The Game, 2023

We’re only a few hours away from this year’s titanic clash of the Men of the Scarlet and Gray with That Team Up North. Number 2 versus Number 3. The winners take the Big Ten East crown, punch their ticket to the Big Ten championship game, and may end up in the College Football Playoff; the losers have to lick their wounds for another year. The stakes don’t get much higher than this, but that’s par for the course for The Game.

As is true every year, this year’s matchup has its own set of off-the-field storylines, with controversy swirling around TTUN and its program, and Ohio State and its coaching staff dealing with the pressure of trying to reverse a two-year losing streak. But I woke up early this morning, adrenalin surging, thinking about the football, not the surrounding distractions. Here’s my take.

I think the problem with predicting the outcome of The Game this year is simple: the Big Ten doesn’t have many multi-dimensional offensive teams. TTUN and Ohio State both fall into that category, but most of the other teams don’t. Ohio State has played a slightly tougher schedule, thanks to its win in South Bend, but that same one-dimensional issue was true for Notre Dame–at least, it was back when Ohio State played the Fighting Irish. There just aren’t that many Big Ten teams that can both run and pass effectively. Perhaps Maryland falls into that category, but that’s about it–and interestingly, the Terrapins gave both Ohio State and TTUN a game.

The novelty of facing a true multi-dimensional opponent means that, even though both teams have played 11 games already, today’s matchup will present a fundamentally different challenge for the defenses. I think we’ll get a sense early on as to whether the multi-dimensional aspect of the opponent poses problems for these two defenses, both of which have put up strong numbers. And don’t kid yourselves–this edition of The Game will boil down to which defense is stouter, and which defense can make the tough stops and avoid the breakdowns when The Game is in the balance. For the past two years, that is what TTUN has been able to do–perhaps aided by an unfair advantage–and what Ohio State has not been able to do. Today, the Buckeyes will try to change that result.

Can they do it? It’s the question every member of Buckeye Nation will be asking at noon today, when The Game kicks off in Ann Arbor.

Go Bucks!

Day In The Week

The Week is here. It’s Thanksgiving Week, of course, but every Ohio State football fan will find their thoughts drifting past Turkey Day to next Saturday, when the 2023 edition of The Game will be played up in Ann Arbor. The Week brings a gush of adrenalin and a surge of excitement to every stalwart member of Buckeye Nation–but I imagine our feelings don’t hold a candle to what Ohio State head coach Ryan Day must be feeling right now.

Coach Day watched his Buckeyes inflict a crushing 37-3 defeat on an overmatched Minnesota Golden Gophers team yesterday. I was there, and the Buckeyes looked good, particularly on defense. The win puts Ohio State at 8-0 in the Big Ten and 11-0 overall for the season. Ohio State is slotted second in the CFP rankings, just behind mighty Georgia. Virtually every college football team on the planet would love to be in Ohio State’s shoes.

For Coach Day, this is not new territory. Indeed, his record as head coach at Ohio State is gaudy to the point of absurdity. In his five years coaching the Men of the Scarlet and Gray, he has compiled a 39-2 record against Big Ten opponents and a 56-6 record overall. He has led the team to three berths in the CFP playoffs, and he’s coached dozens of Buckeyes who have been drafted in the NFL–including the shoo-in winner of this year’s NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award, C.J. Stroud.

And yet . . . some fans aren’t satisfied, because of those two losses in Coach Day’s Big Ten record. We don’t expect Ohio State to be flawless, year after year–well, actually, maybe we do–but we really don’t want to lose to That Team Up North. And that’s what has happened to the Buckeyes in the last two years. Whether it was because of TTUN’s cheating NCAA rules violation project, or because TTUN played more physical football in both of those editions of The Game, the Buckeyes have come up short against their hated rival during the last two years. And, for Buckeye Nation, that is something that a coach just cannot do.

I think Ohio State is lucky to have a coach like Coach Day, and I hope that this year he turns the tide against TTUN. When I try to put myself in his shoes this week, my mind boggles at the mix of emotions I would be experiencing. But, because it’s Coach Day, I expect he is already hard at work this Sunday morning and has put his personal feelings aside to be totally focused on next Saturday and what Ohio State needs to do to win The Game.

What must it be like to be Day during The Week? We’ll get a sense of that on Saturday.

The Big Boys And The Tough Yards

I saw only snippets of the Ohio State win over Maryland yesterday. Regrettably, I missed most of the offensive onslaught in the second half that allowed the Buckeyes to pull away from the Terrapins and notch a solid 20-point victory, 37-17.

From what I saw and my analysis of the box score, there was a lot to like in the triumph over a previously undefeated Maryland team. Ohio State remained unbeaten and stays in the thick of the race for the Big Ten East title and potential spots in the Big Ten championship game and the College Football Playoff. For me, the highlights from yesterday’s game included the play of an opportunistic defense that forced two crucial turnovers and one defensive score and held an explosive Maryland team in check during the key moments in the second half. I also liked the continuing development of quarterback Kyle McCord, who threw for more than 300 yards and hit some key chunk-play passes in the clutch.

But, I wouldn’t be a lifetime member of Buckeye Nation if I didn’t also look for areas of improvement, and there is a glaring one about this team: the running game and continued struggles in converting third-and-short and fourth-and-short situations. Yesterday Ohio State ran for a measly 62 yards on 33 carries, which comes out to an embarrassing average of 1.9 yards per carry. Legendary coach Woody Hayes must be rolling over in his grave at that statistic; he took pride in the “three yards and a cloud of dust” description that will be forever associated with his run-oriented offenses. Obviously, the run component of this Buckeye offense hasn’t jelled . . . at least not yet.

The running game starts with the big boys up front. This season, Ohio State’s linemen, may of whom are new starters, seem to be routinely stood up at the line of scrimmage, leaving few holes for running backs, and the problems are especially noticeable when the Buckeyes are looking to move the chains. This is very concerning because experienced Big Ten fans know that when the weather turns cold and foul, the run game is essential. A lot of tough games are coming up, and if Ohio State’s offensive line can’t win the battle at the line of scrimmage, open some holes, and establish a running game, it will seriously impair the team’s ability to realize its goals of a Big Ten championship and another trip to the CFP.

Next Saturday, the Buckeyes travel to West Lafayette to take on the Purdue Boilermakers–a venue where past Ohio State teams have endured some hard losses. I’ll be watching those big boys up front to see if they get a push whenever Ohio State tries to run the ball.

The New Q(s)

Ohio State’s football season starts tomorrow, when the Men of the Scarlet and Gray travel to Bloomington to take on the Indiana Hoosiers. Every college football team starts the season with questions, as familiar faces have graduated and new faces must fill in–but for this Buckeye squad, perhaps, there are more questions than is usually the case.

The first question is at quarterback. After a long evaluation during spring practice and training camp, OSU head coach Ryan Day has chosen Kyle McCord as the starter–although he plans to play Devin Brown a lot as well. Neither quarterback played much last year, and they certainly didn’t have to make big plays when the chips were down. Ohio State’s offense in recent years has required a lot from its quarterbacks, and Justin Fields and C.J. Stroud both filled that role brilliantly. Will McCord and/or Brown be able to react well under pressure, make good decisions with the ball, and be able to spread the ball around to Ohio State’s deep and talented corps of receivers? Having great pass-catchers is wonderful, but someone has got to get the ball to them, on time and on target.

The second question is a related one: will Ohio State’s offensive line be able to provide the protection needed to make Ohio State’s passing offense work, and can it open holes for Buckeye running backs? Three starters on the Ohio State offensive line moved on to the NFL, leaving three holes to be filled by new players, including the crucial center position. The Buckeyes’ talent at the offensive skill positions will get a chance to shine only if the line holds up. It also typically takes time for a new collection of linemen to gel as a unit. We’ll be keeping an eye on the performance of the O-line tomorrow and in the coming weeks. And one of the key indicators will be whether Ohio State can convert on third-and-short with its running game.

And the third big question is the defense. Last year Ohio State’s D was gouged in its last two games of the year–the biggest games of all, against The Team Up North and eventual national champion Georgia. The D suffered perplexing big-play breakdowns that left members of Buckeye Nation scratching their heads. This year, with another year of defensive coordinator Jim Knowles’ scheme and coaching under their belts, the expectation is that the defense–which also features a lot of talent–will be a lot less porous and a lot more disruptive. The D’s performance will be another focus for me in tomorrow’s game.

Starting the year with a Big Ten game, away, is unusual from a scheduling perspective, but it will present a good challenge for the new-look Buckeyes. When the kickoff happens at 3:30 tomorrow, we’ll start to see how these questions are going to get answered. Go Bucks!

Big, Bigger, Biggest

ESPN is reporting that today the Big Ten university presidents and chancellors authorized the Big Ten Commissioner, Tony Petitti, to look into the possibility of adding two new schools–specifically, Oregon and Washington–to the conference. I couldn’t help but think that the move was kind of like the college football equivalent of President Thomas Jefferson commissioning the Lewis and Clark expedition, fancifully envisioned above, to head west. In this case, rather than trying to find a navigable course to the west coast, the Big Ten Commissioner will explore whether there are still more schools that can, and should, be added to the old conference now.

How big can the Big Ten get . . . and how big should the Big Ten get? It’s not the same question, of course. As for how big the Big Ten can get, there’s probably no limit. The conference is awash in money from TV contracts, and with conferences like the poor old PAC-12 apparently falling apart, why wouldn’t schools like Oregon and Washington want to join a conference that will provide them with cash and TV exposure and a chance to regularly play teams like Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State in high-stakes matchups on national TV? What’s their alternative?

As for how big the Big Ten should get, we can expect the Big Ten Commish look into TV markets and potential ad revenue for the Big Ten network as part of his analysis. The fans and the athletes might have a say, too. Athletes who are interested in maximizing the NIL value might like that additional TV exposure in a new part of the country.

As for fans like me, the conference no longer bears much resemblance to what we remember from our youth–but we’re probably not the audience the conference cares about, anyway. Do you know off the top of your head how many teams are in the Big Ten right now, if you add UCLA and USC into the mix? Other than Ohio State-Michigan, what are the “rivalries” these days, since Rutgers, and Maryland, and Nebraska joined the group? Why shouldn’t Big Ten alums who’ve moved west have the chance to see their alma maters play teams that wear fluorescent uniforms in faraway venues?

College football as it existed in the ’60s and ’70s is as outdated as rotary telephones and Nehru jackets.

I’ll always watch the Buckeyes, whoever they play; it’s part of my DNA. But it’s strange to think that the Big Ten might some day have multiple member teams on the west coast, and grow to 20 or 24, or 30 teams–or even more. The Big Ten gets ever bigger.

Coming Up Just Short

The new year got off to a disappointing start for Ohio State fans as the Buckeyes came up just short against Georgia in the College Football Playoff last night. The Buckeyes and the Bulldogs traded haymakers all night in a classic football game between two powerhouses, and to the extent anyone doubted that Ohio State belonged, those thoughts should have been immediately dispelled by the team’s performance on the field. Unfortunately, a defensive mishap–an Ohio State defender fell down, leaving a Georgia wide receiver wide open for a long touchdown that let the Bulldogs quickly cut into a double-digit lead as the game wound down–and a missed game-winning field goal as time ran out knocked the Buckeyes out of the championship game.

After a heartbreaker like that 42-41 loss, it’s easy to focus on the end of the game, and one or two plays when the game hung in the balance. I think it is important to take a broader view, and when you do that Buckeye Nation should feel a little bit better. Ohio State has been decimated by injuries on offense, with their best receiver and starting running back out of the game. As the game wore on more pieces of the Ohio State offensive puzzle were lost, as running back Miyan Williams played only a few downs and otherworldly receiver Marvin Harrison, Jr. and tight end Cade Stover went out with injuries. (I’m not quite sure how the blow delivered to Harrison’s head on the play that knocked him out of the game, and in my view changed the course of the contest, wasn’t deemed targeting, or unnecessary roughness, or some other penalty, but I digress.) But even though the team was without many of its stars, new Buckeyes came in and kept at the Bulldogs. You have to give credit to the guts and determination of Ohio State, which fought on to the final whistle.

And two people who have been criticized by some members of Buckeye Nation–C.J. Stroud and Ryan Day–deserve special credit for the Buckeyes’ effort. Stroud was magnificent in the biggest game of the season, throwing for 350 yards and four touchdowns, playing error-free football, and making some crucial plays with his legs, including a scramble that put the Buckeyes in position to attempt the final field goal. He stood up under great pressure, moved in the pocket to gain additional time, and made pinpoint throws that shredded the vaunted Georgia defense. Anyone who has questioned C.J. Stroud’s toughness or will to win should feel ashamed of themselves in the wake of last night’s game. It has been a pleasure watching C.J. Stroud master the quarterback position. He will be missed.

As for Ryan Day, he showed that he has all of the qualities that you want in a college football head coach. He had his team prepared, fired up, and uncowed, and they executed when all of the marbles were at stake. He called a great offensive game, and he had a trick play up his sleeve–a fake punt–that would have produced a crucial first down but for an official allowing Georgia to call a time out just as the ball was snapped. Coach Day showed guts and fire, and the “next man up” mentality that Ohio State displayed in the face of crippling injuries shows that Coach Day and his staff can instill resilience, too. He clearly is an excellent coach, and Buckeye Nation should feel lucky to have him.

Ohio State always has three goals: beat Michigan, win the Big Ten, and win the National Championship. They did not meet those goals this year, but they showed a lot of character and played well in the glare of the spotlight.

Second Chances

After going 11-0, the Buckeyes laid an egg in the second half of The Game–giving up big plays on defense and failing to score a touchdown on offense. The result was a score that embarrassed both the team and all of Buckeye Nation. Losing to That Team Up North always hurts–and particularly this year, when Ohio State was playing at home and seemed to have so much promise.

But the breaks have gone the Buckeyes’ way in the days since that dismal loss. LSU lost, USC lost, and today the Buckeyes snuck into the College Football Playoff through the back door. The Buckeyes ended up number 4, and will play mighty Georgia in the semifinals. Since the game will be played in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta, it’s basically a Georgia home game. Meanwhile, TTUN, ranked second, will take on plucky TCU in the other semifinal game. The Buckeyes played poorly against the Wolverines, especially on defense–although you have to give some credit to TTUN, which obviously has a solid team. As a result, no one is giving them much of a chance against the undefeated Bulldogs.

I beg to differ. I think this game will be a bit more interesting, perhaps, than people expect. Ohio State has been incredibly banged up on offense, with their top running backs, their top receiver, and one of their key offensive lineman out for The Game. Will those important missing pieces be back for the CFP? It would be nice to see a healthy Jaxon Smith-Njigba playing alongside Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka, and Miyan Williams and Trevyon Henderson running like they did earlier in the season. As good as Georgia’s defense clearly is, a healthy Ohio State with all of its weapons will be a handful. If all of these guys play, and Ohio State’s offensive line is intact again, this game will offer the irresistible force versus immovable object/OSU offense versus Georgia defense matchup that people have been eager to see for several seasons now.

The bigger question will be the Buckeyes’ defense. Georgia has a good offense, but the Buckeyes’ problems in The Game were self-inflicted, with lots of missed tackles and big play breakdowns. Can coffee-guzzling defensive coordinator Jim Knowles figure out how to fix those problems? Those of us who watched Ohio State teams of days gone by, when the Buckeyes played rock-ribbed defense, chafe at the blunders and poor fundamentals on D. I think the key will be whether the Buckeyes can play some tough D in a big game.

As for C.J. Stroud–well, he was very gracious after the defeat in The Game, and showed some real character. I think he will take advantage of his second chance and play a good game against the Bulldogs. I’m not saying the Buckeyes will win, but I think this game will be a lot more competitive than people think, especially if Ohio State is healthy.

This game will make New Year’s Eve a much better holiday than just sitting at home watching Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.

Striking The Thirteenth Letter

This week, the thirteenth letter of the alphabet is not to be seen in Ohio’s capital city. All around town, it has been crossed out on street signs, billboards, and business signs–even scooters, as shown by the scooter above that we saw near Goodale Park earlier this week. We excise old #13 wherever it is found because we don’t want to see anything that represents That State Up North this week.

The striking of the thirteenth letter is one of the newer traditions in the old rivalry. I don’t recall it happening when I was a student at Ohio State in the ’70s. Back then, people settled for things like “Screw the Blue” car stickers and got a chuckle out of TTUN toilet paper. But then a person decided that the 13th letter was just too offensive to be endured during this particular week, and the habit caught on like wildfire. Now it’s just another part of the tradition of the greatest rivalry in sports.

After today, the 13th letter will be invited back into the alphabet and we’ll be able to use it again. That’s a good thing, too–it was challenging to write today’s blog post without using it!

Go Bucks!

The Buckeyes March On

Yesterday I joined a group that headed to Ohio Stadium to watch the Ohio State-Indiana game. On a cold and snowy day, we watched the Buckeyes pulverize the outmatched Hoosiers, 56-14. The win keeps the Men of the Scarlet and Gray undefeated and on track to be in a position to achieve their goals: beating Michigan, winning a Big Ten championship, and competing for a national title.

For the true Buckeyes fan, however, every game, no matter how lopsided, involves good points and areas of lingering concern–because true Buckeye fans hold their gridiron team to impossibly high standards. Yesterday was no exception. The good points included 660 yards of total offense, achieving a nice balance with the ground game and the air attack each racking up more than 300 yards, and five touchdown passes for C.J. Stroud. Putting up these kinds of numbers in cold, snowy conditions is an added plus, because if you play football in the Midwest in November, when the really big games occur, you’ve got to be able to move the ball in cold, sloppy weather conditions. And the Buckeyes’ defense played well, harassing the Hoosier offense throughout the game and holding Indiana to two scores (one coming when the game was well out of reach) and well under 300 yards of offense.

So what are the areas of concern? I’m still worried about Ohio State’s ability to convert in short-yardage situations. Ohio State had some failures on third-and-short yesterday, against a team that doesn’t really match up against the Buckeyes in the trenches. Long runs are great and make the rushing game statistics look good, but as the season winds down, being able to pick up the tough yards, get first downs, and keep the ball in the hands of the offense will become increasingly crucial. The key question that we’ll get answered in the very near future is: can Ohio State and its offensive line do that against a team that has a great defensive line and will make the Buckeyes fight for every yard?

With yesterday’s win, the Buckeyes move to 10-0. Next up is Maryland on the road, and looming behind is That Team Up North, which also stands at 10-0, tied with Ohio State at the top of the Big Ten East. This season is feeling a lot like past seasons, where everything is leading up to The Game once again.

Surviving The Down Game

Every college football team, it seems, has a down game. At least once a season, good football squads seem to come out flatter than a partially deflated pigskin. When you combine the down game with weather conditions that work against the more skilled team, very good teams can lose games they are expected to win.

Today’s game between Ohio State and Northwestern in Evanston, Illinois was a down game for the Buckeyes. Ohio State seemed out of sync from the first whistle, and the conditions didn’t help matters. The weather was awful, with strong winds gusting up to 50 miles an hour and rain coming sideways, making it practically impossible for the Ohio State aerial game to get started. As a result, the game became a low-scoring, hard-hitting, one-dimensional contest with each team focused on running the ball. The conditions reminded me of another down game–one I had the misfortune of watching in person–when Michigan State upset the defending national champion Buckeyes 17-14 in brutal weather conditions to keep the Men of the Scarlet and Gray from making the playoffs and defending their title.

But, unlike that Buckeyes team, this Ohio State team found a way to surmount their down game, in ridiculous conditions, on the road, and notch a win to keep themselves undefeated. They won even though C.J. Stroud’s passing statistics were pedestrian in the buffeting wind, because the offense didn’t turn the ball over, C.J. Stroud made smart plays with his legs, the Buckeyes’ run game kept plugging, and the Buckeyes’ defense avoided any breakdowns that would have made it possible for the Wildcats to spring a huge upset.

Did Ohio State look pretty, or dominant? Nope. But they won a down game, and that’s the important thing. Now it’s time to enjoy that colossal Georgia-Tennessee matchup, with the pressure off.

A Hot One In The Shoe

Russell and I had the chance to go to the ‘Shoe last night and watch a classic Big Ten game with more than 102,000 of our closest scarlet-clad friends. The game started with a great fireworks display and ended with fans flooding the field to celebrate a hard-fought Ohio State victory as the Buckeyes pulled out a 33-24 win.

I’m sure there are a lot of people who wonder why Ohio State didn’t march up and down the field on offense and rack up another blowout win. The reason is: the Buckeyes were playing Penn State, and Penn State always plays Ohio State tough, whether the game is in Columbus or Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions have a great program and a lot of pride, and it seemed clear that Penn State’s surprising loss to Illinois was caused, at least in part, because Penn State was focused on this game against the Buckeyes. With all due respect to Rutgers and Maryland, the Big Ten doesn’t really begin until you start to play teams like Penn State, Michigan State, and That Team Up North. Last night’s game was what the rest of the season will be like–tough, hard-hitting, and closely contested from the kickoff–and I was happy to see the Buckeyes display some grit as they pulled out a win. So it didn’t surprise me that the Buckeyes didn’t put up gaudy numbers on offense or defense.

The Buckeyes have some things to be happy about, like our placekicker, who really came through in the clutch, and a defense that made some key turnovers, and some things to work on, like way too many penalties, a surprisingly unimaginative red zone offense, and figuring out how to play pass defense in the middle of the field. But I think a game like this is good for a team and may cause the Buckeyes to stop worrying too much about press clippings, Heisman campaigns, and hypothetical future matchups with Georgia and get back to focusing on the next opponent, because the next opponent has the ability to derail all of your hopes. I’m confident that Ryan Day and his staff will take the film of this game, study it, figure out how the Buckeyes can deal with those issues and continue to improve, and get the players to sharpen their focus.

Kudos to Penn State, their quarterback, who played a great game, and their defense, which gave the Ohio State running game fits and kept the Buckeyes’ offense off-balance the entire game. The Big Ten season has now officially begun.

Assessing The Rutgers Discount Factor

Ohio State crushed Rutgers yesterday, 52-13. The blowout final score doesn’t really tell the story of how one-sided the game actually was. The Buckeyes scored at will in the first half, completely shut down the Rutgers offense except for one breakdown play, and went into halftime ahead 45-6. After halftime the Buckeyes scored another TD, then put in the back-ups and got pretty much everyone on the roster into the game, which prevented a really ugly score but has the positive effect of allowing the team to build depth, give your athletes game experience on the road, and protecting your first-string players from injury.

The Buckeyes offense definitely looked sharp–especially quarterback C.J. Stroud–and the defense handed the Scarlet Knights a lot of three and outs in the first half that allowed the offense to get back on the field and rack up another score. Still, the opponent was Rutgers, a team the Buckeyes have routinely pulverized. Buckeye Nation always feels good about the team after the Rutgers game, because Ohio State is 8-0 all-time against the Scarlet Knights and the closest win was last year, when Ohio State won by 22 points. Yesterday’s 52-13 score not even the most lopsided result in the series; that happened in 2016 when the Buckeyes laid a 58-0 whipping on the Knights.

So, how do you assess a big win against Rutgers? Do you focus on the statistics, or discount them because they were achieved against Rutgers, and the Buckeyes always seem to play well against that New Jersey squad? That’s the big question for head coach Ryan Day and his staff. As for me, I think there are some definite positives to take away from yesterday’s game, and I’m not going to discount them entirely due to the Rutgers factor. Here are some of key points, in my view:

• It’s a road win in the Big Ten against a team that just gave Michigan a tough game in the Big House. I don’t think the Scarlet Knights are chopped liver, and I suspect they will surprise some other teams this year. But the Buckeyes absolutely overwhelmed them. I think that’s a good sign.
• The Buckeyes defense seemed to be well prepared and in position–something that didn’t seem to be the case in the games earlier this year. Ohio State has a new defensive signal-caller, and yesterday’s game was an indication that he’s doing a good job with the scheme and the pregame preparation.
• Ohio State’s defense is going to be the big concern this year, and in my view the key is getting the players in position to make plays and avoiding the breakdowns that allowed Oregon and Tulsa players to be running free without a Buckeye in the vicinity. Those egregious breakdowns didn’t happen yesterday. You could argue that we’re talking about Rutgers, but the breakdowns happened a lot against Tulsa, too. If the right scheme is used, I trust the Ohio State players to make tackles, break up passes, and harass the quarterback, as they did yesterday.
• C.J. Stroud was terrific, going 17 for 23 for 330 yards and five touchdowns. He also ran the ball, and looked a lot more confident in his decision-making. He was accurate and decisive, which are key attributes for the quarterback in an Ohio State offense that is loaded with talent. The modern college game, like the modern pro game, is focused on the quarterback, and I think the Buckeyes have another good one in C.J.
• A college football season is a process, because personnel are always shifting and new players go through growing pains. The whole Ohio State team looked more settled and comfortable yesterday; the reps and game experience are having an impact. We’ll know more about how that process is going after next week when the Buckeyes take on Maryland–a team that has given Ohio State fits in recent years.

Our New Look Buckeyes

The Ohio State Buckeyes played their first game of the new season last night. Watching the game was a different experience, due to the date and time–has Ohio State ever played a football game on a Thursday night before?–and the fact that the team opened the season on the road in the Big Ten, before a packed house of rabid Minnesota Golden Gopher fans, and had to come from behind in the second half to pull out a 45-31 win. But mostly it was a different experience because Ohio State’s starters include a lot of new names, on both offense and defense.

On offense, it’s pretty clear that the Buckeyes have plenty of firepower and weapons galore. They have a new quarterback, C.J. Stroud, who played through some first half jitters and had a bad interception before settling down and making lots of good throws as the Buckeyes pulled away. Give some credit to head coach Ryan Day for continuing to dial up pass plays and give Stroud a chance to show his arm. If Stroud can settle down and throw the ball accurately, he’s likely to put up some big numbers this year, because the Buckeye receiving corps is loaded with talent and speed, starting with veterans Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson. And the Buckeyes have a lot of punch in the backfield, too, with Miyan Williams, who rushed for 125 yards on only 9 carries and had a 71-yeard TD burst, dependable Master Teague, and true freshman TreVeyon Henderson, shown in the photo above, who looks like a star in the making.

The defense is another matter. Ohio State’s D was exposed last year by Alabama, and that was a veteran unit. This year’s defense features loads of new players in the defensive backfield and at the linebacker position, and there were some breakdowns last night–including a long run on a gutsy fourth-and-one play by the Gophers–that will need to be fixed. In fairness to the defense, Minnesota had a lot of veteran players at the offensive skill positions and a huge offensive line, and it can be tougher for a defense with a lot of new players to learn to play together as a team. We’ll call the defense a work in progress for now, but we’ll hope that the progress comes quickly, because Ohio State plays Oregon next weekend and the Ducks will be a handful.

It’s the Friday morning before Labor Day, the Buckeyes already have a conference road win under their collective belts, and members of Buckeye Nation have lots to analyze and criticize. It’s not a bad way to start a three-day weekend.

Once More Unto The Breach

Yesterday the College Football Playoff Selection Committee announced that Ohio State will be playing Clemson in one of the semifinal games. If that sounds familiar, it’s because it is. The two teams played last year in the semifinals, too, and in the semifinals in 2016 as well.

Those games haven’t ended well for the Buckeyes. In fact, Ohio State has never beaten Clemson, in four tries. And that record includes two immense black eyes for the Men of the Scarlet and Gray: the 1978 meeting that ended with OSU Coach Woody Hayes slugging a Clemson player who made an interception that sealed Clemson’s victory and brought the Ohio State legend’s coaching career to an end, and a 2016 CFB meeting in which the Tigers embarrassed the Buckeyes with a crushing 31-0 win. And last year’s game left the members of Buckeye Nation shaking their heads at what might have been if a few head-scratching officiating calls had gone the other way — a view, incidentally, that Clemson fans say that Clemson coaches will use to give Clemson motivation to win again this year. Some Ohio State fans view the upcoming game with Clemson with trepidation; others (including me) think if you want to be the best you need to beat the best. Clemson is up there with Alabama, and Ohio State needs to knock the Tigers off that perch.

But the fact that Ohio State will be playing Clemson in the playoffs — again — raises a larger issue for the sport of college football. The same teams seem to make it to the playoffs, year after year. This is the fourth time the Buckeyes will be in the playoffs, but they are pikers compared to Clemson and Alabama, which seem to make it pretty much every year. In fact, if Clemson and Alabama both win their semifinal matchups this year, they’ll play each other in the playoffs for the fifth time in the last six seasons — which is why one ESPN writer called the CFP the “Alabama-Clemson Invitational.”

This isn’t good for college football, in my view — and I think that view is shared by a growing number of people. The answer isn’t to arbitrarily exclude teams like Clemson and Alabama, which routinely dominate their conferences and put up impressive records year after year. Their performance shows that they deserve to be in the mix. Instead, the solution is to open up the playoffs to more teams, so that other worthy teams — like Cincinnati and Texas A&M this year — get a chance to play on the big stage and show that they belong.

When it comes to college football, 2020 has demonstrated that the sport can be flexible. The COVID-19 pandemic threw old ways of scheduling and operating out the window, with different conferences starting at different times and playing different numbers of games. Doesn’t that show that the college football powers-that-be could manage things to accommodate a larger eight-team playoff? Maybe a new approach to crowning a national champion could be something good that comes from this strange and star-crossed year.

The Context Of A Season

Tonight the Ohio State Buckeyes play the Clemson Tigers in the first round of the College Football Playoffs. As a lifelong Buckeyes fan, I’ll of course watch the game, and I’ll be doing my part to move the karma dial in favor of the Men of the Scarlet and Gray by wearing the lucky hat I wore when I witnessed Ohio State beat Oregon for the National Championship and carrying two lucky buckeyes I picked up at our place in Maine.

Of course, a game like this is about players and coaches, not fans. Ohio State has released an epic hype video for the game that is so good even people who hate Ohio State are raving about it. The video is an adrenaline-pumper that does a great job of capturing the game in the context of a season — a season that, for the players and coaches, covers off-season conditioning, spring practice, fall camp, and three months of games leading up to this one. It’s been a fabulous season, and you know in your heart that the players and coaches will make every effort to see that season extended to include one more game.

No doubt Clemson players and coaches feel the same way. They’ve won a ridiculous 28 games in a row and are the defending national champions. That’s why the game tonight promises to be a classic.

In the context of a season, it’s a game, but it’s also another step in a long journey marked by hard work, effort, practice, and teammates helping teammates. May the Ohio State journey continue!