50 For 50: Jordan Hancock As The Inside Man

Welcome to our daily feature that I am calling “50 for 50” where I attempt to get us to Big Ten Media Days — which are 12 days away — with a daily sampling of what we can look forward to this upcoming college football season.

We will do this via the following categories: the 50 biggest individual matchups for the Buckeyes this season, the 50 most important college football games this season, 50 Buckeye things to look forward to this season, 50 national predictions, 50 Big Ten predictions, and 50 predictions involving the Buckeyes.

Previous: Day 38 |

Biggest Buckeye Matchups

Michigan WR Semaj Morgan vs. Ohio State DB Jordan Hancock

Semaj Morgan is Michigan’s leading returning wide receiver, catching 22 passes for 204 yards and two touchdowns last year. He did most of that damage out of the slot. He should be back in the slot this year and be much more utilized than he was a year ago. Matching up with him for the Buckeyes will be Jordan Hancock, who was one of the most consistent defenders on the Ohio State defense a year ago. Whoever runs the ball better in this game will win it but that doesn’t mean these two won’t be trying to win it all themselves.

Most Important Games

Tennessee Volunteers at Oklahoma Sooners, September 21

Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel was Oklahoma’s starting quarterback in 1999 and 2000. He will likely be back with the Sooners at some point, and he could take a big step towards that day with a beatdown in Norman. This will be just the fifth matchup ever between these two bluishbloods. The Vols haven’t beaten Oklahoma since the 1939 Orange Bowl. The attendance for that game was 32,191, which would be good for the second-largest crowd ever for a Hurricanes’ home game. This will be a fun September game, but somebody’s season is going to get a lot more uncomfortable after this one.

Things To Look Forward To

Seeing which freshman offensive linemen step up early.

The Buckeyes will be losing at least three starting offensive linemen after this season, so it would benefit the 2025 Ohio State football team if a true freshman or two can work his way into the starting lineup this year. Gabe VanSickle has already turned some heads despite not enrolling until last month. Ian Moore, Deontae Armstrong, and Devontae Armstrong were all on campus this winter, so they’ve got the kind of head start that pays off in year two. Can somebody emerge like Luke Montgomery did last year?

National College Football Predictions

This will be Mack Brown’s last year at North Carolina.

Mack Brown couldn’t get much done with Drake Maye at quarterback, so his chances of doing something with journeyman Max Johnson this year are not great. The good news, however, is that the schedule isn’t that bad. Still, Brown is going to be 73 years old next month. He’s taken the Tar Heels to a bowl game every year that he’s been back, but the job he took is no longer the job he has. He has always been very good at the handshakes and baby-kissing aspect of being a head coach, but at some point you’d think this new era of the sport would be enough to retire just about anybody.

Big Ten Football Predictions

Michigan will hold Oregon under 100 yards rushing.

Oregon hasn’t been held under 100 yards rushing since 2022. In fact, they’ve only been held under 100 yards rushing three times in the past three years. Interestingly, all three of those games have come against Utah. Despite Michigan’s defense losing a number of ballers and and a key shot-caller, they should still be pretty darn good. This is still a very bold prediction, especially with quarterback Dillon Gabriel’s ability to make plays with his legs. But this is a November (albeit early) game in Ann Arbor. You can’t just let a West Coast team come into your stadium and run all over you.

Ohio State Football Predictions

The Buckeyes will have four 400-yard rushers this year.

I don’t know if it’s a bad thing to predict the Ohio State offense to do something they haven’t done since 2011, but here we are. That was the last year the Buckeyes had four players rush for at least 400 yards. The list consisted of Braxton Miller (715), Boom Herron (672), Carlos Hyde (566), and Jordan Hall (408). All four players had at least 100 carries. The Buckeyes won’t need to have 100 carries for a player to hit the 400-yard mark this year, unless we’re talking about the quarterback. If I’m being honest — which I hate doing — we could even make this four 500-yard rushers or five 400-yard rushers. Getting five rushers will likely require both true freshmen running backs Sam Williams-Dixon and James Peoples to hit the mark. When was the last time two true freshman Buckeyes went over 400 yards rushing in the same season? That’s a question for another day.

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