what did that mean for him?

It meant, you know, recruiting went to the side and some of the other things went to the side and he was able to just be a football coach again. He fell in love with that. He was reminded how happy he was just being a football coach. Well, guess what? Ohio State offered him an opportunity to just be a football coach. And he's obviously going to recruit. And recruiting and NIL and getting pulled out of a meeting room to go meet with an NIL advisor or go meet with,

with a booster about something that just isn't going to happen as regularly for him anymore. And it doesn't have to, because he can be the quarterback's coach at Ohio state, the play caller. And, you know, some guys just want to coach ball.

Some guys just want to be a ball coach. Jim Kelly wants to be a ball coach. Ryan did give him the opportunity to, and I think it's already working out really, really well. From what I've heard, those meeting rooms are intense. Those guys are all really good friends. Justin Fry, Chip Kelly, Ryan Day, really, really close friends. But I think that also equals times where instead of getting in a shouting match about offensive strategy, you can't get over it because you're not best friends with that guy. These guys can kind of brush it off and go,

whether that's get a drink or hang out afterward, and it's a little easier to do that. So I think it's a really good chemistry in that room. And Chip just adds something that they haven't had, and that's that football coach, football guy, run game specialist that they needed. Yeah, and it's also, there's no yes man situation either, because Chip Kelly is not going to back down just because Ryan Day is the boss

and Justin Fry knows both those guys really well. You're right. There's going to be a very collaborative effort and that there probably will be some challenging of one another at times that, like, as you said, that relationship makes it easier to make that work. I'm looking at Ohio State's schedule and it's interesting to me Spencer because we've done these deep dives into other teams schedules in the Big Ten and they all feel remarkably different. Ohio State's schedule feels like a

kind of this this could have been their schedule and actually probably could have been their schedule actually probably could have been their schedule a few years ago when they were supposed to go to oregon and then couldn't because of covet like the at oregon game is the only one that really feels all that different yeah well the the western michigan spot that you see there in week two was supposed to be a trip to washington um yeah they canceled that series a couple months before the Big Ten added Oregon and Washington, and it kind of, you know, peaked our ears up. It's like, hey, what's going on there?

Why did they cancel that? Well, they add Western Michigan, so there's also a bye week right after that Western Michigan game. So it's two games, it's a bye week, and then it's another non-con that's just not a very good game against Marshall, and then you dive into the Big Ten schedule. So it kind kinda sets up perfectly for this team especially if they've got still questions at quarterback or offensive line like

they've got that ramp up where it's gonna be pretty nice to get to that Oregon game and like you said if you just moved that at Oregon up in between Western Michigan and Marshall it would feel like a normal Ohio State Big Ten schedule and that it's kinda weird to say um because it is cause every everybody else isn't like that like you know you you look at where Penn State falls and for Ohio State it it's you know kind of normal like this is this is where you usually play at Penn State Penn State plays plays them tough every year especially in Happy Valley but the difference is like Penn State will have played UCLA and gone to USC in the weeks before that and go to Washington right afterward. Like Penn State has the weird one, but Ohio State, everything probably doesn't feel all that different. No, not at all.

And, you know, you look at the Michigan schedule, it's a bad year to be hosting Texas early in the season. It's not a great year to draw Oregon as a home game. You'd rather, if you're going to have a potential loss on the schedule, you'd rather be on the road and you could get those home games. You know, like the Michigan schedule looks far, far tougher than the Ohio State schedule. And that's kind of crazy to say because, you know, who among us didn't mock Michigan's schedule last year for what it was?

Well, it's kind of coming back at us when it comes to the Ohio State schedule because it's not the strongest schedule in the world but the the the dynamic between the penn state schedule that looks pretty tough if usc is good the dynamic between the michigan schedule that we know the teams on michigan's schedule are going to be good and then the ohio state schedule couldn't be any different and it sets up perfectly in a year where ohio state is absolutely loaded yeah now here's the thing about Ohio State being loaded in a 14 playoff scenario in the BCS, you'd be looking at this and going, well, as long as they don't screw it up, they're playing for the national title. Now, when you, even if you win the big 10,

you still would have to win three games in a row against really good teams to win the national title. So it doesn't guarantee anything, which I think is a lot of fun because i do feel like if if this were still a 14 playoff we'd be looking at ohio state as a pretty prohibitive favorite yeah i think so and you know you look at that oregon matchup that could happen twice uh because it could happen in the big 10 championship game ohio state could get that first round by in the college football playoff even if it loses at oregon on october 12th because the rematch ohio state could win the big 10 and be one of the top four ranked uh conference champions so you know that trip to oregon doesn't even seem all of all that you know important when you look at the rest of the ohio state schedule because they're going to be favored over michigan they're going to be favored even at

penn state nebraska could be interesting but i don't think they're going to be favored over Michigan. They're going to be favored even at Penn State. Nebraska could be interesting, but I don't think that's going to be too big of a battle. Iowa, I guess, if the offense is different, but who actually expects that? The whole getting to the college football playoff thing here is all about winning the Big Ten because you don't want to have to play that first game. If you do have to play in that first round, it's probably going to be a home game anyway. So it sets up really nicely for them, no matter how you slice it. But, you know, they're talking about a 16 game schedule

because they know a 17 game schedule means they didn't win the Big Ten. I think that's pretty good. Spencer, let's think about it this way. Here's the craziest part. You just said that the Big Ten may come down to a potential Ohio State Oregon rematch yeah imagine saying that to someone 10 years ago and what they would have said to you yeah what are

we doing here right like why why are we here and I still question you know why I'm not uh you know looking forward to the Pac-12 schedule you know release or whatever uh but here we are and you know with uh, who looks like could be a little bit of a rebuild, I'd still think that's more of a reload, but a little bit of a rebuild. I think Michigan is still going to be pretty good depending on what the quarterback situation winds up being. And that seems like something we're just not going to know until after the spring portal window. So yeah, exactly. And then Washington is almost in a complete retool. You know, you can't call it a retool. New coach, new starting 22, it seems like.

And then Oregon is loaded for, you know, what should be a really special run. Ohio State's loaded for what should be a special run. Penn State's kind of creeping back there in the distance with a returning quarterback. But some questions elsewhere, like the dynamic of the Big Ten does not look anywhere near the way it did a couple years ago. And it's not just because it added four new teams. It's because the program that's been at the top for the last three years is undergoing some major changes. Meanwhile, Ohio State is ready to pounce on that, and Oregon's ready to make a splash as they come into the league.

Cannot wait. Every time we do this, I want September to be here sooner sooner and it's not coming any faster. So, Spencer, thank you so much and uh we'll we will check back in uh as the Buckeyes wrap up their spring practice here in the next few weeks because I imagine they're gonna be the team most people are interested in most off season cuz it's it seems like they are just continually getting better. And with the expectations, well, it's going to be fun.

Spencer, thank you so much. Thanks, Andy. You read the chat while I was talking to Spencer, and you know there are quite a few people who do not believe Ohio State will live up to expectations. They've referenced several times in the past when the Buckeyes have not lived up to expectations. But I suspect this team will be very, very good. Can it go all the way? I don't know.

Maybe it's a group from the field. I can't stop thinking about Jesse Simonton's question. One hand, Ohio state, Georgia, Texas, and Oregon. On the other hand, the field, you can vote in a poll where you can answer that question yourself on my Twitter feed, Andy underscore staples. The other thing you can do is get yourself into tomorrow's show. We love your questions. Tomorrow is a Dear Andy show. It may be wall-to-wall Dear Andy. We'll see.

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