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Season in review: Ohio State
Published:
Team: Ohio State
Record: 11-2 (8-1 in B1G)
High moment of the season: The Michigan win
Just because it’s obvious doesn’t mean it’s untrue. That game felt scripted for the Buckeyes. In fact, it might have been too cliché of a script for people to believe. For Buckeye fans, it had everything.
- A dramatic comeback
- A Jim Harbaugh sideline tantrum
- Not one but TWO overtimes
- A walk-off touchdown
- Postgame complaints about the officiating from Michigan fans
That’s like “The Game” bingo for Ohio State.
More importantly, that game all but clinched the Buckeyes’ spot in the College Football Playoff. It might’ve worked out better that it didn’t send OSU to Indianapolis for the B1G Championship. Instead, the Buckeyes eliminated their rivals from playoff contention and got to sit back and watch everyone else try and claw for a playoff spot in a conference title game.
Shoot, that might’ve been the highest regular-season moment in Ohio State history.
Low moment of the season: The Fiesta Bowl
For as big of a high Ohio State was on after the Michigan game, the low after the Clemson loss might’ve been just as big. It was one thing to lose in the College Football Playoff. It was another to get shut out for the first time in a quarter century.
The Buckeyes had a month to prepare, and it didn’t seem to matter against the Tigers. They were beaten handily by a better team. Clemson’s win exposed every concern people had about the Buckeyes in 2016 — they were one-dimensional on offense, they relied a lot on defensive touchdowns and they didn’t face many elite defensive lines.
Ohio State finally looked like the youngest team in America. It just took until the final game of the season for that to happen.
Most meaningful play: J.T. Barrett’s fourth-down conversion vs. Michigan
Ah, the play that will be debated forever. Did J.T. Barrett convert that fourth-down play? Or was he stopped short?
Lost in the shuffle of that controversial play was the fact that Urban Meyer made one of the gutsiest, craziness, riskiest calls ever. Ohio State went for a fourth-and-one down three in double overtime with everything on the line. Did Tyler Durbin’s kicking struggles have something to do with that? Sure, but it was still a chip shot field goal to tie it.
Instead, Meyer bet everything on Barrett and the Ohio State line. That was as big of a make-or-break play as one could have in the regular season. It made Ohio State.
And of course, it made for the most scrutinized play ever (ignore the commentary):
Team MVP: Curtis Samuel, H-back
Take Samuel off the Buckeyes and Ohio State would’ve been a complete mess on offense. The Buckeye H-back was the only player in America with 700 rushing yards and 700 receiving yards.
Anybody who racks up 1,536 yards from scrimmage and 15 touchdowns is valuable, especially as a guy who did his damage from essentially anywhere on the field.
Ohio State saw what happened when Samuel wasn’t involved against Penn State. With Samuel off to the NFL, the Buckeyes will turn to Demario McCall. Those are some massive shoes to fill.
Grade: B+
Yes, Ohio State was the youngest team in America, and it managed to make the College Football Playoff. That’s an impressive feat that few programs would be able to accomplish. OSU surpassed most preseason expectations by doing that.
But Ohio State was clearly not in the same neighborhood as the top two teams in the country. The Buckeyes did deserve to be where they were based on their three wins vs. top-10 teams. Still, they never dominated a quality defense and with the exception of the Oklahoma win — impressive but against an awful defense — the Buckeyes never looked elite.
A playoff appearance is nothing worth pouting about. The 2016 group just didn’t have a 2014 run in them.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Tradition. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.