How is Ohio State handling players transferring during the College Football Playoff?

COLUMBUS, Ohio — College football teams with national title aspirations, such as Ohio State, face an intriguing task this week.

On one end, 12 programs are preparing for the College Football Playoff. For the Buckeyes, that begins with a first-round matchup against Tennessee at home on Dec. 21.

However, the postseason’s arrival is met by the opening of the transfer portal Monday. Players across the country are deciding if it’s better to leave or stay with the program they’re at.

If they decide moving on is the best option, but they hold an important role for their current team, it creates a dilemma.

Should teams allow players with intentions of leaving to keep playing?

“It’s a very unique situation,” OSU coach Ryan Day said. “We’re going to deal with each of those situations on an individual basis.”

Ohio State had four players announce their intent to enter the transfer portal before Monday morning. That list included linebacker Gabe Powers, quarterback Devin Brown and wide receivers Jayden Ballard and Kojo Antwi.

None of those players took the field for more than 100 snaps on offense or defense. However, Powers has played 172 special teams snaps – second most on the team.

Decisions on players such as Powers will be made throughout the course of the week, Day said.

“We have to make sure that we’re being fair to our guys but we also have enough depth that we need to go make this run,” Day said.

Ohio State had a plethora of players transfer or opt out ahead of last year’s Cotton Bowl loss against Missouri.

Day doesn’t expect a similar issue this season with the team playing for a national title as opposed to a standalone bowl game.

The portal opened Monday and closes Dec. 28, which suggests most players would need to make a decision before the quarterfinals begin on Dec. 31.

However, players on CFP teams have a five-day window to enter after they are eliminated from the postseason. That gives Ohio State an opportunity to hold onto eventual departures through the season.

“There’s guys who want to… finish what they started here,” Day said. “These guys made a commitment to this team. It’s a close team. They want to finish out their commitment. I think that those guys deserve a lot of credit for wanting to do that.

“But I also think that some guys need to figure out, ‘OK, what’s next for me?’ It’s not their fault. It’s just the way it’s designed. They have to make decisions while we’re getting ready to go play in the playoff.”