Ohio State Football: 2017 season preview, predictions

Ohio State football will need a nice bounce-back after getting blown out in last year’s College Football Playoff. Talent riddles the 2017 roster.

Urban Meyer isn’t used to losing at Ohio State. In fact, since taking over the Buckeyes five years ago, he’s posted a 61-6 record and has Big Ten titles as well as a national championship to his name. He is one of college football’s most successful head coaches and the Buckeyes are glad he decided to come out of retirement to lead the program.

However, he’s coming off his worst loss as the head coach of Ohio State, a 31-0 thrashing at the hands of Clemson in the College Football Playoff. The Tigers were just too much for the Buckeyes to handle as they pounced early and often, using Ohio State as a stepping stone to the national title.

It’s time to move forward, though. Meyer is recruiting at a high level. He’s consistently bringing in top-two or three recruiting classes, keeping pace with Nick Saban and Alabama. He’s the Big Ten’s top recruiter, followed by Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh and Penn State’s James Franklin. He’s keeping a safe distance between himself and those two.

Entering the 2017 season, his Buckeyes are considered to be the most talented team in the Big Ten, by a decent margin, and were even ranked No. 2 overall in the preseason coaches poll. This team isn’t rebuilding after losing multiple players to the NFL, it’s reloading.

What will the 2017 season bring for Ohio State? Could another national title be heading the way of Columbus?

Offense

J.T. Barrett returns at quarterback, so the rest of the offense can built around that.

Last year’s breakout running back, Mike Weber, is also back after putting up 1,096 yards and nine touchdowns. The sophomore has high hopes for the 2017 campaign and he will be backed up by Demario McCall, presumably.

The H-back position will be occupied by Parris Campbell who could be a scary weapon on the offensive side of the ball. He had 13 catches for 131 yards and four rushes for 54 yards and a touchdown last season.

K.J. Hill, Binjimen Victor, Austin Mack and Terry McLauren look to provide a solid receiver rotation, but none had more than 18 catches or 300 yards in 2016. It’s a young group, but uber-talented to say the least.

Tight end will be locked down by Marcus Baugh who returns after posting 24 catches for 269 yards and two scores. Ohio State gets grief for not using its tight ends enough, but Baugh could be a useful target in 2017.

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The offense line, which blocked for the 11th-best rushing offense in 2016, returns 4-of-5 starters. Jamarco Jones and Isaiah Prince return at the tackle spots, Michael Jordan is back at left guard and Billy Price is the No. 1 center yet again. Sophomore Matthew Burrell is the only new starter at right guard, but that’s a good sign for the unit.

J.T. Barrett’s comeback season

Entering his final season with the Buckeyes, J.T. Barrett could use a resurgence. After dominating the Big Ten during his freshman season, leading the Buckeyes to an 11-1 record before falling victim to injury and giving way to Cardale Jones who finished the job with a title run, Barrett has fallen off a bit.

In fact, he didn’t even start his sophomore year as the starter but took over in the middle of the year after it was apparent Jones wasn’t the better quarterback. Then, as the unquestioned starter in 2016, his numbers were underwhelming and his play was not up to his usual standard.

Barrett passed for 2,555 yards, 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions with a 61 percent completion rate in 2016 and he also rushed for 845 yards and nine scores. Still, there was just something missing. Was he not pushed enough by his backups? That could be it.

With a final run at a title beginning Aug. 31, Barrett will need to get back to what he did his freshman season and avoid another 2016-like campaign. He can do much better than what he did last year and Joe Burrow, Dwayne Haskins and Tate Martell could all push him to improve.

Defense

Ohio State’s defense is losing a number of stars from the 2016 team, especially in the secondary — but we will get into that shortly.

However, the front-seven is looking solid heading into the season. In fact, there’s talk that the defensive line might just be the best in the Big Ten, if not the country. Four starters return to the line including guys like Sam Hubbard and Tyquan Lewis at the ends. They combined for 75 total tackles, 19 for loss and 11.5 sacks last season.

Nick Bosa, too, will get plenty of snaps at the end position, looking to be one of the best young stars in the conference. He had 29 tackles and five sacks in 2016.

Dre’Mont Jones and Michael Hill are presumed starters at both tackle spots and although they combined for no sacks last season, that will surely change in 2017. Expect big years from both of the interior linemen.

At linebacker, Chris Worley, fourth on the team in tackles in 2016, returns to the middle while Dante Booker and Jerome Baker (another returning starter) will be on the outside. This unit is experienced, athletic and flat-out scary.

The Replacements: Ohio State secondary edition

If you take a look at college football’s perennial powerhouse programs, one thing stands out: there’s no rebuilding, just reloading. For Ohio State, that couldn’t be more true under Urban Meyer. The head coach is losing his entire secondary, basically, from 2016.

However, there’s talk that the 2017 version of the defensive backfield could be just as good, if not better, than last year’s. Gone are Malik Hooker, Gareon Conley and Marshon Lattimore, but the depth is incredible for 2017.

Damon Webb is the lone returning starter. The senior safety is an All-Big Ten caliber talent who finished with 57 tackles, three pass deflections and a pick last season. He will be joined by Jordan Fuller as the other starter and Erick Smith and Isaiah Pryor look to add depth at safety.

At the two vacant cornerback spots, Denzel Ward and Damon Arnette look like the early favorites to start, but don’t sleep on Alabama transfer Kendall Sheffield. Sophomore Jeffrey Okudah will be in that regular rotation as well.

The replacements might just surpass what the 2016 team did in the defensive backfield, ranking seventh in the country against the pass.

2017 schedule

The Buckeyes’ 2017 schedule gets off to a bit of an unorthodox start on Aug. 31 in Bloomington, Ind. Ohio State starts the Big Ten campaign earlier than the rest of the conference, taking on Indiana in a road contest under the lights. It’ll be Indiana’s Super Bowl, but don’t expect the talented Buckeyes to slip up early against a middle-of-the-pack team with a new coach.

The second game nine days later won’t be any easier. Oklahoma comes to town and the Buckeyes will be forced to test that young secondary against one of the top quarterbacks in the country: Baker Mayfield. If they can take down the Sooners, the nation will surely mark the Buckeyes down as a playoff favorite.

The next five games are all extremely winnable and it’d be shocking to see the Buckeyes trip up before an Oct. 21 bye week. That’s when the schedule really gets rough, tough.

After the bye week, Ohio State will host Penn State, travel to Iowa, host Michigan State and travel to Michigan for “The Game” to round out the regular season. That’s an absolute gauntlet compared to the first month and a half.

Next: College Football: Top 50 breakout candidates for 2017

Prediction: 11-1 (8-1 Big Ten)

The last month will be so tough for Ohio State that I just can’t see the Buckeyes finishing a perfect 12-0, but it’s definitely possible. Ohio State will cruise through the first eight games of the season, outside of maybe Oklahoma and Nebraska, and take an 8-0 record in the bye. However, the Buckeyes will lose one of their final four games, putting the Big Ten East title in jeopardy. Who they will lose to remains a mystery, but each of those teams have proven to be a threat over the past few years. I say one regular season loss and a Big Ten East crown will get them to the title game against Wisconsin.