“Biggest story in the Big Ten” - Popular CFB analyst discusses factors that could sway Ryan Day’s Ohio State towards 2024 National Championship

It hasn't been a good couple of years for Ryan Day's Ohio State Buckeyes. The Buckeyes haven't won the Big Ten championship since 2020. To add insult to injury, the program hasn't managed to beat its nemesis, the Michigan Wolverines, since 2019.

However, despite a harrowing couple of years, college football analyst Josh Pate thinks that head coach Ryan Day had a recipe to win a national title:

"The guys they convinced to come back, I think it's the biggest story in the Big Ten this year... a lot of those guys could've been, have their name called in the NFL draft this past week and they all came back and it's a recipe to win a championship. It's not a prediction, it's a recipe, that's a foundation that you need to win a championship."

The opinion was shared by Pate on his latest episode of the Late Kick Cut podcast. According to Pate J.T. Tuimoloau, Jack Sawyer, and TreVeyon Henderson will all be key players for this goal to be achieved. All the players mentioned above, and some other veterans, are returning to Columbus, Ohio, for one more season of college football.

Ohio State players on why they're returning for another season

Except for Marvin Harrison Jr. and Michael Hall Jr., the junior class of the Buckeyes is returning for another season of college football. When you ask the players why they are so eager to stay another season at the college level, it's all about their desire to win the national title, a Big Ten title, and most of all to beat Michigan. No one in the junior class has beaten their Wolverines rivals, so they wish to stay to get that little bit of satisfaction.

Cornerback Denzel Burke recently explained his reasoning to the Athletic:

“I had a first- or second-round grade, but at the end of the day I had no gold pants, no Big Ten, no natty, so it’s just being able to come back with my brothers and do it for the state of Ohio... “This was the best decision for me and there’s no reason for me to rush to the league — we have NIL now, we’re not worried about too many things.”

Alongside Burke, other six juniors are returning for the 2024 season. All of them were either First Team All-Big Ten selections or Second Team All-Big Ten selections in 2022 or 2023. Is this the edge that Ryan Day needed to take the Buckeyes to the next level again?