In honor of the Big Ten expanding to 18 teams, here are 18 questions for the league and Ohio State heading into the annual Big Ten Football Media Days on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in Indianapolis.
Question: Will the Big Ten continue expanding beyond its current 18 schools?
Answer: Not right now. Notre Dame is the only addition to the league that would be a game-changer and it does not appear interested in joining a league.
Question: Who is going to be Ohio State’s starting quarterback in the Buckeyes’ opener against Akron on Aug. 31?
Answer: The safe bet is Will Howard, who started 27 games at Kansas State before entering the transfer portal.
Question: Who will be Ohio State’s starting quarterback by Game 12 of the season when Michigan comes to Ohio Stadium?
Answer: Probably Howard unless he’s injured. But if Ryan Day decides he doesn’t like what he’s getting from the starter, he has better options this season, with highly regarded freshman Julian Sayin and a slightly more experienced Devin Brown than he had in 2023.
Question: Which of the five scholarship quarterbacks on OSU’s roster (Howard, Sayin, Brown, Lincoln Kienholz or Prentiss “Air” Noland) will be the first to enter the transfer portal?
Answer: Kienholz is the most obvious choice. If Brown drops to third team on the depth chart he might start looking around. If Sayin’s role is anything less than second-team quarterback and heir apparent, he might go into the portal again.
Question: Will Iowa have an offense this season?
Iowa averaged 1.5 offensive touchdowns a game and ranked last in the nation in offense last season and still won 10 games.
The Hawkeyes probably will be improved on the offensive side of the ball simply because it would be difficult to be worse.
Question: What’s a good guess for Michigan’s record this season after losing players like J.J. McCarthy, Blake Corum and Mike Sainristil and coach Jim Harbaugh?
Answer: There are five teams on the Wolverines’ schedule who could beat them – Texas, USC, Washington, Oregon and Ohio State. They will go 2-3 in those games and finish the regular season 9-3.
Question: Which Big Ten streak is most likely to end this season?
Answer: New Indiana coach Curt Cignetti has never had a losing season in 13 years as a head coach at Elon, James Madison and Indiana of Pennsylvania. Welcome to Bloomington, coach.
Question: What is the scariest game on Ohio State’s schedule?
Answer: It’s a toss-up between going to Oregon on Oct. 12 and going to Penn State on Nov. 2. Mid-October is the beginning of the rainiest months of the year in Oregon. Hopefully, that won’t become a factor.
Question: Is Ohio State freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith the next Marvin Harrison Jr.?
Answer: If he were any other freshman receiver who had not played a college game yet, it would be ridiculous to make that comparison. But based on what he showed in spring practice it is already widely assumed he will start as a freshman (which Harrison Jr. didn’t do) and do star receiver things.
Question: Will Emeka Egbuka, not Jeremiah Smith, lead Ohio State’s receivers in catches?
Answer: An ankle injury that kept Egbuka out of three games and limited him in most of the games he played resulted in him going from 74 catches for 1,051 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2022 to 41 catches, 576 yards and 5 touchdowns last season. If he stays healthy his numbers will look more like 2022 than 2023.
Question: Who gets the frequent flier miles?
Answer: According to the website bookies.com, the Big Ten football teams traveling the most miles this season are: UCLA (22,048), Washington (17,522), USC (12,710), Oregon (12,520) and Rutgers (9,278). The teams traveling the fewest miles are: Indiana (4,894), Purdue (5,140), Michigan (5,193), Ohio State (5,633) and Northwestern (5,696).
Question: What are still the two biggest questions for Ohio State?
Answer: The offensive line and quarterback.
Question: Are any Big Ten coaches on the hot seat and coaching for their jobs this season?
Answer: Short answer, no. At least not right now.
Question: Is there any combination of losses that could endanger Ryan Day’s job at Ohio State?
Answer: There shouldn’t be. But losing to Oregon, Penn State and Michigan would make it mighty uncomfortable.
Question: With the College Football Playoff expanding to 12 teams, how many Big Ten teams will be in it?
Answer: Two for sure. Maybe three. The Big Ten champion is guaranteed a spot. Any other Big Ten teams would have to come from seven at large spots.
Question: Now that the Big Ten has eliminated divisions and will have its two best teams play against
each other in its championship game, who will be in that game?
Answer: Ohio State and Oregon in a rematch of their regular season game.
Question: Which transfer portal additions will have the biggest impact for Ohio State?
Answer: Running back Quinshon Judkins on offense and safety Caleb Downs on defense.
Question: What’s a good guess for Ohio State’s record?
Answer: 12-0 regular season. But that’s a guess, not a guarantee.
PRESEASON MEDIA RANKINGS
Media members covering Big Ten football schools released its unofficial preseason rankings Monday ahead of Big Ten Media Days. Ohio State was selected as the favorite to win the league. All 33 voters picked Ohio State to make the conference championship game, with 24 picking a win against Oregon, 2 against Penn State and 1 against Michigan. The other six voters selected Oregon to defeat Ohio State in the game.
Predicted Order of Standings
(first place votes)
1. Ohio State (27)
2. Oregon (6)
3. Penn State
4. Michigan
5. Iowa
6. USC
7. Wisconsin
8. Nebraska
9. Rutgers
10. Washington
11. Maryland
12. Minnesota
13. UCLA
14. Illinois
15. Michigan State
16. Northwestern
17. Indiana
18. Purdue
Preseason First Team All-Big Ten
(* indicates unanimous selection)
OFFENSE
Quarterback: Dillon Gabriel, Oregon*
Running back: TreVeyon Henderson, Ohio State; Kyle Monangai, Rutgers
Wide receiver: Emeka Egbuka, Ohio State*; Tez Johnson, Oregon
Tight end: Colston Loveland, Michigan
Offensive line: Logan Jones, Iowa; Donovan Jackson, Ohio State; Ersery, Minnesota; Josh Priebe, Michigan; Sal Wormley, Penn State
Also receiving votes: RB: Quinshon Judkins, Ohio State; Donovan Edwards, Michigan; Nick Singleton, Penn State; Darius Taylor, Minnesota; WR: Evan Stewart, Oregon; Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State; TE: Luke Lachey, Iowa; Terrance Ferguson, Oregon; Tyler Warren, Penn State; OL: Josh Conerly Jr., Oregon; Ajani Cornelius, Oregon; Jonah Monheim, USC, Matthew Bedford, Oregon; Josh Fryar, Ohio State; Connor Colby, Iowa; Seth McLaughlin, Ohio State
DEFENSE
Defensive line: Mason Graham, Michigan; J.T. Tuimoloau, Ohio State; Williams, Ohio State; Abdul Carter, Penn State
Linebacker: Jay Higgins, Iowa; Nick Jackson, Iowa; Jeffrey Bassa, Oregon
Defensive back: Will Johnson, Michigan; Denzel Burke, Ohio State; Caleb Downs, Ohio State; Dillon Thieneman, Purdue
Also receiving votes: DL: Jack Sawyer, Ohio State; Kenneth Grant, Michigan; Bear Alexander, USC; Dani Dennis-Sutton, Penn State; LB: Jaishawn Barhman, Michigan; Xander Mueller, Northwestern, Mohamed Toure, Rutgers, Carson Bruenner, Washington; Cal Haladay, Michigan State; Kydran Jenkins, Purdue; Jaheim Thomas, Wisconsin; DB: Sebastian Castro, Iowa; Jabbar Muhammad, Oregon; Hunter Wohler, Wisconsin; Ricardo Hallman, Wisconsin; Davison Igbinosun, Ohio State; Kevin Winston Jr., Penn State
SPECIAL TEAMS
Kicker: Dragan Kesich, Minnesota
Punter: Ryan Eckley, Michigan State
All-purpose: Zachariah Branch, USC
Also receiving votes: K: Drew Stevens, Iowa; P: James Evans, Indiana; ALL-PURPOSE: Donaven McCulley, Indiana; Nick Singleton, Penn State; Braeden Wisloski, Maryland
AWARDS
Coach of the Year: Ryan Day, Ohio State
Player of the Year: Dillon Gabriel, Oregon*
Newcomer of the Year: Dillon Gabriel, Oregon
Newcomer of the Year (non-Dillon Gabriel category): Caleb Downs, Ohio State
