Bill O'Brien was Ohio State's offensive coordinator for about a month, and today he has been hired as Boston College's new head coach. Within an hour of this announcement, Chip Kelly resigned as UCLA's head coach to take Ohio State's offensive coordinator position. Kelly and Ryan Day are very familiar with each other, as Day was Kelly's quarterback at the University of New Hampshire, and they worked together on the 49ers staff as well. I think the spread option that he brings to the Buckeyes will give them explosiveness and physical play. Provided the offensive line improves, I expect TreVeyon ..read more

Michigan has beaten Ohio State over the past three seasons by an average score of 39-25. In two of those three seasons (2021 and 2022), Ohio State's defense proved problematic as they struggled to stop the run both seasons and got blitzed by the pass in 2022. Last year, the Silver Bullets performed better on the defensive side of the ball, but turnovers, stalled drives on offense, and an extremely conservative defensive scheme stymied Ryan Day and the Buckeyes in Ann Arbor. Now, with seven starters returning, Caleb Downs arriving from the transfer portal, and Michigan losing most of their play ..read more

Rutgers Football had a breakthrough 2023 campaign, and I think they will follow that up by winning 10 or more games in 2024. Greg Schiano has built a strong culture in Piscataway, and he returns 40+ 2-deep players from his 2023 squad that went 7-6 and beat Miami in the Pinstripe Bowl. Rutgers returns 74% of their 2023 production (good for 8th nationally) and they return great starting players such as running back Kyle Monangai, wide receiver Christian Dremel, defensive end Aaron Lewis, linebackers Deion Jennings and Mohamed Toure, and cornerback Robert Longerbeam, along with many others. The S ..read more

The Big Ten and the SEC, the two most powerful conferences in college athletics, announced a week ago that they were forming an advisory board. This collaboration signals that both conferences respect each other's strengths and want to advance their visions of college football. Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, and Michigan are arguably the Top 4 programs in the sport, and all reside in the SEC or the Big Ten. With both the top programs in terms of revenue and performance residing in these conferences, I think they control the future of college football and the NCAA (whose most important sport is ..read more

With Sherrone Moore being promoted to be Michigan Football's next head coach, a new offensive coordinator was needed. Yesterday, Michigan promoted quarterbacks coach Kirk Campbell as the team's next offensive coordinator, moving tight ends coach Grant Newsome to be the offensive line coach and hiring UMass offensive coordinator Steve Casula as tight ends coach. The Wolverines lost 10 out of 11 starters from last year's offense, and combining that with changes in the staff leads me to believe Michigan's offense will undergo change in 2024. How much change will occur? I am not certain, but I bel ..read more

Ohio State's quarterback battle is one of the most intriguing position battles in the Big Ten this season. Ohio State Football is known for producing great quarterbacks under head coach Ryan Day. These include Dwayne Haskins, Justin Fields, and CJ Stroud, all of whom won 1st team All-Big Ten mentions and each made at least one trip to New York City for the Heisman Trophy ceremony. However, last year Ohio State had inconsistent quarterback play with Kyle McCord and I do not believe Will Howard or Devin Brown (the two frontrunners for the job) are elite players either. However, the difference be ..read more

The Iowa Hawkeyes are a weird football program. The defense and special teams are elite year in and year out, the strength and conditioning is NFL level, and Iowa has participated in the Big Ten Championship game in two of the previous three seasons. And yet, their offense has been abysmal, holding them back from competing with Michigan (both years) in the Big Ten Championship game and being a dominant Big Ten Football program. Iowa is 30th in returning production entering 2024 and they upgraded their offense by bringing in offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor and new offensive coordinator Tim Leste ..read more

The Michigan Wolverines may have lost most of their 2023 coaching staff and roster, but they are set to compete for the Big Ten and National Championships in 2024. Michigan Football has developed a culture that will take years to erode, and Sherrone Moore has done an excellent job at keeping that process from taking place by keeping several key players from entering the transfer portal. Michigan in theory has concerns at quarterback, wide receiver, offensive line, cornerback, and safety, but spring and summer practice could change their circumstances for the better. By the time the 2024 colleg ..read more

Are the Oregon Ducks ready to compete in the Big Ten conference? Absolutely they are. Oregon Football is ready for the Big Ten because its culture is tough, its development and coaching are elite, and its players are talented. Oregon also returns 69% of its 2023 production and most of its staff, which is a plus. Oregon head coach Dan Lanning is learning from his lessons as a defensive coordinator at Georgia and applying them by building an SEC/Big Ten program in Eugene. This is reflected in his great recruiting and on and off-the-field development of players. Oregon Football will have the oppo ..read more

Penn State Football has won 10 or more games under James Franklin in 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022, and 2023. However, they have not competed for a National Title in any of those years and they lost to one or both of Michigan or Ohio State all of those years. James Franklin's reputation as a bad game manager was solidified last season, with his offense only scoring 13.5 points per game against Michigan and Ohio State, and his questionable decisions that cost him a win over Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl. With a Top 25 returning production ranking, a Top 15 talent roster, and an easy schedule, is Penn Sta ..read more