Fact or Fiction: Ohio State Ducking Washington, Future of the Pac-12, Tyler Van Dyke Rebound

In today’s Fact or Fiction, I look at three big recent topics in college football and decide whether the statement is indeed FACT or if it’s FICTION.

1. Ohio State “chickened out” of their series with Washington.

Farrell’s take: FACT

Well they kinda did. Ohio State didn’t want to travel to the west coast to face a tough Washington team with USC and UCLA coming into the Big Ten and scheduling unclear. The possibility of two trips to the west coast in the same season for the Buckeyes just isn’t appealing enough so they paid the $500k penalty for a home and home series scheduled back in 2017. The Buckeyes can claim it’s a financial situation where they need an additional home game in 2024 and 2025 but let’s be real — this is about keeping hopes alive for a playoff run in both seasons but especially in 2024.

Sep 17, 2022; Seattle, Washington, USA; Washington Huskies quarterback Michael Penix Jr. (9) celebrates with fans following a 39-28 victory against the Michigan State Spartans at Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium.

2. The cancellation is an awful sign for the PAC 12.

Farrell’s take: FACT

This has to have Washington thinking even more about bolting the PAC 12. Not only is the conference losing USC and UCLA but now it’s becoming harder and harder to schedule elite opponents out of conference. I’m hearing the folks at Washington were absolutely livid in regards to this cancellation as they will have to replace Ohio State with less than Power Five opponents and the brass has to be thinking an invitation to join another conference looks better and better.

Oct 26, 2022; San Francisco, CA, USA; Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff during Pac-12 Media Day at Pac-12 Network Studios.

3. Shannon Dawson will fix Tyler Van Dyke.

Farrell’s take: FACT

The Houston OC has done a great job with QB Clayton Tune and runs a QB friendly offense so I think we will see more of the Tyler Van Dyke we saw in 2021 and hope that 2022 was an outlier. I don’t think he’ll be back in the mix as a potential day one or day two NFL Draft pick or a player in any sort of Heisman discussion, but he will improve.