The Weekender: Nationwide Transfer Portal Chaos Consumes College Football, ESPN Labels Clemson As Biggest Disaster of 2025 Season, and Ohio Bobcats Throw Shade at OSU

By George Eisner on January 11, 2026 at 3:05 pm
Washington Huskies linebacker Xe'Ree Alexander (10) and quarterback Demond Williams Jr. (2)
Jayne Kamin-Oncea — Imagn Images
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Own the group chat with The Weekender, highlighting the biggest stories in college sports, standout writing from Eleven Warriors, and a glance at what's next.

Transfer Portal Throws College Football into Complete Chaos

No, the 2026 transfer portal has not gotten off to a terrific start for Ohio State, all things considered. Some solid additions for sure, but also a startling amount of outgoing departures among the depth of the Buckeye roster. So to a neutral observer, complaints from OSU about the portal as currently constructed may come off as sour grapes.

But that's assuming the neutral observer does not have a team of their own they support, because Indiana fans notwithstanding right now, odds are most supporters of their schools are probably not thrilled with how the portal has affected their own teams and college football at large this offseason.

The wild west analogy for the college football landscape continues to be appropriate at a time when the two-headed beast of NIL and transfer portal change in the sport continues to shape decision-making in an environment sorely lacking regulation. That reality became evident this past week after news broke on Tuesday that Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr. would enter the transfer portal with a do-not-contact tag just a week after signing a deal to return with the Huskies next season.

As one can imagine, Washington did not take the news well. Not only did their fans start burning the bridge in a similar fashion to what the Cleveland Cavaliers faithful did in response to LeBron James' "The Decision," but the Huskies immediately looped in the Big Ten brass in for reinforcement.

Tampering allegations quickly surfaced, while LSU and Lame Kiffin became the primary suspects. In an amusing twist, Kiffin was actually sitting courtside at a basketball game entertaining another potential portal arrival in former Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt when news broke of the Williams controversy.

Details of the contract Williams Jr. had already signed with Washington began to emerge the day following the announcement of his intent to leave. Among the vital stipulations within the agreement highlighted by Pete Thamel of ESPN, one included that the full cost of the buyout for Williams Jr.'s new suitor would be at the "full discretion" of the Huskies. The contract also specified that, “the institution is not obligated to enter the Student-Athlete into the transfer portal or otherwise assist or facilitate the Student-Athlete’s transfer to another college or university.”

Later that evening, Thamel reported that the Big Ten ADs offered unanimous support to Washington in enforcement of the agreement. The following day, Williams Jr.'s agent Doug Hendrickson ended his representation of the quarterback due to what he described as "philosophical differences."

Roughly seven hours after Hendrickson's announcement, Williams Jr. indicated his intent to return to Washington in accordance with the contract he had already signed the previous week. Minutes later, Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports clarified that any school bringing in Williams Jr. would have owed the Huskies the full amount of his agreement and suffered a 2027 revenue-share penalty.

Although Williams Jr. will stay in Washington for the foreseeable future, it remains unclear how much damage this episode has dealt to the atmosphere within the Huskies football program and college football as a whole. Mike Vorel of The Seattle Times explained the ripple effect this saga and the decisions within it would have on Washington shortly after its conclusion Thursday night.

Meanwhile, Chris Hummer and Matt Zenits of CBS Sports published an article yesterday that outlined more of the specifics that nearly tempted Williams Jr. out of his contract, including a $6 million offer from at least one school among an interested group of Alabama, LSU, Miami and Oregon. Also of note, Hummer and Zenitz confirmed that the Williams family hired the same attorney representing Xavier Lucas, the player at the center of the transfer dispute between Wisconsin and Miami that the Big Ten vocally spoke out against last year.

Such a controversial saga that unfolded in such publicly unsightly fashion could finally be a catalyst that sparks transformative boundaries and legislative reform in a sport that seems in desperate need of a solution at the national level. Until then, the wild and crazy times will endure, but the uncertainty bred by them will hardly find itself limited to the uneasy position many Ohio State fans consider themselves in at this stage of the current cycle.

ESPN Labels Clemson as Biggest Disaster of CFB Season

Barring a massive upset win for Miami in the National Championship, this was not at all a good season for the SEC or ACC and the media alliance each conference holds with the "worldwide leader." ESPN tried to do damage control after Ole Miss doomed the SEC from returning to the CFP title game this year, but one employee still bent the knee to the Big Ten during Indiana's destruction of Oregon on Friday night.

For anybody familiar with the Civilization strategy game franchise, this is effectively the equivalent of a "culture victory" for the Big Ten in a war that started two decades ago with Ohio State's loss to Florida.

While ESPN will ride the Hurricanes towards whatever fate has in store, the company cannot hide from the failures across the rest of its cherished blue bloods from this past season. The SEC did an enormous amount of damage to its perceived prestige within the last five months, a fact reflected in an article published by Bill Connelly last Tuesday that includes schools from the conference among half of its top 10 biggest disappointments from this past season. Those include: LSU (3rd), Texas (4th), South Carolina (5th), Florida (6th) and Tennessee (10th).

But chief among all these failures? Not an SEC school, but none other than one of their southern counterparts in the ACC: Dabo Swinney's Clemson Tigers.

"I can at least explain why the other top-10 disappointments didn't live up to expectations, even if that doesn't make them less disappointing. But Clemson's systemwide collapse in 2025 remains baffling. Injuries certainly contributed to problems in the skill corps and on the offensive line, but quarterback Cade Klubnik was ineffective for most of the season, whether those around him were healthy or not. And the defense, despite returning plenty of NFL-level talent and playing against zero elite offenses all season, improved only from 29th to 24th in defensive SP+ under Tom Allen. I was openly skeptical of the Tigers' national title potential heading into the season, but I still expected them to play like a top-15 team, and they instead suffered their worst season in 15 years." — Bill Connelly, ESPN

Meanwhile, Indiana could give the Big Ten a third straight national champion from a third different school across the last three seasons a week from tomorrow. The road to gold runs firmly through the Midwest.

Ohio Bobcats Troll Ohio State After Winning Frisco Bowl

Ohio State handled business against the Ohio Bobcats last September, although what ultimately became a 37-9 win for the Buckeyes did find itself as narrowly contested as a 13-9 game early in the third quarter. Ohio then went on to finish with an 8-4 regular season record before having to dismiss head coach Brian Smith six days before the Bobcats' bowl game against UNLV.

Despite the circumstances in the week leading up to the game, Ohio did just enough to win the Scooter's Coffee Frisco Bowl by a 17-10 final score after taking the lead in the second quarter and never looking back. That happened two days before Christmas, but a handful of weeks later, it turns out the Bobcats ended up as the only Ohio team to win a bowl game this season.

Ohio took to social media on Wednesday to ensure the college football world knew of this fact.

Fair enough, Bobcats.

There's no next meeting between the schools scheduled for the future, but Ohio State does have five MAC teams penciled in as opponents across the next three seasons. Ohio has never beaten OSU since the first time the schools played each other in 1899, so it would seem the Bobcats are welcome back to Columbus any time.

ICYMI

Transfer Portal Updates

Did the opening section of this article not totally turn you off from wanting the latest news on the transfer portal relative to Ohio State? Make sure you jump into the Eleven Warriors ongoing transfer portal tracker for all the latest updates on outgoing and incoming Buckeyes as well as upcoming visits for potential new additions to the roster.

Film Study: Jones Details the Meltdown Against Miami

If you've missed the last handful of Film Studies expecting them on YouTube, don't worry! The highly acclaimed series from Kyle Jones still lives natively on Eleven Warriors, so if you missed the final episode of this past season, check out his article for the latest video breakdown on what went right and wrong for OSU against Miami.

Chase Young Wins NFC Defensive Player of the Month

The surprising late-season resurgence of the New Orleans Saints did not manifest merely through the efforts of rookie quarterback Tyler Shough (and by extension, second-team all-pro Chris Olave). Former Ohio State Heisman Trophy candidate Chase Young hit his stride towards the end of the NFL season and has set himself up for a strong 2026 follow-up campaign.

What’s Next

  • Women's Basketball: @ Maryland, Today, 4 p.m. ET on Peacock
  • Men's Basketball: @ Washington, Today, 6 p.m. ET on Peacock
  • OSU Football Returns: vs. Ball State, Saturday, September 5th
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