For my college english class I have to do an essay on something I have learned from something. So i chose to do it on the buckeyes. I want you guys to read it and tell me what you think. What did you guys learn from this team? What can I add to make it more "awe-inspiring?" I am not worried about grammar errors, I will work on that later this week, just a rough draft. Thanks. Go Bucks!
Overrated?
It was December 7, 2013 and The Ohio State Buckeyes were playing The Michigan State Spartans in the Big Ten Football Championship Game. There were two minutes left in the game and the Spartans had just scored a touchdown to make it a ten-point lead for themselves. Silence and/or tears from Buckeye fans. The Spartan fans began to cheer for their game clinching touchdown. The twenty-four game win streak? Snapped like a twig. And to top off the season, the Buckeyes lose to the Clemson Tigers on a last minute interception. Ouch. But who knew greater things were on the horizon for this Ohio State Buckeyes football team.
The Buckeye football program four years ago was dismantled. An inspirational coach resigned amid to a NCAA Investigation findings, players suspended for improper benefits and to top it off, a post-season game ban following the next football season. But lights from heaven shined down on the program after a 6-7 season as Urban Meyer was hired as the next Ohio State football coach. Urban came with success as he won two national championships prior to him coming along with a Heisman trophy winner in well respected Tim Tebow. Everything the football program was doing was trending in a positive direction.
Ohio State went undefeated in year one under Coach Urban Meyer but was sanctioned the previous year and could not play in the conference championship game along with a bowl game. The toughest opponent? A 10-4 Nebraska team that lost in the championship game by a score of 70-31. Beating a ten win team seems nice but in reality it did not mean much because even that ten win team played sloppy teams. Ohio State also beat Michigan, also known as “scUM” or “That Team Up North” in a rivalry game by a score of 26-21, win number 12 for the Buckeyes. An amazing 12-0 season after a heartbreaking, losing season prior to the year was overlooked by most because of the post-season ban and poor competition in opponents. More was wanted out of this team.
Year two under Urban Meyer was looking bright, an amazing offensive and defensive line was returning along with the quarterback in Heisman hopeful Braxton Miller. Oh, and lets not forget, running back Carlos Hyde or as us Buckeye fans like to call him, “El Guapo.” Three games in the regular season put the Buckeyes in the position to go where they wanted, the Big Ten Championship game. The first was the win against the California Golden Bears. While this game had no implications in the Big Ten I believe it allowed momentum and confidence to be grown. The Heisman hopeful quarterback did not start this game due to an injury, instead, Kenny Guiton started. Ohio State won in an offensive game, 52-34. Two weeks later the Buckeyes defeated a ranked team in the Wisconsin Badgers, as Braxton Miller was responsible for four touchdowns in his first game back from injury that plagued him from playing in the previous three games. Then came the Northwestern game, a game that was a battle to get the victory. The Buckeyes came back in the fourth quarter to win 40-30; it was a heart breaker for the purple guys but a sigh of relief for Urban Meyer and the Buckeyes. Ohio State went on to beat scUM 42-41 in probably the most stressful game for a modern day Buckeye fan. Michigan had made the game close the whole day and wanted to roll some dice and try to win it. With thirty seconds left the bad guys scored a touchdown to make the score 42-41 with them trailing and instead of kicking the traditional extra point, Brady Hoke and Wolverines decided to go for two, an attempt to make the score 42-43. So what happened? Michigan ran a pass play and quarterback Devin Garder threw an interception to Ohio State’s safety, Tyvis Powell. Ohio State had won the game in amazing fashion and had completed a second straight undefeated season, along with having a win streak of twenty-four. The Buckeyes seemed legit but the season was not over just yet. The Buckeyes had an opportunity to play in the National Championship game but one team was standing in it’s way, the Michigan State Spartans. Ohio State went in confident as did the Spartans and the favor went in the Spartans way, as the Spartans defeated the Buckeyes 34-24. Tears. Silence. Frustration. It was right there, a win and you are in. But the Buckeyes did play in the Orange Bowl against a great opponent, the Clemson Tigers. Hoping to make up for a loss a month prior, the Buckeyes failed to do so as the Tigers defeated the Buckeyes, crushing all belief that the Buckeyes were real and instead, showing signs of a vocab word called “overrated.” The Ohio State haters had more reasons in their back pockets to call the Buckeyes overrated. Where does this team go from here?
August of 2014, football was right around the corner. Ohio State knew this year was going to be magnificent. Another amazing team full of starters from the previous year were returning along with promising new players, same coaches to keep the program consistent and earn players trust, it was all there! Then ten days before the opener game Heisman hopeful quarterback Braxton Miller injured his arm and was ruled out for year due to an injury. The dream seemed crushed. Who was going to lead this team? Ohio State named freshman quarterback JT Barrett the starting quarterback, a kid from Texas who had never played in the scarlet and gray uniform. Ohio State’s mantra for the season was called “The Chase” and it all seemed over with when Ohio State lost it’s second game to Virginia Tech. Ohio State was ripped apart that game. The team went on to win the next few games and in that time they experienced a much-needed type of game, an overtime win against Penn State. Everyone around the program believes that was a turning point for the Buckeyes along as a growing moment. The team faced adversity and came back to win. Then a revenge game against the Spartans, who defeated them the previous year and were also ranked number eight, came along. JT Barrett did not look like a freshman as he lit up the Spartans and lead Ohio State to defeat the Michigan State Spartans. The Buckeyes went on to win the remainder of the regular season but went through a bittersweet moment. In Ohio State’s win against Michigan, quarterback JT Barrett went down with an injury and was ruled to miss the next few months of football. It had seemed as if the season was done for.
Cardale Jones started the season as the third string quarterback and suddenly found himself the starter vs Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game. No one knew what to expect from him, maybe not even the coaches and players. Sports analyst and citizens of this great nation predicted the Badgers to win. Cardale proved all the doubters wrong as the Buckeyes demolished the Badgers, 59-0. Ohio State was selected as the 4th seed in the College Football Playoff and had the almighty, big bad Alabama Crimson Tide next on their schedule. This was the time to prove to everyone that this team was great. Alabama comes from the SEC and the SEC is deservingly named the best conference in college football so everyone was predicting the Crimson Tide to destroy the Buckeyes. Wrong. Ohio State beat the Crimson Tide 42-35. The world was shocked. How could a team from the pitiful Big Ten with a third string quarterback beat the Goliath of the college football world. With the victory Ohio State had one game left, a game against the Oregon Ducks in the National Championship. This game was great. I could easily write a multiple page paper on this game but I won’t because I will go ahead and tell you that Ohio State defeated the Oregon Ducks 42-20. I was speechless and still do this day soaking it in. How awesome it was. The Ohio State Buckeyes won a national championship. Doubters suddenly went into hiding or came up with pathetic excuses as Ohio State fans were in comas of excitement. HOW COULD THEY DO THIS WITH A THIRD STRING QUARTERBACK? The famous overrated term turned into underrated. Ohio State did it; they won it all. All they do is win.
The past four years watching this team has taught me something and that would be to never doubt yourself and to do your best. Just because someone says you cannot do something does not mean you cannot do it. Just add it to your fuel to do better! That is exactly what I did when I took on tennis and I turned out decent, never lost a high school match. That is also what this team did, all they did was win! This team also taught me that the outcome of a situation is resulted in how you respond. Ohio State could have easily listened to its critics and just done a mediocre job and gone 8-4 in the past three seasons but they did not. They went on to have two undefeated regular seasons and win a conference championship and NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP. Adversity was tackled at its finest. It takes something to be special and they provided that ingredient and went on to be special, maybe if I try my absolute hardest I can be special. Who wants to be mediocre? Certainly not The Ohio State Buckeyes.
