College football’s push to a 24-team College Football Playoff is about to make Ohio State’s regular season feel even lighter than it already does.
For Ohio State fans, the 12-team format was already a gut punch to the old rhythm of the sport, even with the Buckeyes winning the first 12-team CFP. High-stakes September showdowns between elite non-conference teams used to carry real weight. That urgency has faded, and the move to 24 teams would only keep draining more of it away.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel is reporting that the CFP will expand to 24 teams, and the ripple effect for Ohio State is obvious: the regular season matters less and less. Under the four-team format, the loss to Texas would have put the Buckeyes on a razor’s edge for the rest of the year.
In the new reality, they might be able to lose two games and still get in. The broader point is blunt - Ohio State could drop three or four games on a fairly regular basis and still find its way into the bracket.
That changes how the season feels from top to bottom. Matchups that once carried major consequences, including top-five games like Ohio State and Indiana this weekend, lose some of that edge. The idea is that only November really matters now, with rivalry games and playoff positioning doing all the heavy lifting while the months before them become easier to brush past.
The source of all this, the argument goes, is simple: greed from presidents and administrators. They’ll say the extra revenue is necessary to help pay players in the NIL era, but the frustration here is that the people making the decisions are also asking fans to donate to NIL collectives to help land the best talent.
There’s also a bigger worry about what this does to the sport’s appeal. Ratings are already down across college football this season compared with a year ago, and the expectation is that a watered-down 24-team CFP could make that problem worse. If wins and losses in October barely move the needle, the incentive for fans to lock in every Saturday shrinks fast.
For Ohio State, the practical effect is clear enough. The path gets easier for Ryan Day and his staff, and the standard for surviving the season gets lower.
As long as the Buckeyes do not finish 7-5 with a loss to Michigan, Day’s job security looks safe. The same logic, in this view, applies across the sport: coaches at the top keep getting more protection while the game itself keeps losing something important.
In Other News...
Ohio State Heads Into Indiana Showdown With Big Lineup Questions
Ohio State heads into its matchup with Indiana facing some early lineup uncertainty, with offensive lineman Austin Siereveld ruled out because of a non-football illness and running back JaKobi Jackson unavailable after suffering an ankle injury. Those absences alone would matter in a Big Ten game this size, but they are part of a larger injury picture for the Buckeyes, who have several other players still listed as questionable.
Indiana, meanwhile, has a much shorter injury report, with only two players listed. For Ohio State, the challenge now is less about the opponents health and more about how much flexibility the Buckeyes can preserve as they sort through the final availability questions before kickoff. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Freshman Legend Bey Suddenly Has A Real Chance To Earn Trust
An unexpected shakeup in the backfield has opened the door a little wider for Legend Bey. With Ja'Kobi Jackson ruled out for the upcoming game against Indiana and Isaiah West listed as questionable, Ohio State may need to lean on its freshman running back more than it had planned. The Buckeyes are also dealing with Austin Siereveld being out, which adds another layer of strain to the offensive line depth and could shape how the offense handles the ground game.
For Bey, this is the kind of moment that can change how a staff views a young player in a hurry. More snaps against Indiana would not just be about filling a need in the moment, but about showing he can be trusted if the Buckeyes have to keep adjusting on the fly. Ohio State has managed its backfield carefully so far, but the injury picture now gives Bey a real opening to make his case. [Read more 🡒]
Jeremiah Smith Just Gave Ohio State Fans A New Ranking Debate
ESPNs latest ranking stirred up a familiar kind of college football debate, and this one comes with a fresh Ohio State twist. The network put together a top-60 list of the best wide receivers in the past 50 years, blending talent and production, and it included some heavy company in Larry Fitzgerald, DeVonta Smith and Justin Blackmon.
Jeremiah Smith made the cut as the lone active college receiver on the list, which is already a notable honor for a player still early in his career. For Buckeyes fans, it is the kind of recognition that says plenty about how high Smiths ceiling already looks, even if the bigger conversation around where he fits historically is still very much ongoing. [Read more 🡒]