REPEAT OFFENDERS
Returning champ Buckeyes were doomed from the start
THE BREAD crumbs were there, clues everywhere. It started in the offseason, and it was apparent almost every weekend, all the way up until what is very likely the end of Ohio State’s defense of its national championship, Saturday’s dismal 17-14 loss to rival Michigan State, which ended a 23-game win streak.
We ignored those signs, kept waiting for Urban Meyer’s juggernaut to awaken, but it remained a sleeping giant. We forgave Ohio State for its ugly wins, for its sloppy play, for the off-the-field issues.
Just wait until the games mean something, was the thought. Then the real Buckeyes will emerge — last year’s Buckeyes — the team that looked like world beaters this time of year, that came from nowhere to reach the playoff and hammer favorites Alabama and Oregon en route to winning it all.
But that team never showed up because it never existed. You can look at the questionable play-calling Saturday — star running back Ezekiel Elliott certainly chose to, throwing his coaches under the proverbial bus after getting just 12 carries — or you can look at how this all went wrong from the onset. There are plenty of places to look.
You can go back to late July, when four players — including All-American defensive tackle Joey Bosa — were suspended for the opener, an ominous sign of an unfocused team, for violating school policy. There was that opener in Virginia Tech, Ohio State looking quite formidable early, taking an early 14-0 lead, only to trail at halftime. The Buckeyes would win, 42-24, but it was an early snapshot into this frustrating and inconsistent team. There were the ugly performances that followed, narrow wins over Northern Iowa, Indiana and Minnesota. And just when it looked as if Ohio State was back, back to dominating after consecutive blowouts of Penn State and Rutgers, now that J.T. Barrett had replaced ineffective Cardale Jones at quarterback, Barrett got himself in trouble, arrested for operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
After being suspended one game — a slap on the wrist to be clear — Barrett never regained his form, accounting for just three touchdowns in two games.
In hindsight, Meyer made the wrong move at quarterback, going with the immature Jones instead of the heady Barrett, the clear team leader. Teammates raved about Barrett, about his toughness and drive, words that were rarely used to describe Jones, who made offseason head- lines for his activity on Twitter.
In defense of both, converted wide receiver Braxton Miller never replaced Devin Smith as the big-play threat the offense sorely was missing, a clear issue Saturday when the Buckeyes didn’t attack the porous Michigan State secondary.
When taking all this into count, the aftermath of the loss to Michigan State isn’t a surprise. This was never the close-knit, all-in team it was a year ago. Celebrity and NFL dreams got to it. Elliott ripped his coaches and declared himself gone for the NFL. Jones followed suit, though probably a year too late.
Despite all of this, Ohio State isn’t dead yet. It still could win the Big Ten East — if it defeats Michigan and Michigan State loses at home against Penn State— and then would get a crack at undefeated Iowa in the conference title game.
But that’s a pipe dream. On Saturday, the Buckeyes weren’t talking like a team ready to move on from this defeat together — they appear to be going in separate directions. None of that should be a surprise, considering how disjointed this season in Columbus has been.
Barring a major upset over the next two weeks, Clemson and Alabama are secure for the playoff. The Big Ten champion, provided it’s Michigan State or Iowa, is likely the third choice. Then it could get tricky. Let’s say Notre Dame and Oklahoma both win out, the Sooners knocking off Oklahoma State on the road, the Irish toppling Stanford.
Both would have one loss, both a number of quality victories.
At the moment, Oklahoma has six wins over teams better than .500 — a new criterion the committee is relying on — while Notre Dame has just four of them. Both have two victories over ranked opponents.
If it’s us, we’re going with Notre Dame, for the simple fact its loss — by just two points at No. 1 Clemson — is far better than Oklahoma’s defeat at the hands of four-win Texas.
It’s a diff icult call, a decision we’re sure the committee would like to avoid.