Ohio State's Week 1 wellness check
Can the Buckeyes play winning defense in 2022? Notre Dame should tell us.
Ohio State was able to skate by for a little while there.
The 2020 team was one of the most unproven playoff entrants we’ve ever seen. The Buckeyes simply weren’t properly tested by their 2020 schedule, because there virtually was no 2020 schedule.
The Big 10 realized the SEC, Big 12, and ACC were going to do football with or without them and caved on their COVID caution. The potential financial implications of allowing a season to take place without the Big 10 getting involved were considerable, so they put together a joke of a season and elevated Ohio State to the playoffs.
Ohio State’s resume was a 6-0 season with some scares against Indiana and Northwestern amidst an overall Big 10 which was hastily put together, no out of conference matchups, and no rivalry game with Michigan.
They did put together a great gameplan to finally slay the Clemson Tiger dragon, thwarting Brent Venables’ sign-stealing with their tempo. Then they put together an all-time stinker of a gameplan against Alabama (they ran a 4-4 stack) and were chased off the field.
All the while their defense was slowly being depleted. The 2021 team had immediate issues early in the year with Oregon and their spread-option. Those fears were ameliorated for a while, then Michigan came with a vengeance and exposed them in the snow.
Playing disciplined, tough run defense is a fantastic wellness check for a top level program. If you have a winning culture and recruiting, you should be very difficult to run the ball against. You should lack weak spots across the D-line who can be pushed around, your linebackers and safeties should know the run fits and how to leverage the ball, and you should be triangulating an opponents’ top plays in a big game.
Ohio State is expected to contend for a National Championship in 2022. They open the season at home against the visiting Notre Dame Fighting Irish, who have named dual-threat Tyler Buchner as their starting quarterback. If the Buckeyes are going to be real contenders, they need to answer the bell here.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to America's War Game to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.