LOL. Dawand was PFF’s #1 graded pass blocker at any OLine position in ALL of college football this past season. He allowed ZERO sacks on 419 snaps. I hate to throw the “I” word around, but this “Dawand is a run blocker only” take is nonsense. If anything, his run blocking needs more work than his passblocking.

I still feel confident in a three headed monster of Miyan, Hayden and Tranayum. All three deserve play and can keep each other fresh. If one gets hot, lean on him a little more. I think our “pair and a spare” might surprise. We played behind the chains a lot against Northwestern, Maryland and Michigan because of bad penalties, questionable play-calling and poor execution. Cleaning that slop up and coming into the UGA game with a commitment to the run game is what we should happen. We can’t beat them as a one dimensional team. Nor Michigan.

Imagine some of the “close, but not quite” teams we’ve had who would have easily made a 12 team tourney.
93,95,96,97,98,03,08,09,10,13,15,16,18,21,22. That’s 15 teams in the last 30 years that would have gotten a chance to play for it all in the postseason. 

95-98,10,13,15,21 would have been particularly dangerous teams in a 12 team tournament (maybe 22, also).
 

You have to figure we would have added at least a couple extra national championships over the last 30 seasons, if not more. The expanded playoffs nearly guarantee us a berth every season.

??? It is impossible for AFC and NFC teams to play three times in one season.

This kid’s film gives off heavy Ryan Shazier vibes. He’s a perfect LB in the Knowles defense.

"Become" a difference-maker... as in creating two turnovers in one game, like he just did?

No, there were PLENTY of people above this comment stating Curry should be getting PT ahead of Harrison, Jean-Baptiste and Friday. This comment was for them. I am not stating Curry should get no playing time, but go back and read these knuckleheads thinking a 230 pound true freshman should be playing and Harrison, Frida, Jean-Baptiste and other vets should be seeing mop-up duty.

Looks like Day, Knowles, Johnson and many more disagree with you. Curry will be a beast in due time and perhaps he does have a higher ceiling than others ahead of him, but he isn't ready to be a starter here yet, let alone go up against Alabama or UGA as a starter.

This may be considered an unorthodox opinion, but I see Kourt Williams as more of a linebacker than a safety. I think his skill set and build is fairly similar to Steele Chambers. Get healthy Kourt, you'll be needed in future seasons.

Maybe he is a master of his craft and likes being in charge of his own destiny vs. being a pawn for Dana White. White runs a monopolistic "sport" that has been around for a couple decades, mainly enriching White while fighters make peanuts in comparison... OR, he could continue his quest in becoming the best ever in an ACTUAL sport that has been around as long as civilization has. Even if he could make more money in UFC, people like Kyle are motivated by excellence, not dollars. I'm getting so tired of posters saying things like "work on your presentation so you can "wrestle" in WWE, or go fight in the Octagon and work for Dana White". Kyle is exactly where he should be and wants to be, becoming the greatest ever in a traditional sport. Like, I understand there is more money to be made elsewhere, but can you imagine being someone like Dan Gable or Kyle and trying to WRASTLE and amp up a crowd full of WWE fans? That isn't who these guys are and they're likely thinking to themselves in those moments "Damn... if only I could make this kind of money in the sport I actually love". Don't sell out Kyle. Keep grinding and competing in the sport you love. Rant over.

Curry is going to be a monster here once he gets his weight and strength up a bit, but for all of those here posting that Curry should be getting PT over Harrison or Friday, you need your heads checked. A 240 lb freshman defensive end, no matter how talented, will not stand up so well over time against the gauntlet of the Big Ten season playing against 330 lb offensive tackles for a 9/10 game stretch. This isn't a video game... you can't just plug in the flashy young player and expect domination at the level Jim Knowles, Larry Johnson and Ryan Day expect down after down, game after game. This isn't even to mention that Curry literally just showed up and has never played in a defense as complicated and nuanced as Knowles'. He will be best served being mixed in for reps in the usual rotation and being unleashed on passing downs. Expecting Curry to start and get heavy PT is not realistic at this point. Sawyer and JT didn't get all the PT last year for these same reasons. Let Curry feed some this year and get comfortable and confident, then unleash him next season.

I like Curry and his style of play as much as any, but if you want a 230 lb freshman in the entire game against teams like Wisconsin or Michigan over guys like Harrison or Friday, I don't know what to tell you. Curry should definitely be getting some PT and definitely getting some pass rush situational PT, but to think that Curry at his light weight could handle a whole Big Ten game better than a battle-tested and Marotti-trained senior DE like Harrison or Friday is just silly and I am sure Curry would tell you the same himself, as well as Larry Johnson.

Loving the play of the LBs so far this year, this is much better production than anything we saw from the OSU LB corps since Shazier was around. I feel bad for Teradja Mitchell. Great run stuffer and outstanding special teams player, he was recruited as an old school Big Ten LBer, but is now in a modern multi-look defense, in which his lack of coverage skills will keep him off of the field. It will be interesting to see if Teradja gets some PT again the likes of Wisconsin, Iowa or Michigan, which all still run classic Big Ten offenses with big OLines and robust running games. 6 in the box with 3 safeties on the field won't be how we line up against those teams. 

This is probably going to get me DV'ed to oblivion, but I took an Anthropology class with Troy Smith during his Heisman season. The dude definitely tried to cheat off of my midterm, and I caught him looking at my answer early in the test. I purposefully answered a lot of questions wrong and got a C, as I was acing the class and knew I could make up the grade later. Just as I planned, I got a C on the midterm and T. Smith never tried to cheat off of me again. To be honest though, it did cross my mind to turn him in, but then I realized if I did so, I would be hated by Buckeye Nation forever. You folks can thank me for saving the 2006 Heisman for Troy! LOL.

LOL... somebody out there is mad and DV ing that I said Califonia universities are better than Southern universities? It's the truth in every measurable, quantifiable way. Anyone DV ing that is ignoring reality and bringing their political partisanship into the discussion.

Nice try. No, the Texas failure of early 2021 can 100% be blamed on Texas leadership and their shoddy electric grid. 

Electricity there is cheaper than many other places, and it works, most of the time. But at some point, the corners they cut to keep electricity prices low turn into reliability problems. The cost-cutting shows up in the quality of the product. And the product, when it comes to infrastructure, is critical to the quality of life and the economy.

Texas is a good state with a faltering state government. The political people running things too often worry more about their popularity than about their work. Too many of them are better at politics than they are at governing. And governing is the only real reason any of the rest of us have any interest in them.

Nice try with your little partisan line at the end there... problem is, I don't play partisan politics and I am an Independent. Scream "Let's Go Brandon" til the cows come home, I really don't care. You can sit there and scream the sky is purple all you want and claim Texas has a great electricity grid, when the reality is, they don't and their leadership is extremely poor. 

I think you need to pay more attention to governing and less attention to politics. There is a large difference between the two that creates a very large difference in people's lives... last I checked, people in NY and CA weren't battling the cold because their power shut off in winter (and yes, there are LOTS of cold places in California), but they sure did in Texas. That is a failure in governing, period. Trying to argue otherwise would really be showing your partisan colors.

All Florida and Texas schools are jokes of institutions academically. They do not compare to any of the Californian Pac-12 teams on any level, nor do they compare to Big Ten schools academically. There is zero chance the Big Ten is taking on any of southern schools with weak academics, which eliminates nearly all of them... except Vandy, Duke and UNC. But who wants those schools for football in the Big Ten? I don't. Nobody does.

Are you sure about that claim 3? Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is doing a great job of putting up plenty of rules that large entities need to "work around" that didn't exist before him, between the universities AND major corporations in Florida. As for Texas Governor Greg Abbott... remember when he thought deregulation was a good idea for the Texas power grid? That didn't go so well for Texans when their pipes froze and destroyed their homes in a freak blizzard a couple year back when millions lost power in that state. Don't fool yourself, just because Southern states' politics might fit your fancy better than California's doesn't mean they are better run or that they don't have leadership causing problems that didn't exist before... that ins't a partisan statement btw, it's reality.

There's a lot of disrespect of Zach Harrison here. Good luck finding 6'7'' 270 lb athletes who run a 4.5 40. The guy may not have put up eye popping sack numbers, but he graded 90.5 and a near 20% pass rush win rate by PFF (and is listed as their 7th best college pass rusher for 2023). Good luck finding 5 star recruits who automatically put up solid metrics in their first two seasons in college (PS - JT and Sawyer didn't blow the world away either last year). You people expect every defensive end to show up day one and be Chase Young or a Bosa. That's not normal and Zach Harrison is going to be laughing at all of you when he is a 1st round pick in the 2023 draft after he has a great season and is the best performing large athlete at the combine.

They are on the team, but they are not treated as a fully-fledged member fo the team until they lose the black stripe... kinda like how a baby bird can't fly until it loses all of its down.

Zach Harrison may not have put up big numbers, but he played and graded very highly last season. Tyler Friday has played very well when healthy. JPP played well last season and is arguably one of the best athletes on the DL. Cage and Vincent were both highly touted recruits and played admirably when in. They may not be as alluring as JT or Sawyer or Tyleik, but they're more battle tested and stronger than the 2021 and 2022 defensive line recruits. All of the senior DLinemen will at least get a look in NFL camp and more than one will be drafted. No need to poo-poo careers that haven't finished yet. Not sure what you're expecting, every prospect to be a Bosa or Young by year 3? Also, even with 3 LBs, DLine and LBs need to play gap sound football, it isn't as if an extra LB changes the fact there are gap assignments in the front 6/7 of the defense.

Excited to see Miyan get more carries in the short yardage and goal line situations. Tre Henderson is of course our Ferrari and can take it to the house on any given play, but sometimes you don't need a Ferrari, you need a tank. Enter Miyan. I've always liked his skill set. Thick build, great agility, great burst, great forward lean and very hard to find behind his blockers. Most importantly, of the current OSU backs, he has the best vision. I know he was a true freshman last season, but there were so many times last season where Tre would miss the opening in short yardage or run into his own blockers. I'm sure Coach Alford has worked with Tre on that, but Miyan has never had those issues and is more of a natural fit in short yardage than Tre. I'm very excited to see how they mix in the touches between the three main backs. We'll need a good, strong, dependable running game when the Midwestern fall weather comes along.

This may not be a popular take, but Miyan needs to be in on red zone trips. Love Henderson and I am sure he is getting stronger, but just as Tre is better suited for open field than Miyan, Miyan is better built for short yardage and goal line carries than Tre. Miyan’s short and compact stature, plus his superior vision and lateral quickness to Tre’s makes him a tougher back to stop in short yardage situations. I also see the OLine improving vastly under Coach Frye.

Meh, whatever. We'll never play those DLinemen, because Jimbo won't get them into the SECCG or win the SEC. Texas A&M has done a great job of taking phenomenal HS DLine recruits and turning them into... disappointments. See Daylon Mack, Jarrett Johnson, Justin Dunning, Kingsley Keke, Qualen Cunningham. All 4 and 5 star defensive line recruits and Mack is the only one in the NFL, as a 5th round pick after being a 14th overall prospect nationally in his HS class. And yes, I know Myles Garrett went to A&M, but he was not recruited by nor ever played for Jimbo. 

This kid has the motor and the meanstreak. If he can stay healthy, he’s a surefire stud that makes the rest of the defense around him better. DBU doesn’t exist without a great pass rush.