SAD NEWS: After quarrelling with the head coach star player makes shocking announcement today….

The start of football season is just a few months away, and with Ohio State’s roster set, it seems like a good time for some early predictions for a year with especially high expectations.

Looking back at last year’s predictions, I went two-for-five. I was right about Marvin Harrison) and soccer (33rd). Jr. being a Heisman finalist and that Kyle McCord would be the starting quarterback. I was wrong when I said that Ohio State would beat Michigan, it would win the Big Ten and that J.T. Tuimoloau would win Big Ten defensive player of the year.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State Department of Athletics will finish in the Top 10 of the 2023-24 LEARFIELD Director’s Cup Standings and is poised to lead the Big Ten Conference once again with one final sport, baseball, left to be counted in this national competition that honors institutions maintaining a broad-based program and achieving success in its NCAA sports programs.

Bolstered by third-place NCAA finishes by the men’s tennis and golf programs, and a fifth-place finish by the men’s volleyball team, Ohio State is positioned in seventh place nationally with 1,006.00 points. Texas has already been declared the winner of this year’s standings with Stanford, Tennessee, Florida and UCLA rounding out the Top 5. Notre Dame has 2.5 points more than Ohio State and is in sixth place.

This year’s finish will represent the 10th time Ohio State has finished as the No. 1 athletics program in the Big Ten. Nine of those finishes occurred under the direction of Senior Vice President and Wolfe Foundation Endowed Athletics Director Gene Smith, who is retiring June 30 after a superb 39-year career as a Division I athletic director and leader, including the past 19 years at Ohio State.

Ohio State’s No. 1 rankings within the Big Ten occurred in 2003-06-10-11-12-15-16-17-23-24. Smith’s first year at Ohio State was in 2005-06. The Director’s Cup Standings were initiated in 1993-94.

Ohio State had 18 sports programs compete at their respective NCAA championships this past year and contribute points toward the department’s total with nine finishing in the national Top 10. Only 19 teams can score points toward the Director’s Cup.

Ohio State’s 10 women’s teams that made an NCAA field (and their final national finish) included hockey (1st), swimming and diving (9th), rowing (12th), gymnastics (13th), basketball (17th), tennis (17th), track and field (45th), golf (31st), cross country (32nd) and soccer (33rd).