The Hodgepodge: 2024 Will Tell Us a Lot About Ohio State, An Early Prediction for the First 12-Team Playoff and 25 Things to Look Forward to Next Season

By Garrick Hodge on January 9, 2024 at 12:44 pm
Ryan Day
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Don’t cry because the 2023 football season happened, Ohio State fans. Smile because it’s over.

A nightmarish six-week stretch for the Buckeyes that started with OSU losing its third straight game to its archrival culminated with the Ann Arbor Astros hoisting their first national championship since 1997. Michigan dismantled Washington on Monday, 34-13, coincidentally in the same city its MLB cousins reside in.

That sentence alone is enough to make an OSU fan’s skin crawl. Mix in an unprecedented sign-stealing scandal that was uncovered in October, resulting in a three-game suspension of Jim Harbaugh, a dropped lawsuit against the Big Ten by Michigan a day before a court case and two staff members fired, and you have something else entirely. 

When the NCAA investigation into Michigan officially concludes, perhaps its title will be vacated, which would be of great comfort to some. Perhaps it won’t be. Either way, the Wolverines accomplished what they set out to do ever since the story of Connor Stalions broke: Navigate a self-inflicted minefield and emerge as the last team standing, worry about the consequences later. Especially since the season had a “Last Dance” feel to it with 44 seniors on the roster and Harbaugh having one foot out the door with NFL rumors swirling. 

Not exactly the ending most Buckeye fans had in mind entering that Nov. 25 matchup. But, to paraphrase (a soon-to-be-fired?) Bill Belichick, we’re on to 2024. 

2024 will tell us a lot about Ohio State

So far, Ryan Day has approached this offseason like his job is on the line in 2024. And quite frankly, it probably is. 

After some initial angst from the fanbase about OSU’s inactivity in the transfer portal in December, the Buckeyes have made several impact additions over the past five days. Ole Miss transfer Quinshon Judkins not only has impeccable timing by announcing his commitment immediately after Michigan won the national championship, but he’s arguably been the best running back in the SEC the past two seasons. Quarterback Will Howard was one of the top signal-callers available in the portal market, and while he’s probably not the second coming of Justin Fields, he could represent an upgrade at the position over Kyle McCord. Alabama center Seth McLaughlin had a Rose Bowl he’d like to forget against the Wolverines, but overall has been a very efficient pass blocker in his collegiate career. 

Day has also started making changes to his coaching staff, ousting safeties coach Perry Eliano on Monday. There will likely be more staff shakeups before the offseason concludes. 

Ohio State’s defense finished second nationally in scoring defense and appears well-positioned for another top-five finish in 2024 considering Lathan Ransom, Jack Sawyer, Tyleik Williams and Ty Hamilton have all announced they’ll return to Columbus for the 2024 season. Getting Denzel Burke, J.T. Tuimoloau and Jordan Hancock to stay one more season at OSU would also be a big lift to Jim Knowles’ unit. 

This is all to say, 2024 is a make-or-break year for the Buckeyes and Ryan Day. The non-conference schedule is a carbon copy of Michigan’s 2023 slate. On paper, there are really only three losable games on the docket: At Oregon, at Penn State and vs. Michigan. The way the new college football world will work, you probably only need to win one of them to make the postseason, even if we all know going 1-2 in that slate won’t sit well in Columbus.

Combine the schedule, the talent on the roster and the fact everyone in the conference (including the four newcomers) will have questions of their own regarding their roster and there’s no reason OSU can’t reach its goals next season. Now the Buckeyes have to actually make it happen.

Early 12-team CFP 2024 forecast

Speaking of a 12-team College Football Playoff, it still hasn’t fully sunk in yet that the playoff is expanding from four teams to 12. 

Ultimately, this bowl season convinced me the expanded playoff should be a net positive for the sport, considering the opt-outs and transfers made some bowls flat-out unwatchable, and this should at least fix a portion of that problem. 

Predicting the 12 playoff teams next season seems like a futile endeavor when there’s still plenty of roster movement possible between winter transfer additions and another transfer portal window after spring football. But shooters shoot. For this exercise, we’re just going to assume the College Football Playoff committee eventually changes the format as expected to five auto bids from conference winners and seven at-large selections. 

Big Ten winner: Oregon
Big 12 winner: Arizona
ACC winner: Florida State
SEC winner: Georgia
Highest-ranked Group of Five Champion: Liberty
At-large selections: Ohio State, Alabama, Ole Miss, Texas, Notre Dame, Penn State, Utah
Just missed: Michigan and Missouri

It’s more than likely you’ll see the majority of the at-large spots coming from the SEC and Big Ten. The fact that the committee left an undefeated Florida State team out of the final four-team CFP should have served enough notice it will do whatever it wants. Yet, I went with Utah for the final spot because the Utes have a favorable schedule in Cam Rising’s seventh year.

It may seem like sour grapes leaving Michigan out the day after it wins it all, but with 44 seniors on its roster and its coach likely out the door, the Wolverines will have to win three of five contests against Texas, USC, Washington, Oregon and Ohio State next season. Notre Dame’s schedule gives the Fighting Irish a clear path to the CFP if they can win their opener against Texas A&M. Ditto for Penn State and its schedule. The rest are pretty self-explanatory. 

We’ll revisit this in August for our yearly Heisman and CFP predictions piece, which I’m sure a lot will have changed since then.

25 things I’m looking forward to about the 2024 season nationwide

  • The expanded 12-team CFP
  • More meaningful games for more teams in November
  • The return of the Pop-Tarts Bowl (yeah, I’m a sucker)
  • For all the gamers out there, we’ll have a college football video game available to us for the first time in more than 10 years. 
  • The wackiness of Washington, Oregon, USC and UCLA in the Big Ten, Texas and Oklahoma in the SEC, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah in the Big 12 and Stanford, Cal and SMU in the ACC. 
  • Watching Jeremiah Smith in scarlet and gray. It’s been a while since there’s been a non-quarterback prospect hyped to this level. 
  • The elimination of divisions in conferences, leading to better conference title games.
  • Washington continuing to play Washington State and Oregon continuing to play Oregon State despite the ugliness of how the Pac-12 folded. 
  • The rivalry buildup to Nov. 30 now that Michigan has won a national title.
  • Seeing what Colorado does in Year Two under Deion Sanders.
  • The Big 12 in general seems to have a bunch of good but not great teams, which will make that conference race interesting from start to finish.
  • Dylan Raiola (likely) making a start for Nebraska in Ohio Stadium on Oct. 26. 
  • All of us overreacting to everything we see the first two weeks. 
  • The drama of the future of the ACC, with Florida State leading the charge to break away.
  • Watching USC in the Big Ten and if things will change with a new defensive coordinator, or if Lincoln Riley’s seat will only get hotter. 
  • The return of Texas vs. Texas A&M games. Always thought that rivalry was a bit underrated and A&M really did not want it renewed. 
  • Dabo Swinney finding something else to rant about that makes us all roll our eyes.
  • Maryland going undefeated in September then turning into a pumpkin the minute the clock hits October. 
  • Seeing if Northwestern can keep winning consistently under first-time head coach David Braun.
  • Watching how Kyle McCord and Syracuse fare.
  • Seeing how competitive Jonathan Smith can make Michigan State in Year One. 
  • If Florida State has the goods to go on a revenge tour or not. 
  • Seeing what out-of-nowhere CFP contender emerges in late October. 
  • Pretty much every press conference Indiana coach Curt Cignetti conducts.
  • Watching the return of Bobby Petrino (as offensive coordinator, at least) at Arkansas. Seriously, how did the administration want to hire that guy again?  

The best of what was fun/wacky this season

These were my favorite fun moments of the season

  • Teams still run formations like this.
  • Vanderbilt had a makeshift scoreboard while its stadium was under construction.
  • An excellent couple of examples of JUST HOW THEY DREW IT UP.
  • Connor Stalions had a front row seat to one of the more impressive catches of the year.
  • Mascot of the Year goes to BYU's Cosmo.
  • Gotta give some love to Akron's turnover tire.
  • Mizzou's Thiccer Kicker was all kinds of fun.
  • No reader of this site has forgotten about this rant, which led to a lot of memes. 
  • Puddles was the beginning of the end of the Deion Year One hype train.
  • Fumble-rooskis are always undefeated.
  • It's not often a tight end is must-see TV every week, but Brock Bowers sure was.
  • One of the more fun fourth-down conversions of the season.
  • Nobody had more big-man touchdowns than Oregon State this season, Michigan State could be in for a fun time with Jonathan Smith.
  • Jayden Daniels was a truly dynamic player this year, you can see why he won the Heisman.
  • West Virginia vs. Houston probably had the craziest final 30 seconds of any game this season.
  • Eastern Michigan once opened a game with an onside kickoff return for a touchdown.
  • Marvin Harrison Jr. will be catching touchdowns for an NFL team sometime in the near future, but man, was he special to watch in an OSU uniform.
  • Purdue Pete had a pretty elite troll job the first game Michigan played after the sign-stealing stuff came out.
  • Lincoln Riley can't grill well but he can sure draw up some fun trick plays.
  • Syracuse QB Garrett Shrader once hit a backflip in the middle of a play. Let's see if Kyle McCord can top that.
  • Alabama made the CFP because a prayer was answered in the Iron Bowl.
  • This is my kind of petty.

These were my favorite wacky moments of the season

  • New Mexico State's QB tried to throw a pass with his helmet completely turned around after a facemask.
  • Poor ref. 
  • Still can't believe an announcer thought this was a fun thing to say on live television.
  • I remember the Colorado vs. Colorado State game like it was yesterday, which basically introduced a 31-year-old kicker with three kids to the nation.
  • Credit the sack to Northern Illinois' QB himself.
  • Marcus Freeman only put 10 guys on the field on Notre Dame's final two plays against Ohio State, in case anyone forgot. 
  • Remember when Curt Cignetti tried to use evidence on a cell phone to plead his case to the refs? Best not to try that in the Big Ten.
  • Florida had 13 men on the field for a defensive play and still gave up a touchdown.
  • Miami lost a game where all it had to do was take a knee. 
  • No idea what No. 8 on Washington State was trying to accomplish here.
  • Colorado State's crowd drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for throwing snowballs.
  • Texas Tech's field was invaded by a possum.
  • A wide receiver going in motion caused a defensive touchdown.
  • The ref should have gotten a flag thrown on him for this.
  • Never forget the official who called a penalty on Ohio State for having fun.
  • Brent Venables was trampled by his own players in the pregame introductions.

Nepotism Tracker

The Hodgepodge column will be returning for the 2024 season. Unfortunately, Hodgepodge folk hero Brian Ferentz will not reprise his role as Iowa offensive coordinator next season, thus ending this section for good. Let’s pour one out for our fallen comrade. 

The final game of Brian’s tenure: Tennessee 35, Iowa 0. A shutout to end the year just seems fitting. 

Points tallied this season: 216

Season report card: Ferentz and Iowa came 109 points short of reaching the contractual goal of averaging 25 points per game. The Hawkeyes finished second-to-last nationally in scoring offense, averaging 15.4 points per game. Of 133 FBS teams, only Kent State scored fewer points (14.7 ppg). 

Final Hodgepodge classifiers for the 2023 season

Won a national championship in the same city the Astros reside: Michigan

Chance after chance wasted in the title game, but overall a dream season: Washington

Losers of close semifinal matchups: Texas, Alabama

I know you guys were pissed but you lost by HOW much in the Orange Bowl?: Florida State

Left a crime scene at the Orange Bowl and will probably be the preseason No. 1 next year: Georgia 

Won the bowl game more popular than any outside of the CFP because of a Pop-Tart mascot: Kansas State

Exceeded expectations and should be proud all things considered: Mizzou (the king of this group), West Virginia, Louisville, Arizona, Northwestern, James Madison, UNLV, Jacksonville State

Double-digit win club: Troy, Tulane, SMU, Oklahoma State, Memphis, Ole Miss, Penn State, Liberty, Oregon, Ohio, Miami (OH), New Mexico State

Double-digit win club, but nobody is popping champagne: Oklahoma, Notre Dame, LSU

Most miserable 11-2 season ever: Ohio State 

Underachievers club: USC, North Carolina, Miami, Clemson

Made Kyle McCord into a meme in a 45-0 bowl loss to USF: Syracuse

The team most devastated to learn divisions are going away in the B1G next year: Iowa

These teams fired their coaches: Texas A&M, Mississippi State, Syracuse, Michigan State, Boise State, Indiana, Houston, Louisiana-Monroe, New Mexico, UTEP, Middle Tennessee

These schools have a coach on the hot seat in 2024: Arkansas, Baylor, Florida

Nice start, horrific finish, fascinated to see Year Two: Colorado

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