Ohio State football: Realistic post-spring expectations for 2023

Ohio State football fans have grown slightly restless by not winning the Big Ten title. For two straight years, Michigan has been crowned the champion of the conference.

Ryan Day’s leash may be shortened due to back-to-back losses to the Wolverines and if we see a third in a row this year, it might spell the end of his tenure. When you don’t beat Michigan consistently or win the Big Ten more often than not, that falls short of expectations in Columbus.

Now that CJ Stroud is gone, the Buckeyes will have to find a new quarterback to contend for the Heisman and try to get Ohio State back to the playoff. Will that be Kyle McCord or Devin Brown? No one knows after spring ball, so that has to be the biggest question mark heading into the season,

The Buckeyes will have one of the best backfields as well as receiving corps in the country, so whoever wins the job will have no shortage of weapons, led by Marvin Harrison Jr.

Defensively, the Buckeyes return five starters but Jim Knowles will have to make adjustments as Michigan and Georgia gashed this side of the ball. He has solid pieces, he just needs better execution from his guys. He does, however, have one of the best defenders in the nation in JT Tuimoloau coming off the edge.

This team should be really good once again.

Realistic post-spring Ohio State football expectations

Ohio State is going to have one of the most talented rosters in college football yet again and there’s a good chance the Buckeyes begin the year in the top five.

But will it be enough to finally reclaim the Big Ten?

Looking at the schedule, the “sure” wins are Indiana, Youngstown State, WKU, Maryland, Purdue, Rutgers, Michigan State, and Minnesota. The base for this team should be eight wins, and the games I lean win for the Buckeyes are Penn State and Wisconsin. The toss-ups would have to be Notre Dame and Michigan, both on the road.

At worst, I see Ohio State finishing 10-2 on the year with losses in its two biggest games. At best, I see an 11-1 record, splitting the Michigan and Notre Dame games.

Realistically, I’m going with 10-2 but that’s solely based on the question mark at quarterback. If we see one of the quarterbacks play at an all-conference level, my expectation shifts to 11-1 or 12-0.