Last season: "Why doesn't Julian Sayin throw to Jeremiah Smith more often? He's their best weapon!" 🙄

Jakobi is our only RB who really runs violently and never seems to lose yards or have no gain. I've seen several times it looks like it's going to be 2nd and 9 but Jakobi keeps pushing forward and instead of 2nd and 9 or 10 it's 2nd and 6. I would say that Siereveld is definitely the 2nd best lineman and he's not far behind Montgomery. I fear that Bo is going to put us in too many 2nd and 8 or 9s. Bey looks like he can either rip off an explosive run or screw up the read option and lose 5 yards. Also worried because this isn't 2024 or 2025. We can't count on the defense to win us games, only to keep us in games. Iowa didn't tell me that much because I think their QB Brown isn't very good.

Rewatching highlights, can we appreciate the pass and run game of this team? Not to mention the defence. OH-

While watching Smith pulling away from everyone all I could think of is how much that looked like classic Ted Ginn Jr. runs back in the day. The way players were just unable to properly judge his speed, making it look like they were just taking poor angles. He may not have the same track speed as Ginn, but I bet he's close. Incredible to see a guy with this kind of speed at his size, body control, hands and route running. Truly special talent.

The comparisons have run rampant ever since. Is he the next Julio Jones? Andre Johnson? Randy Moss? Calvin Johnson? Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz recently compared him to Saquon Barkley.

Carter, who tallied 2,421 yards and 26 touchdowns in his three-year career at Ohio State, saw Smith up close at that Rose Bowl against Oregon. It’s what happened the next spring that really stood out to Carter, now the executive director of player engagement at Florida Atlantic, when thinking about those comparisons.

The past two offseasons, Day has invited Carter and FAU coaches to Ohio State spring practice, which has given Carter a front-row seat to watch Smith in practice and in meetings.

“You can see all the comparisons with the great players in his work ethic, like Calvin Johnson, Randy Moss, Larry Fitzgerald, Julio Jones,” Carter said. “A lot of guys I have done work with. And then you see the body type, the stats and everything else, it all matches up. When you see him in the spring, there’s no games, he has nothing to gain and you see Ryan Day and the staff trying to take him out of things, but he’s inserting him into things. … He’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen.”

What’s that work look like? It’s not just going out on the field and running routes or catching balls on the JUGS machine. Many great Ohio State players have done that.

What’s helped Smith stand out is the level of detail and mindset he brings into meetings and workouts. He’s the most dominant player in the sport, but he wants to get better. He wants to be challenged, which is why the pairing with new receivers coach Cortez Hankton has worked so well after Brian Hartline took the USF head coaching job.

Read the rest here for free: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7686230/2026/10/15/jeremiah-smith-ohio-state-best-players/?unlocked_article_code=1.I1E.lEWO.PixzxilZDN7A&source=emp_shared_article&smid=url-share-ta

I'm sure most of us have seen the news about the 24 team playoff. For the record, I hate it because it's completely unnecessary and will be used to prop up underachieving B1G/SEC teams rather than represent all of CFB with more G6 teams. However, I do think some of the concerns about 9-3, 8-4, or even 7-5 teams are a bit overblown. Let's simulate what the 24 team playoff would look like by looking at the penultimate CFP rankings from 2024 and 2025, as news has broken that conference championship games will be eliminated. We don't have any information yet on how conference autobids would work or how auto-byes would work, but it wouldn't hurt to assume that the P4 + one G6 will get autobids and the top 8 teams will get a bye.

For 2024 (bear in mind these rankings didn't use the new SOS metric, and several conferences still playing 8 conference games)
First round:
17. Clemson (9-3) @ 16. Iowa State (10-2)
18. BYU (10-2) @ 15. Arizona State (10-2)
19. Missouri (9-3) @ 14. South Carolina (9-3)
20. UNLV (10-2) @ 13. Ole Miss (9-3)
21. Illinois (9-3) @ 12. Miami (10-2)
22. Syracuse (9-3) @ 11. Alabama (9-3)
23. Colorado (9-3) @ 10. Boise State (11-1)
24. Army (10-1)* @ 9. Indiana (11-1)
Second Round:
17-16 winner @ 1. Oregon (12-0)
18-15 winner @ 2. Texas (11-1)
19-14 winner @ 3. Penn State (11-1)
20-13 winner @ 4. Notre Dame (11-1)
21-12 winner @ 5. Georgia (10-2)
22-11 winner @ 6. Ohio State (10-2)
23-10 winner @ 7. Tennessee (10-2)
24-9 winner @ 8. SMU (11-1)
Total Tally:
ACC: 4, BXII: 4, B1G: 5, SEC: 7 (20 P4), MWC: 2, AAC: 1 (3 P6), ND. 8/24 teams are 3 loss teams.

2025:
First round:
17. Virginia (10-2) @ 16. USC (9-3)
18. Arizona (9-3) @ 15. Utah (10-2)
19. Michigan (9-3) @ 14. Vanderbilt (10-2)
20. Tulane (10-2) @ 13. Texas (9-3)
21. Houston (10-2) @ 12. Miami (10-2)
22. Georgia Tech (9-3) @ 11. BYU (11-1)
23. Iowa (8-4) @ 10. Notre Dame (10-2)
24. North Texas (11-1) @ 9. Alabama (10-2)
Second Round:
17-16 winner @ 1. Ohio State (12-0)
18-15 winner @ 2. Indiana (12-0)
19-14 winner @ 3. Georgia (11-1)
20-13 winner @ 4. Texas Tech (11-1)
21-12 winner @ 5. Oregon (11-1)
22-11 winner @ 6. Ole Miss (11-1)
23-10 winner @ 7. Texas A&M (11-1)
24-9 winner @ 8. Oklahoma (10-2)
Total Tally:
ACC: 3, BXII: 5, B1G: 6, SEC: 7 (21 P4), AAC: 2 (2 P6), ND. 1/24 teams are 4 loss, 5/24 teams are 3 loss.

So as you can see, the conference makeup of the playoff definitely can vary a bit, but I think it's fair to expect that while we will see some 3 loss teams and on a rare occasional a 4 loss team, it likely won't be just giving out playoff spots to 8-4 or god forbid 7-5 SEC teams like candy. The G6 will get representation, and those 11-1 or 10-2 BXII or ACC teams aren't going to get shafted in favor of a 9-3 Alabama or a 10-2 OSU. OSU, assuming Day keeps us at this current level of performance and keels delivering 10-2 to 12-0 seasons, will never miss the playoffs again.

I’m gonna be sick?

When Ryan day said we’re getting some guys back but wouldn’t be 100% I didn’t know he meant Jakobi was going to be on here?!?

Day just finished his 100th game last Saturday at Ohio State. If you had to predict how much longer do you think Day coaches at Ohio State? Do you think he coaches another 100?#GoBucks

I know I'm old but I miss OSU playing some of the original teams that we always used play every year. Teams like Penn State, Michigan State, Wisconsin. I would much rather play those teams as opposed to Rutgers, UCLA, USC, etc... Anyone else?

have 2 pairs of A deck available

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By request of u/CheaterSaysWhat I've created a second ballpoint pen drawing of JJ. (I've included the first as well). I received a lot of messages about my drawings in my last post. If you private msg me I'll give you my website where you can purchase these drawings or have me draw something for you. I don't want to post the link here and be banned from the BEST sub on Reddit. :)

SImilar to the "System Quarterback" critique, I've long had an issue with hand-waving a QB into the bucket of being somehow less capable because they get rattled under pressure, in that it seems WAY overused, even if true.

To my mind, I think of a QB getting rattled in the old-school sense of what they used to call "hearing footsteps", or else where the guy just melts at the slightest whiff of anything but a pristine pocket around him--no qualms there, and examples abound at all levels of course.

On the other end of the spectrum, you then have the guys who give zero F's and will stand there to make the throw like they enjoy getting hit and the challenge--a small group, I'd say, but sure I grant the point.

But then you have what I think is the bast majority of these guys, where at some point all of us will end up crumbling a bit when we detect a 1,000-odd pounds of meat coming straight for us like we're a miscellanous ungulate caught on open ground by a group of hungry felines somewhere--one sympathizes! Point being, my comp has long been Brady in Super Bowl 42 against that NASCAR Package: he had guys in his face all night long, was screaming at his line the whole night, and could barely get anything good going, BUT I fail to see a whole lot he could have actually done differently across the whole game.

My sympathy for Sayin is that I feel like the times he get pilloried for crumbling are when his line either gets circumvented or breaks down, and he's got nowhere to go, where of course it's not going to be perfect back there. When I see these games where Sayin struggles, I keep going back to him not having any great answers open to him in the moment.

Or am I an apologist for something I'm discounting?

Interesting that Austin would go back to tackle if healthy. Wonder if they are more uncertain about Daniels or Moore