3. Ohio State Buckeyes
Ryan Day lost some shine after three straight losses to Michigan, but he’s still managed three consecutive 11-2 finishes and was a play or two away from a national championship berth in 2022. Arguably, no team had a better offseason than Ohio State. The Buckeyes signed the No. 5 recruiting class for 2024 and added some of the transfer portal’s best available players in Caleb Downs, Quinshon Judkins, Julian Sayin and Will Howard. Day only lost eight games in six seasons at Ohio State, and Jim Harbaugh, who handed him three of those, is gone.
Pate:” Everything is elite up there. The resource pool is elite. They spare no expense, whether it be going and acquiring talent in high school or the portal. The recruiting is an elite tier. The staff is at an elite tier. They’re as hungry as any program in America. They’ve won a lot of football games, but not the ones towards the end of the season. They’re like a rubber band pulled all the way back, and eventually, it’s going to snap. The dam is going to break, and they go on a little Georgia or Alabama run.”
