Ohio State did everything backwards. You’re not supposed to win the national championship when your starting quarterback goes down with an injury. You’re also not supposed to win after you lose to a below-average team the second game of the year.
You’re certainly not supposed to win it by winning on the road against the team that knocked you out of title contention a year ago and was supposed to be better. And when you’re second-string quarterback goes down the last game of the season, it’s supposed to be all over.
Then comes the College Football Playoff. When you go down to Alabama 21-6, it’s supposed to be over.
And when you somehow win that and get to the national championship and lose the turnover battle 4-0 in that game to the Oregon Ducks, it’s a sure bet you’ll lose.
Do we need to continue with all of the ridiculously unlikely victories the Ohio State Buckeyes had this year as they won the national title?

With the First Pick
The Football Gods appeared to have it out against this team, but now, it all appeared to be part of their plan. This was a crazy season, but every bit of craziness was overshadowed by what the Buckeyes did.
They capped off another national championship in amazing fashion, and beating the Oregon Ducks the way they did in the big game, 42-20, was another huge layer of icing on the unlikely cake.
We already mentioned the turnovers. How about the fact that Oregon jumped out to a 7-0 lead? How about the fact that Oregon had only 10 points off of those turnovers? How about the fact that after the fourth turnover, Oregon could have been poised to take back the lead, but the Ohio State defense, which was vilified all year, came up with another huge stand?
Ezekiel Elliott was obviously the stud with more than 200 yards rushing and 4 touchdowns, and Cardale Jones as quarterback was great as well. But the defense, holding on after all four turnovers and holding the Ducks to only 20 points, was absolutely ridiculous.
The Buckeyes reopened the debate about Oregon not being physical enough to handle the big boys of college football. They had no answer for that team, and particularly no answer for that Ohio State running game, the Ohio State defense, or Jones.
Ohio State literally had to give the game away to Oregon to keep it looking halfway decent, and they still dominated the Ducks.
Marcus Mariota fell victim to the Heisman Trophy curse, but it wasn’t really the curse. It was the resiliency of Ohio State that had never been seen in college football history.
The term Team of Destiny is overused for every champion and looking-to-be-champion of college football. But it held true for the 2014 Ohio State Buckeyes.
When Oregon was down 21-20, it appeared that they would take over the fourth quarter. Nope.
In their final effort, the Buckeyes pulled an Oregon on the Oregon Ducks.
It doesn’t hurt that the Buckeyes have one of the greatest coaches in modern college football.
But what they have done is so remarkable this year that no national champion in history stacks up when it comes to adversity.
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