College Football Playoff: Which Top 25 teams are contenders, pretenders?
Before the 2017 college football season, many OSU fans circled the team’s Week 2 game against Oklahoma on their schedule as one of the most important games of the season.
Facing off against another top-10 team, this would be a great measuring stick to see just how good the Buckeyes would be in 2017.
And they came up short.
Ohio State lost by a score of 31-16, and had to watch the Sooners’ senior quarterback Baker Mayfield plant his team’s flag in the center of Ohio State’s field.
While this game was a major moral defeat, it also completely destroyed Urban Meyer’s team’s margin for error this season.
If Ohio State loses another game this season it will effectively end its playoff aspirations as no team has ever earned a spot in the College Football Playoff with two losses.
Even after blowing out their next two opponents, Army and UNLV, by a combined score of 92-28 behind senior quarterback J.T. Barrett and freshman running back J.K. Dobbins, the Buckeyes have yet to back into the AP Poll’s good graces.
After struggling to deliver a potent offense for much of 2016, Ohio State’s offense has ranked ninth so far this season, 22 spots higher than last season’s mark.
However, the team’s defense hasn’t been nearly as good, dropping from the sixth-ranked defense in the nation to the 56th-ranked after only four games.
While the team has been able to get consistent pressure on opposing quarterbacks, they have struggled against the pass after losing the majority of their defensive secondary to the 2016 NFL Draft.
With only two games remaining on their schedule against ranked teams, a bout against No. 4 ranked Penn State at home and a visit to the No. 8 ranked Michigan Wolverines on the final game of the season, Urban Meyer’s squad will need to win the remainder of its games to have a chance at the playoff, which is easier said than done.
Even if Ohio State wins the East with only one loss, it may not be enough to enter the playoff field, as there very well could be four Power Five teams that end the year undefeated.
Even if the Buckeyes miss the post season in 2017, they will gain valuable experience that will surely help to prepare the squad for the 2018 season.