Two teams are considered favorites to win the national championship in the preseason – Georgia And Ohio State. There are some similarities between the two programs, with their insanely loaded rosters being one of them. In particular, the Buckeyes, where Urban Meyer recently called it perhaps the best team in the history of college football.
There is a lot of talent on defense. Many Ohio State players could have left Columbus to start their NFL careers. Instead, they are back for the 2024 season and, in Joel Klatt’s opinion, they now have a chance to dominate opposing offenses better than anyone else.
“This will be the best defense in America,” Klatt said on Thursday at The herd. “Their front four is loaded with NFL talent, their back seven is loaded with NFL talent. I don’t see a lot of guys scoring against Ohio State.”
There will be some big names playing on the defensive line this year. Jack Sawyer And JT Tuimolaou are the best known of all and are already starting their fourth season with the program. Denzel Burke is considered the team’s best cornerback, while the best player on the entire field may be Alabama transfer Caleb Downs.
No matter what position you look at on defense, Ohio State will have top guys – and they are expected to be somehow better than last year’s unit.
But where everything has to come together is offensive for the head coach Ryan Day. Kyle McCord led them to an 11-0 record, but failed against Michigan and then did not have much success against Missouri in the Cotton Bowl. Ohio State has left McCord and recently announced State of Kansas transfer Will Howard would be the starting quarterback.
New offensive coordinator Chip Kelly will not be afraid to pass the ball to Quinshon Judkins or TreVeyon Henderson neither. There is probably no better two-way running back in the entire country.
“That will allow them to bring in Will Howard – their quarterback that they named last week. Chip will teach him how to run the football. They have elite players on the outside,” Klatt said. “Ohio State is going to be a tough nut to crack.”
Ohio State will be able to win many games on defense alone. We saw last season what someone like Tuimolaou can do single-handedly by Penn State. This kind of dominance is again expected from Klatt and probably from the people within the program.
