Greg McElroy believes college football has reached 'Natty or Bust' era

Ohio State went all in to win a college football national title this past season and it paid off as Ryan Day and the Buckeyes beat Notre Dame in the national championship game.

ESPN college football analyst Greg McElroy expects more teams to do the same moving forward and believes that we have reached the “natty or bust” era of college football. McElroy revealed his take recently on the Always College Football podcast.

“I look at this in eras. … In college football we had the BCS era. We had the four-team playoff era. Well, we might be entering the natty or bust era,” McElroy said. “That’s what we’re going to call it, at least for today.

“It means those teams that feel like they’re close, that are right there on the edge of potentially getting over the hump and securing their first national championship in quite a while, they’re going all in.”

As Greg McElroy pointed out, Ohio State had several veterans pass on turning pro and entering the NFL Draft as they decided to return to school and make a run at a national title, instead. The Buckeyes also added some key pieces from the transfer portal, including Caleb Downs and Will Howard.

The returning players, transfer portal additions and freshmen like Jeremiah Smith helped Ohio State win the national title.

“They were close. Ohio State’s been close. They had been really close for a very long time. But they decided after last season, after watching their rival win a national championship, all the guys collectively said, ‘We’re not going to go to the NFL. We have unfinished business,'” McElroy explained. “So they went all in, put together a loaded roster, won a national championship.”

As McElroy also pointed out, Michigan did something similar the previous year as the Wolverines returned a veteran team that was able to win a national championship. He expects college football programs to follow a similar path moving forward.

While Ohio State is obviously thrilled with winning a national title, McElroy does believe it is going to be incredibly difficult for the Buckeyes or anyone to repeat in the future.

College football teams are going all in for one year, but with the transfer portal being open the way that it is, there often aren’t players already in the program ready to move into a starring role for the next year.

“I think we are looking at a time right now where even the best teams in the sport have to rebuild,” McElroy said. “It’s not like it was back in the day, six, seven, eight, 10 years ago, where ‘Hey, five-star leaves, next man up. Oh yea, he’s a five-star, too.’ It’s not like that anymore.

“So I’m not sure anybody’s reloading anymore. I think everybody after they peak has to hit a little bit of a valley before they start to peak again.”