The 2024 season has been an interesting one for the Buckeyes. Coming into the playoffs with expectations of winning it all almost never helps teams actually succeed in that goal.
Ohio State seems to have suffered from the fate of expectations. The 2024 roster led by Ryan Day was touted as one of the most talented in the history of the Buckeyes. “National Championship or Bust” was a common label for this year’s Ohio State Team, and I think that having that label has damaged Ohio State fans’ opinions of the team.
The 2024 season was off to a roaring start. The Buckeyes started 3-0 against their weak out of conference schedule, looking especially strong against Western Michigan. Their Big 10 conference slate started with Michigan State then Iowa, the Buckeyes won both games handedly.
The conference opening slate did start to show some of the cracks in Ohio State’s roster though. They struggled defensively in the first half against Michigan State, and only ended up holding them to 7 because of MSU quarterback Aidan Chiles mistakes while deep in Ohio State territory.
Against Iowa, less questions were raised. Iowa’s always strong defense held the Buckeyes to just 7 in the first half, but Ohio State ran away with the game in the second half. Iowa only scored 7 throughout the contest, and Ohio State’s defense held one of the Big 10’s best running backs to just 86 yards on 15 carries.
Ohio State’s third conference game would be a much anticipated one. The Buckeyes’ visit to Autzen Stadium to play Oregon had been circled on many college football fan’s calendars since the beginning of the season.
The game was undoubtedly one of the best games of the entire season so far, a back and forth battle between two of the best teams in college football. It all came down to one Ohio State drive. After a 26 yard grab by standout wide receiver Emeke Egbuka followed by an incompletion, the Buckeyes were set up at the Oregon 28, well into field goal range.
The next play, Will Howard threw a quick strike to freshman Jeremiah Smith but he was questionably called for offensive pass interference. This pushed Ohio State out of field goal range, and Oregon ended the game by using a loophole in the rules. This ended the game 32-31 in favor of the Ducks
Following this loss, everyone’s opinion of the Buckeyes seemed to flip on a dime. The Buckeyes were suddenly “fraudulent”. This is a confusing narrative though because people were touting Oregon as the best team in college football.
You simply cannot say that Oregon is the best team because they beat Ohio State, while simultaneously calling Ohio State frauds and saying that they don’t deserve the number two ranking after they lost to the same team people are claiming is the number one team.
Ohio State’s other big game was against Penn State. A lot of the people in the college football space said that the Buckeyes would surely lose on the road in Beaver Stadium. I thought that was ridiculous.
We have seen repeatedly year after year that the Buckeyes will bounce back from a tough loss. Whether that be a tough loss in a game or losing a player to injury. For example, the Buckeyes most recent National Championship; reigning two-time Big 10 offensive player of the year and starting quarterback Braxton Miller suffered a season ending injury shortly before the start of the season.
It would be on Redshirt Freshman JT Barrett to step up and lead Ohio State to the promised land. Ohio State unfortunately went on the road and lost to an underwhelming Virginia Tech team.
People immediately threw in the towel. The sentiment was overwhelmingly negative; people had once again given up on the Buckeyes. The Buckeyes hadn’t given up though; they rattled off 10 straight wins including a 49-37 victory over a top 10 ranked Michigan State, and a 59-0 rout of a 13th ranked Wisconsin in the Big 10 Championship.
Those 10 wins themselves were not without adversity though. In their final regular season game against Michigan, JT Barrett broke his ankle and was done for the season. The Buckeyes would have to lean on a true freshman quarterback this time, Cardale Jones.
Jones led the Buckeyes past Wisconsin in the Big 10 Championship and followed that up by squeaking it out over Alabama and then forcing an all time Oregon offense to implode in the National Championship.
Ohio State always keeps fighting, and there’s no doubt the fans are passionate about the Buckeyes. I’m not saying us fans have to be positive all of the time, but if we could keep some of the negativity to ourselves and try to support the team and our players, it would undoubtedly help recruiting, and I believe it would help the Buckeyes win more games.
