Rece Davis favors Texas over Ohio State as of now

In a twist that would’ve seemed insane not too long ago, ESPN’s Rece Davis is choosing the Texas Longhorns over the Ohio State Buckeyes at the moment.

During the latest edition of the ESPN College GameDay Podcast, Davis explained why he’s taking Steve Sarkisian’s squad over Ryan Day‘s at the moment, but he’s not married to the decision.

“Right now, Texas. But I may be — right now, I would say Texas by a touchdown,” Davis answered, asked who he would favor in the hypothetical matchup. “But I might sing a different tune by the time the postseason comes, because by then [Kyle] McCord will have played an entire season. I think he’s getting better, better, better, better. Texas, while [Quinn] Ewers can have, three quarters of the Wyoming game, he still does that. He’s still playing at a pretty high level overall. So I would favor Texas over Ohio State right now, but I’m not to a point where I’m like, ‘This is never going to be equal. This is never going to be Ohio State winning it.’ Ohio State’s loaded.

“As they continue, I always say, it’s not against the rules to improve. You get to improve. I think that he’s going to continue to do so, and the Ohio State offense will, as well. TreVeyon Henderson looks a lot like the version we saw a couple of years ago, as opposed to what we saw last year.”

Moreover, Texas and Ohio State have arguably the two best wins of the season on their resume in the young college football season. The Longhorns went into Tuscaloosa and defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide, while the Buckeyes took their team to South Bend and left victorious over Notre Dame.

Both squads are undefeated at the moment, and seem to be rolling. Of course, if Texas and Ohio State win out, it’s possible we’ll see this hypothetical matchup in the College Football Playoff, but that’s far from guaranteed.

As Davis mentioned, Texas has the lead at the moment, but the growth of Buckeyes quarterback Kyle McCord could swing things back in their favor. He did a ton of growing up on Ohio State’s game-winning drive against Notre Dame over the weekend, and that could catapult him into the next level moving forward.

Time will tell, but both squads are primed to make a run in 2023, even if their paths may never cross over the course of the season.