WITN? Buckeye ticket ranking, Navy game projections

"The Buckeyes are the only team in college football that comes close to Notre Dame's secondary market average price."

-Jesse Lawrence, Forbes

In what is surely bad news for the average Buckeye fan but great news for our egos, Ohio State is ranked second in the country for average secondary market ticket prices. The Buckeyes trail only Notre Dame in this department for the 2014 season. Notre Dame's average resold ticket is going for $264.28, while Buckeye fans face an average of $262.98. Still, these are just straight numbers--they don't account for the myriad discrepancies between the two programs that impact ticket pricing. Most glaring is the difference in stadium size. Notre Dame Stadium seats 24,000 fewer fans than does the 'Shoe, yet OSU tickets are just a half-percent lower than Fighting Irish tickets.

The Ohio State-TTUN game is certainly driving the average ticket price up. It will be the most expensive game in college football this season, with secondarily-priced tickets coming in at a robust average of $616.40, 134.4% above the average price for other 'Shoe tickets. Speaking of Michigan...this year the Wolverines will pay an average of $112.68 for secondary market tickets. Pffffff.

"The good news is Ohio State typically reloads up front and boasts one of the nation's top line coaches in Ed Warinner."

-Adam Rittenberg, ESPN B1G Blog

The Worldwide Leader's preseason projections don't favor Ohio State, at least as far as the offensive line is concerned. This shouldn't come as too much of a shock--losing four starters from the best blocking unit in the country will always set you back a step or two. The lone returning starter, senior Taylor Decker, will move from the right tackle spot to the left in order to protect sack-prone Braxton Miller's blind side.

Rittenberg's outlook is bullish on Wisconsin and Iowa, and announces Indiana as a sleeper pick for outstanding line play for the coming season. Wisconsin's 2013 rushing attack functioned as a freaky-fast Cerberus unit, with three backs capable of putting up monster numbers. The Buckeyes managed to contain Melvin Gordon and co. to a reasonable rushing total, but at the expense of the OSU secondary's dignity. This coming season, the only time the Buckeyes might face off against the Badgers is in the B1G championship game. If Wisconsin's line is as good as advertised, it could prove to be the difference-maker against OSU's young front seven.

"[Dayton] head coach Archie Miller announced guard Khari Price has decided to transfer out of the program."

-Marcus Hartman, FOX Sports Ohio

Junior guard Khari Price has opted to leave Dayton, per FS Ohio. Price, who averaged 6.2 points and 22.4 minutes as a sophomore, started all 37 games for the Flyers last season. One of his most disappointing performances actually came in Dayton's now-infamous upset bid over Ohio State in the opening (okay, "second") round of the 2014 NCAA tournament. Price only scored 2 points in 26 minutes while adding 2 turnovers and 3 fouls. He had a more respectable showing in the next round's upset over Syracuse, tallying 6 points in 22 minutes.

According to Miller, Price is transferring in order to be closer to his family. The guard is a native of Slidell, LA, and Louisiana Tech has been thrown around as a possible landing spot. Dayton, who made it to the Elite Eight before falling to Florida in the 2014 tournament, seems like they'll be just fine--they've still got former Buckeye Jordan Sibert, and picked up 6'6 guard Charles Cooke, who transferred from James Madison.

"Navy is a bowl team that won nine games a year ago, so it's not like the Buckeyes are going to be facing a slouch."

-Ari Wasserman, Cleveland.com

For a few weeks now, the folks over at Cleveland.com have been breaking down all of Ohio State's opponents for the 2014 football season. This week, they profiled the Navy Midshipmen, against whom the Buckeyes will open the year on August 30.

The Midshipmen are coming off of a 9-4 season and a bowl win (against MTSU in the Armed Forces Bowl), and return fifteen starters. Navy last faced Ohio State in 2009, a game in which the Buckeyes struggled mightily at times. The Midshipmen averaged only 85 yards a game through the air last season, but they run one of the most potent triple-option attacks in the country and do the bulk of their damage on the ground.

Wasserman gives Navy a 4-5% chance of pulling the upset. That seems like a fair estimation of where the teams stand in relation to one another. But if there's anything the last few days have taught us, it's that the percentage projections of sportswriters should be taken with enough grains of salt to kill every slug in North America.

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