Now that signing day has come and gone, most of the major transfers have made their decisions, and the coaching carousel has died down, it’s much easier to qualify where top teams like Ohio State stand.
247Sports Brad Crawford along with help from a few of his cohorts, did exactly that, as they have updated their way-too-early top 25 for the 2024 season. Two conferences dominate the group, with nine total schools being selected from the Big Ten and the SEC.
Many of the teams you’d usually expect to see are listed, so find out below where Ohio State and every one of the other Big Ten teams landed on this rankings projection with the previous rankings in parenthesis.
No. 2 Ohio State (5)
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It’s pretty easy to understand why the Buckeyes made such a big jump as “no elite program has made more power moves over the last month and change” than Ohio State. The Bucks added multiple high profile transfers, and while they did lose Bill O’Brien to Boston College, head coach Ryan Day quickly picked up the pieces and hired Chip Kelly. The additions helped the Buckeyes jump into the top 2, behind Georgia.
No. 4 Oregon (4)
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They will make the transition to the Big Ten this coming fall, and it looks like “expectations are extremely high for Dan Lanning’s Ducks.” They shored up their quarterback room with two solid transfers, and are “being built on the defensive side of the football similar to Georgia in terms of depth, skill and ferocity.”
No. 7 Michigan (7)
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It’s been a rougher than expected offseason for the most recent champs, as “now that the dust has settle following several additional coaching staff exits.” New Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore has a difficult job ahead of him especially considering quarterback JJ McCarthy has declared for the NFL.