{"id":88310,"date":"2026-06-15T12:00:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T16:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=88310"},"modified":"2026-06-15T14:57:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T18:57:24","slug":"75-days-away-from-college-football-kickoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2026\/06\/15\/75-days-away-from-college-football-kickoff\/","title":{"rendered":"75 Days Away From College Football Kickoff"},"content":{"rendered":"
We are 75 days away from college football kickoff. \u00a0A new week and two more players in the countdown<\/a> to kickoff. Today, we have two All-Americans and Lombardi Trophy winners. Orlando Pace of Ohio State and Aaron Taylor of Notre Dame. Two very accomplished linemen who blocked for all-star talent. Enjoy the recaps of their illustrious careers. Be sure to check back tomorrow for #74 in our countdown<\/a> to kickoff. Enjoy!<\/span><\/div>\n

Orlando Pace Days Away From College Football Kickoff<\/h2>\n

On Pace<\/h3>\n
\n

Orlando Pace<\/a>, nicknamed the \u201cPancake Man\u201d for his outstanding blocking skills, finished fourth in the 1996 Heisman voting. That was the best result for a lineman since 1980.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pace was a<\/span> unanimous First-Team All-American in both 1995 and 1996. He became the first player ever to win the Lombardi Trophy twice, as a sophomore and junior. Pace also won the 1996 Outland Trophy and helped Ohio State share the Big Ten title. During his last two seasons, he didn\u2019t allow a single sack while blocking for Eddie George and Bobby Hoying. Named the 1996 Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, Pace started every game in his career and led the Buckeyes to three straight bowl games with coach John Cooper.<\/span><\/p>\n

The St. Louis Rams picked Pace first overall in the 1997 NFL Draft. He played 13 seasons in the league and helped the Rams win<\/span> Super Bowl XXXIV in 1999. Pace was named an All-Pro five times and made seven Pro Bowl teams.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pace, who grew up in<\/span> Sandusky, Ohio, has been a spokesman for Our Little Haven\u2019s \u2018Safe & Warm\u2019 project since 1998. He also supports the Diversity Awareness Partnership and often buys NFL tickets for underprivileged kids.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Another Great # 75 Aaron Taylor, Notre Dame<\/b><\/h3>\n
Aaron Taylor<\/a> was named First Team All-American twice, earning unanimous honors in 1993 and consensus honors in 1992. As a key player during one of Notre Dame\u2019s best periods, the team went 40-8-1 and won three major bowl games: the 1992 Sugar Bowl and the 1993 and 1994 Cotton Bowls. In 1993, Taylor won the Lombardi Award as the nation\u2019s top lineman, received the Jim Parker Award from the Touchdown Club of Columbus, and was a finalist for the Outland Trophy. He was also the team captain in his senior year.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
In 1993, Taylor was named Moose Krause Lineman of the Year. He blocked for two straight 1,000-yard rushers: Reggie Brooks in 1992 and Lee Becton in 1993. Taylor made a big impact in Notre Dame\u2019s upset win over Florida in the 1992 Sugar Bowl, where Jerome Bettis scored two of his three touchdowns running behind Taylor. He started the last 30 games of his college career, helping Notre Dame\u2019s running game average 275 yards per game and score 71 rushing touchdowns from 1992 to 1993. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nTaylor was selected in the first round of the 1994 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers. He played for the Packers from 1994 to 1997 and helped them win Super Bowl XXXI. Taylor finished his professional career with the San Diego Chargers from 1998 to 1999.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nTaylor volunteered for five months with Teaching and Projects Abroad, where he taught English to high school students in South America. He also funded a project in Sri Lanka that built a community center and 40 temporary houses in Kosgoda after a tsunami. Taylor helped start The Joe Moore Foundation for Teamwork to honor his offensive line coach at Notre Dame, and he created the Joe Moore Award, which goes each year to college football\u2019s best offensive line. In 2007, he received the Harvey G. Foster Award from the Notre Dame Alumni Association for his civic service. Taylor also founded the Aaron Taylor IMPACT Fund and now works as a college football analyst for CBS Sports during the fall.<\/span><\/div>\n

Editor’s Note: The countdown to college football kickoff has been a series on the Last Word on College Football social media platforms for the past 9 years. \u00a0They consisted of a photo and a small blurb for each player, with the jersey corresponding to the number of days until kickoff. \u00a0The rank of the players is sourced from articles by Bleacher Report, Fox Sports, and The Athletic. There are also some favorite players of the Last Word on College Football writers. \u00a0Their bios are sourced from multiple online sources, including but not limited to the College Football Hall of Fame, their Heisman profiles, and school websites.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Main Photo: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are 75 days away from college football kickoff. \u00a0A new week and two more players in the countdown to kickoff. Today, we have two All-Americans and Lombardi Trophy winners. Orlando Pace of Ohio State and Aaron Taylor of Notre Dame. Two very accomplished linemen who blocked for all-star talent. Enjoy the recaps of their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1643,"featured_media":88352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[33970,6708],"class_list":["post-88310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-lombardi-trophy","tag-outland-trophy"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1643"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88310"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88383,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88310\/revisions\/88383"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}