Rece Davis predicts Ohio State as No. 2 seed in CFP, highlights QB play as biggest question

Rece Davis believes Ohio State will win the Big Ten. He also believes the Buckeyes will be the No. 2 seed in the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff.

Davis sat down with ESPN colleague Pete Thamel to predict the CFP Wednesday.

The only team Davis had ahead of Ohio State was Georgia, except Davis acknowledged that the Buckeyes possibly look better than the Bulldogs on paper.

“I’m going Ohio State because I think they have the best roster, both sides, top to bottom, maybe even better than Georgia, at least more proven than Georgia and more depth,” Davis said, when explaining why the Buckeyes will earn the second seed in the 12-team field. “They spent a lot of money in the transfer portal. They’ve got two great running backs. My question about Ohio State is quarterback.

“Will Howard was a sensational player at Kansas State, and around him they’ve got a lot of young talent that hasn’t played a lot. I need to see a little bit. Now, I think I’m going to see enough, and I think that their roster’s talented enough that they’re going to win the Big Ten.”

Davis conceded that he’s still high on Oregon, albeit not as high as some of his peers, including Thamel, who predicts the Ducks will win their new conference in 2024. Ohio State and Oregon — No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, in the preseason AP Top 25 — square off this season in Eugene on Oct. 12. They could very well face each other again in the Big Ten Championship and/or in the CFP.

Davis then resumed his explanation for why he likes the Buckeyes so much, pointing to their weak non-conference schedule, which consists of Akron, Western Michigan and Marshall.

“They do have to go to Oregon. They have to go to Penn State,” Davis said, referencing Ohio State’s tougher Big Ten games this season. “But [they’ve got J.T.] Tuimoloau, they’ve got Jack Sawyer. They had Caleb Downs transfer in from Alabama, a safety who’s right there with [Georgia’s] Malaki Starks in terms of being a dynamic safety.

“They’re going nuts about this freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, and that’s not even to consider Emeka Egbuka and all of the other guys that they’ve got who are proven commodities, TreVeyon Henderson, Quinshon Judkins coming from Ole Miss. They’re loaded everywhere.”

To Davis’ point, Ohio State returned 11 draft-eligible and starter-level players this offseason, including most of a defense that ranked second nationally with only 11.2 points per game allowed in 2023.

“Whether they win the national championship or not, or whether they reach their potential, depends to me on how well the quarterback plays,” Davis said.