Now that the Big Ten media day’s are in the rear view mirror, Ohio State football can now focus on getting ready for the start of the season.
With that comes award watch lists, and the Maxwell Award announced its 2024 watchlist on Monday. Three Buckeyes made the list: quarterback Will Howard, running back Quinshon Judkins and wide receiver Emeka Egbuka.
The annual award given out to the best all-around player in college football did have one notable Ohio State omission, running back TreVeyon Henderson. The committee most likely had to pick just one of the Buckeye running backs, but in reality, both should be on there.
It’s worth noting that former Ohio State quarterbacks Quinn Ewers (Texas) and Kyle McCord (Syracuse) both made the list as well. Hopefully it’s one of the current Buckeyes who takes home this award.
The Ohio State Buckeyes officially know their future. They will be facing off against the Tennessee Volunteers on December 21 in their first matchup of the College Football Playoff.
Beating Tennessee is going to be a difficult task. They’re a talented team on both sides of the football and will give Ohio State a run for their money. However, the Buckeyes have the necessary talent to make a deep run in the playoff.
Ryan Day and company will need to come in and play strong football from the first snap in order to win. They can’t afford to have a slow start, which is something that they have done multiple times throughout the course of the season.
All of that being said, they have officially received a major prediction for their game against the Volunteers.
Joey Kaufman of the Columbus Dispatch has made his prediction for what will happen in this matchup. He has the Buckeyes knocking Tennessee out of the playoff with a 30-24 win.
Here is the reasoning that he gave for his prediction:
“The early feeling here is that the Buckeyes recover from a tough loss to rival Michigan and bounce back for the playoff as they did two years ago with a near upset of Georgia, the eventual national champion, in its backyard. Tennessee is formidable with a fast-paced offensive attack led by Dylan Sampson, the Southeastern Conference’s leading rusher, but it hasn’t been as explosive as Josh Heupel’s more recent teams with a first-year starting quarterback in Nico Iamaleava, a redshirt freshman. Look Jim Knowles’ side of the ball to get enough stops in a tight win for Ohio State.”
Obviously, this is a prediction that Ohio State fans will take. They would prefer the Buckeyes to come out and put together a dominant and convincing performance, but the Volunteers are a good football team.
Taking the win regardless of the final score will do.
Simply pulling out a win after the brutal finish to the season against the Michigan Wolverines would be huge. Ohio State needs to get their confidence back. Of course, if they don’t win, their season will be over.
All of that being said, the game is just under two weeks away. The Buckeyes’ fan base will be waiting on pins and needles for game time to arrive.
