Ohio State is coming off a 12-0 undefeated season in 2012 but was relegated to watch the bowl games due to NCAA sanctions. However, this year we are off the sanctions and can go bowling. Last year has set the bar high for us in 2013 and for most its 12-0 and a trip to the title game or bust but I don't think we're ready to play in it yet given our youth. Yes, I know all about Meyer second year performances at schools but to think we could go to the title and win it is mind boggling. Some things I think that would hold us back are:
- Youth and inexperience on our teams as we have to play freshmen and sophomores in key positions
- Defensive and Offensive Line vacancies
- Running through a weak B1G is not as impressive as a 1 lost SEC team (overrated Gators and Tigers) who may jump us. Sure beating up on Purdue and Indiana is nice but as a fan of the quote, "iron sharpens iron" I don't think the B1G will make us battle tested versus teams playing in other conferences (i.e. Big 12, SEC, etc.).
- There is always a chance we lose
I think the bar for next year may be a bit too high to expect us in the title game but it is in no way not attainable. I personally see OSU winning the B1G and headed to the Rose Bowl next year with a 12-1 record. I know the bar for our team unlike most B1G teams is to compete for national titles and win B1G titles but would you be fine with a Rose Bowl year? In a year of uncertainty, it may be best to low ball expectations for a bowl game and aim for the Rose Bowl versus going to the title game so that we aren't disappointed in the end. If a title game comes with our success I'll take it but I'm smelling roses this year in the 100th Rose Bowl game. What say you Buckeye faithful!
I believe this team may still be a year away from a title game win. However I think a former Buckeye may answer this the best:
Growing up, I listened intently to my father's stories of Woody's team of Super-Sophmores. Although they lost to ttun in 1969, Woody was often quoted as calling them his best team. Youth is only a detriment when they lack the fundamental skills to win. But when the younger team is also the most talented it can also be beautiful:
“Right now, Michigan is not at the pinnacle of college football, and that’s all Urban Meyer cares about...He’s been there and knows what it takes to get there.”
I could settle for a Rose Bowl berth, but i don't think coach Meyer will. I see the expectation/mindset for the program evolving beyond annual Rose Bowls and getting to the point where like 'Bama the NCG is the expected outcome each season.
All the games of the season are just practices for that glorious saturday in November when we get to jack Shoelace's invisible cereal bowl and drink our fill of delicious skunkweasel tears ...Michigan Still Sucks!!
I think the ref just flagged that pic of Mewhort for a false start!
"Because I couldn't go for 3"
Absolutely not. I'm tired of saying "What if" with Buckeye teams that are loaded.
"YOLO" = I'm about to do something extremely ignorant/stupid & I need an excuse to do it.
Isn't the NCG played at the Rose Bowl next year. I would be OK if that's how they got to the Rose Bowl. Calling it right now Northwestern will be the toughest game we play next year but we pull it out late and roll into the NCG at 13-0.
I really don't think that they will let a one lose SEC team in front of us of we go undefeated, and I think we go undefeated. So I would be a little disappointed!
You have to hate losing more than you love winning! GO BUCKS!!
There's no chance they would let a one loss team jump us if we've won 27 straight, totally agree with you
Strength of schedule will factor in and we don't have the competition others will have!! Hate to be a downer,but if we don't blow teams out next year,undefeated or otherwise,maybe a BCS bowl...
SCOTTC.
I get your point but just imagine keeping a team on a 25 game winning streak with a heisman contender and a 2 time national champion coach out of the game for a one loss team.
No way that happens.
Did you guys not see the BCS standings when Bama had a loss and KSU, Oregon and ND were undefeated. Those 3 teams were FAR IN FRONT of the top rated 1 loss SEC team. OSU, in a bowl ban year, is going to finish top 3 in the AP, but there is 0 chance if they were undefeated and eligible they wouldn't be in Miami right now.
I won't be happy with a Rose Bowl berth; I'll be elated. OSU fans take for granted how hard it is to get there. I mean you have 1 bad quarter (1st against Wisky 2 years ago) and boom, perfect season over. OSU finsihed undefeated this year, but honestly how many of those games could have gone the other way? 5? more? Cal/Wisky/MSU/SCUM/Purdue just off the top of my head.
The offense should be great next year, but you never should take a great year for granted
I don't know if OSU would really get jumped by Bama if we were eligiblie this year and finished 13-0 after winning the B1G championship. The Bucks would have probably recieved a lot more votes had they been eligible.
I gave you an upvote because I agree with everything you said.
I think starting the year OSU will probably be a top 10 team and we'll see a few teams hop us given their SOS. A coach can lobby but so much but as some point we'll need several teams to lose and its likely it won't happen. Not to mention we could lose a game since we are not without blemishes on both sides of the ball.
Most B1G teams set their goal of getting to the Rose Bowl and I think we may take that for granted. Anything can happen!
Ohio State's band SLAUGHTERED Michigan's band. If this were a football game, it would have been Florida State vs. Savannah State. - SB Nation following OSU vs. UM 2012
An Urban Meyer coached team at The Ohio State University, that would be 13-0 (25-0 in two years)at the end of the season wouldn't make the title game? I don't think ESPN could get away with being that biased, let alone any of the polls. Add that to the fact that some people (even on ESPN) are starting to talk about the SEC being a little overrated this year, and there is no way they keep us unless there are multiple undefeated teams.
ESPN has no say in who gets to the title game. I think that this perceived bias will start to vanish next year when OSU is eligible for the postseason, especially since ESPN seems to love Urban.
ESPN has a ton of say in who gets into the title game. Maybe not directly, but when comments are made, people are watching/listening. People who vote in polls. There was a comment made that Iowa beat NIU...and Herby said something about "yea but that doesn't mean anything...have you watched how awful the BIG is?"
I think ESPN has more say in what happens than most realize, but I think no matter what an OSU team undefeated gets in. They have the start power, the following, the coach, and the ability to put butts in seats
Ohio State is getting in the NC any year it is undefeated. That's not changing because we have such a large brand. It's only with 1-loss that the perceived strength of the big ten hurts us.
That said, of course I want to win an NC. But it's going to be hard to be upset at a Rose Bowl win.
Only way we go undefeated and get shut out of the title game is if two other teams are undefeated from conferences perceived to be better than the B1G, like an undefeated Alabama or an undefeated Oregon. I look at our schedule next year and cannot find a game that I believe we would lose. So I am predicting/expecting to be in the NCG. I would be disappointed to see us not in the NCG but I would be happy if we were B1G champs and heading to the Rose Bowl, not a bad consolation prize.
I don't know about the Oregon thing. I believe the B1G is on equal ground with the Pac 12 at the least.
"It's just another case of there you are". ~ Doc (1918-2012)
Other than OSU, who is better than Stanford, Oregon, USC? They have 3 teams that are going to be in the NCG convo we have one. Add that Oregon State, UCLA, Washington and Arizona have all improved, I think BIG isn't even close. Look at rosebowl record for last 10 years...
Agree. Plus you forgot A State.
Not only is their top stronger, but their bottom is stronger than ours too. Colorado is terrible now, but they won a national championship in the 90's and they should get up to mediocre pretty fast.
The Pac is on the come because the incredible coaching talent they just installed in the past few years (kiffin excepted).
Well the National Championship is the ultimate goal, but I would definatly be happy with being in the Rose Bowl. If we dont get into at least the Rose Bowl, its a bust for me.
I wouldn't be disappointed to be headed to the Rose bowl next year. If I had been asked if I would take a trip to the best bowl game out there next year when the whole scandal occurred, I would say yes, no questions asked. Especially because it might be our last chance to play in it with the 4-team playoff starting the next year, which I expect OSU to be in every year once Urban has his players in the system. ;)
There are alot of obvious differences between Urban Meyer and Jim Tressel but I think this one goes unnoticed by most. Urban Meyer is respected and admired around the country by fans and fellow coaches. And also the media. Tressel basically had no clout outside of Buckeye fans because of his style and "holier than thou" image. Please don't take that as a slam on JT, but that is a fact when you listen to other fan bases talk about him. And the media wasn't a fan due to his non-informative and full of cliches interviews and press conferences. Because of those things, I see no way that an undefeated OSU team with Meyer at the helm will EVER be shut out of the National Championship game (or 4 team playoff in the future). The computers only play a small role in determining the BCS standings. The human polls will show Urban the love
Rose Bowl birth and victory over M!ch!g@n Thanksgiving weekend would be a successful season in my mind. Rose Bowl birth requires a victory in the B1G championship game, hopefully our 2nd win over TTUN in as many weeks!
"Michigan and "huge mistake" are synonymous"
-Mark Titus
I've said it a bunch on this website. I'm a huge Rose Bowl fan. It's a very, very old American sporting tradition. You respect it for that.
Of course I want the Buckeyes to win the national championship. But if they don't get to the national championship, which is now controlled by ESPN's agenda, I simply cannot be disappointed with a berth in the Granddaddy...which is awarded to a team based on winning, not reputation. "Won the Rose Bowl" is one of my favorite phrases in sports. It just sounds awesome.
There is only one other bowl game besides the Rose Bowl I would consider shelling out the thousands of dollars it costs to attend a bowl game, and that's the national championship...but only IF the national championship is played at the Rose Bowl. 2013 is looking very, very rosey.
Next year is as good as any to win it all.
Having the best team is not what gets you to the NCG as much as the stars aligning. The 2002 team was not our best by a long shot (although they did have that special something that great teams do). Think of all the times we didn't win it when we had the best team but something tripped us up (Sparty in 1976) or had the misfortune of having Michigan or USC or Oklahoma or Texas being great at the same exact time.
The best laid plans often go awry. I say no schedule could ever lay out better than 2013, so let's take it in 2013!
Idk, don't under rate the defense of that 2002 team - it was NFL caliber. Great running game and a good game managing QB. The only team that I think might have been better was the one that laid the smack down on ND and should have been in the title game but for Troy Smith's off field antics/Zwick being the most overrated player in OSU history.
Of course I'm only talking about the Tressel era teams.
Ohio State will have to go undefeated and average 40 points per game to make the BCS Title game. Just winning the Big Ten might not be enough. The best they might be able to do, through no fault of their own, is the Rose Bowl.
Its not that I would be disappointed I just don't see it happening. Even though the B1G is likely going to be weak again next year and our nonconference isn't much better, there are a lot of differences that I think will happen. First we are going to be starting the year as a top 5 team. If you start as a top 5 team and win all your games you will play in the National Championship game. Especially if you are a big weight program like O-State. Also, I think our offense is going to be even more productive than last year and our defense is going to play like they did the last half of the season all year. I also think that why I don't like running up the score a ton on teams I don't think we are going to have the close games against B1G teams that we should easily beat like we did last year. We are going to be play in Pasadena, but not the Rose Bowl, in the Championship game.