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Who are Ohio State football’s best transfer portal additions under Ryan Day?

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Who are Ohio State football’s best transfer portal additions under Ryan Day?


Ohio State has already been active in the transfer portal ahead of the 2024 season.

After the Buckeyes’ 14-3 loss to Missouri in the Cotton Bowl, Ohio State added former Ohio tight end Will Kacmarek. The Buckeyes have also reportedly hosted players such as former Alabama center Seth McLaughlin and former Kansas State quarterback Will Howard.

Since Ryan Day took over the Ohio State program in 2019, the Buckeyes have added 17 players through the transfer portal, including 10 players in the 2023 offseason.

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Which transfer additions have brought the most success to Ohio State?

Here are the top five transfer additions Ohio State has made in the Day era.

5. SAF Tanner McCalister

In Jim Knowles’ first season as Ohio State’s defensive coordinator, Tanner McCalister helped the Buckeyes transition into Knowles’ new scheme.

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Having played for Oklahoma State for four seasons under Knowles, McCalister found a home as a nickel safety, finishing wth 24 tackles, one pass deflection and a career-high three interceptions, including two against Iowa Oct. 22, 2022.

In McCalister’s only season at Ohio State, Knowles’ defense was one of six Big Ten defenses to allow less than five yards per play.

4. CB Davison Igbinosun

Davison Igbinosun was a plug-and-play starter in Ohio State’s secondary in 2023.

Transferring from Mississippi after one season, Igbinosun played 770 snaps for the Buckeyes in 2023 per Pro Football Focus, recording 59 tackles, five pass deflections, 1.5 tackles-for-loss and two fumble recoveries.

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Facing Igbinosun, receivers recorded 36 receptions on 71 targets and five touchdowns. After allowing double-digit yards-after-catch in each of the first four games, Igbinosun limited receivers to less than 15 yards after catch in his last nine games.

Igbinosun had a season-high seven tackles in Ohio State’s 14-3 Cotton Bowl loss to Missouri.

3. RB Trey Sermon

Trey Sermon’s Ohio State career can nearly been defined by one game.

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After five games where he recorded 344 rushing yards and one touchdown — including a 112-yard performance against Michigan State — Sermon, an Oklahoma transfer, nearly eclipsed that total in Ohio State’s 22-10 Big Ten championship win against Northwestern, recording 331 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries.

Sermon followed up his Big Ten championship performance with a 193-yard performance in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Sugar Bowl against Clemson.

Sermon finished the 2020 season with 870 rushing yards and four touchdowns.

2. K Noah Ruggles

After three seasons at North Carolina, Noah Ruggles picked up where he left off in two years at Ohio State.

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In two seasons as the Buckeyes’ starting kicker, Ruggles finished career fifth in Ohio State history with 37 made field goals in 41 tries, finishing his career with the highest field goal percentage in program history at 90.2%.

In 2021, Ruggles made 20 of 21 field goal tries for a 95.2% success rate: 5.2 percentage points higher than any Ohio State kicker in program history.

Ruggles also hit 148 of 149 extra point tries.

1. QB Justin Fields

Justin Fields is Day’s biggest transfer portal success story.

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Transferring from Georgia prior to the 2019 season, Fields won Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year in 2019 and 2020 as Ohio State’s starting quarterback, recording 5,373 passing yards, 63 touchdowns and nine interceptions with 15 rushing touchdowns.

In each of his seasons as Ohio State’s starting quarterback, Fields finished as a top-10 Heisman Trophy vote getter, finishing third in 2019.

In Fields’ two seasons at Ohio State, the Buckeyes finished with a record of 20-2, with his only losses coming to Clemson and Alabama, respectively, in the College Football Playoff.

Get more Ohio State football news by listening to our podcasts

 cgay@dispatch.com 

@_ColinGay

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Ohio State Buckeyes’ Biggest Weakness Revealed Before Michigan Game

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Ohio State Buckeyes’ Biggest Weakness Revealed Before Michigan Game


Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes were able to take care of business against the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday. Now, they are set to prepare for the massive rivalry matchup against the Michigan Wolverines to end the regular season.

Ohio State has been unable to beat Michigan for the last three years. In order to get a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game, they’ll need to snap that losing streak.

At this point in the year, the Buckeyes absolutely look like a national championship favorite. However, there is one weakness that is worth monitoring.

David Pollack, a former star college football linebacker and a current analyst, spoke out about the one weakness that he sees with Ohio State.

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“I don’t see a lot of gamewreckers,” Pollack said. “But I don’t see a lot of weaknesses, except at the cornerback spot. I’ve got to address the cornerback spot as a weakness. I’ve seen enough to know. There are enough penalties back there, enough flags, enough big plays that it’s not a strength.”

All season long, the Buckeyes’ cornerbacks have underperformed. Denzel Burke has looked nothing like the expected first-round pick talent that he was being hyped up to be. Davison Igbinosun has been heavily penalized and has struggled as well.

Going up against other elite national championship contenders will be a tough task with a struggling secondary.

Outside of the cornerback position, everything else seems to look solid. If they can fix the issues and get better production out of it, they would be a much more complete contender.

Thankfully, the talent is there for them to improve. Both Burke and Igbinosun are talented players who have simply struggled this season. They are more than capable of turning things around.

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All of that being said, the stage has been set for Ohio State and Michigan. On paper, the Buckeyes should be able to dominate the game, but rivalry games can get tricky. It will be interesting to see what ends up happening.



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Paul Finebaum names CFP National Champion favorite between Oregon, Ohio State

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Paul Finebaum names CFP National Champion favorite between Oregon, Ohio State


With just one week remaining in the regular season, there is only one team across all of college football that remains undefeated at this point: the Oregon Ducks.

So, it stands to reason that the undefeated Ducks should be the favorite to end the 2024 hoisting the College Football Playoff National Championship trophy, right?

Not according to SEC Network host and ESPN personality Paul Finebaum.

“I’m ‘Paul Out’ with block letters. I don’t even think Oregon is the best team in the Big Ten, let alone the favorite to win it all,” Finebaum said during Sunday morning’s ‘Paul-In, Paul-Out’ segment on ESPN’s SportsCenter. “And thanks Ducks fans waking up on the West coast, I’m aware that you beat Ohio State. But Ohio State, to me, looks like the best team in the country.

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“I think they’ll have a fun game in a couple of weeks in the Big Ten championship game, and both are going to go to the Playoffs and be in very good shape. But Oregon, to me, looks a tad below Ohio State.”

As Finebaum reminded the college football world, this exact matchup has already been decided on the field once this season, with the Ducks eking out a 32-31 win in Eugene in mid-October. While it’s not official yet, all expectations are Oregon (11-0, 8-0 B10) and Ohio State (10-1, 7-1) will meet again in the Big Ten Championship game in Indianapolis.

But in the meantime, Finebaum is sticking by the preseason favorite Buckeyes.

Ryan Day wanted to ‘leave no doubt’ vs. Indiana

Ryan Day wanted to leave no doubt during Ohio State’s 38-15 win over Indiana Saturday in Columbus and it certainly worked out by the time the game came to its conclusion.

After trailing 7-0, Ohio State ripped off 31 straight points to erase any opportunity of the Hoosiers pulling off the biggest win in school history. The Buckeyes and Hoosiers came in No. 2 and 5 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings.

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But with Day and Ohio State one step closer to the Big Ten Championship vs. Oregon, they can put this game to rest.

“Game got a flip there with the punt return (for a touchdown by Caleb Downs),” Day told FOX’s Jenny Taft postgame. “I thought, you know, we had a chance to really separate ourselves in the first half. We didn’t do that. I thought we played well in the second half. I thought we played physical all across the board, and our guys had a great look in their eye. And so now it’s onto the rivalry game.”

As far as scoring the final touchdown, despite a 31-15 lead with less than two minutes to go, Day and Ohio State wanted to leave their mark.

“Well, you say, leave no doubt,” Day said. “And you know, these guys want to finish the game the right way. TreVeyon (Henderson) did the right thing going down at the one-yard line. We ate up the clock. We didn’t want to put the defense back out there. You just never know in games like this, it’s a top five matchup. So we wanted to finish it the right way and make sure that everybody knows that this is the Ohio State Buckeyes.”

Nick Kosko contributed to this report.

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College football top 25 rankings for Week 14: Dreaming of a Ohio State-Notre Dame playoff matchup | Sporting News

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College football top 25 rankings for Week 14: Dreaming of a Ohio State-Notre Dame playoff matchup | Sporting News


Ohio State and Notre Dame looked the part of national championship contenders in Week 13. 

The Buckeyes – who are No. 2 in this week’s Sporting News Top 25 – came one step closer to a Big Ten championship rematch against No. 1 Oregon. The Buckeyes beat Indiana 38-15, and the Hoosiers dropped to No. 8 as a result. 

Now, Ohio State faces Michigan and can break a three-game losing streak in The Game on Nov. 30. To be honest, that’s not the game we want to see. 

How about a rematch from last year’s 17-14 thriller against the Irish on Sept. 23, 2023. That was the one where the Buckeyes scored a late touchdown when the Irish had 10 players on the field, and Ohio State coach Ryan Day called out Lou Holtz afterward. How sweet would a rematch in the College Football Playoff be? 

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Notre Dame moves up to No. 5 after a 49-14 blowout against No. 19 Army at Yankee Stadium. The Irish set up a win-and-in matchup against rival USC, which seemed unthinkable after a 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois on Sept. 7. 

A playoff matchup between the Buckeyes and Irish would not materialize until the quarterfinals or semifinals at this point, but we would take it whenever and wherever it happened. Ohio State has allowed 10.2 points per game since the Oct. 12 loss to the Ducks. The Irish have allowed 11.6 points per game in their last five games. Of the 10-1 teams in the top-10, Ohio State and Notre Dame are on the best trajectory heading into Rivalry Week. 

Here is a closer look at The Sporting News top 25 rankings.

MORE: SEC title game scenarios | Big 12 | Big Ten | ACC

Sporting News Top 25 rankings for Week 14

Here is a closer look at our latest top 25 ranking heading into Week 14:

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RANK SCHOOL RECORD PVS. WEEK 12 RESULT
1 Oregon 11-0 1 Bye
2 Ohio State 10-1 2 Beat Indiana 38-15
3 Texas 10-1 3 Beat Kentucky 31-14
4 Penn State 10-1 4 Beat Minnesota 26-25
5 Notre Dame 10-1 6 Beat Army 49-14
6 Miami, Fla. 10-1 10 Beat Wake Forest 42-14
7 Georgia 9-2 9 Beat UMass 59-21
8 Indiana 10-1 5 Lost to Ohio State 38-15
9 Tennessee 9-2 11 Beat UTEP 56-0
10 SMU 10-1 14 Beat Virginia 33-7
11 Boise State 10-1 12 Beat Wyoming 17-13
12 Arizona State 9-2 17 Beat BYU 28-23
13 Iowa State 9-2 20 Beat Utah 31-28
14 BYU 9-2 13 Lost to Arizona State
15 Clemson 9-2 18 Beat The Citadel 51-14
16 Alabama 8-3 7 Lost to Oklahoma 24-3
17 Ole Miss 8-3 8 Lost to Florida 24-17
18 South Carolina 8-3 21 Beat Wofford 56-12
19 Texas A&M 8-3 15 Lost to Auburn 43-41
20 Tulane 9-2 22 Bye
21 Kansas State 8-3 23 Beat Cincinnati 41-15
22 Illinois 8-3 24 Beat Rutgers 38-31
23 Army 9-1 19 Los to Notre Dame 49-14
24 Colorado 8-3 16 Lost to Kansas 37-21
25 Missouri 8-3 NR Beat Mississippi State 39-20



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