Where does Ohio State sit in the Big Ten pecking order in 2024?

The Ohio State football program finishes 2023 in the worst possible way. They lost to TTUN for the third straight year, saw a recruiting class go from second to fifth-best in the country on Signing Day, and then scored just three points in a loss to Missouri in the Cotton Bowl.

What's worse is since Ohio State lost to Michigan, they are now playing for a national championship game against Washington. Both will be in the Big Ten next year. With the league expanding to 18 teams, where does that leave the Buckeyes in the pecking order?

Michigan does lose about 50 seniors from this team next year and will likely lose their head coach, so they will be worse in 2024. But I can't in good conscience rank them below Ohio State. Until the Ohio State football program proves they are mentally tough enough to beat them again, TTUN stays ahead of them.

Washington will lose some key pieces on offense but still will be really good. If they win the national title, they might be considered the favorite in their new conference next year. That means Ohio State is at least third in the Big Ten. Are they better than the other new teams coming in?

With Oregon losing Bo Nix, I think they are. USC has lost a boatload of people to the portal and will lose more in the Draft. UCLA is a middling program right now. Ohio State is better than all of those teams. They're still better than Penn State, Wisconsin, and Iowa too.

Still, third is not good enough. That might not even be good enough to reach the College Football Playoff in a year where it expands to 12 teams. Ryan Day needs to make some changes, but I have no faith that he actually will. This could be his last season if he doesn't straighten things out.

2024 is going to be a year of reckoning.