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Repeating by Not Repeating History

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buckeye phi's picture
March 20, 2015 at 12:57pm
44 Comments

From the time I've been old enough to follow college football  -  until last season, Ohio State had won two "undisputed" national championships  -  in the 1968 and 2002 seasons.  Also, until last season, Urban Meyer had won two  -  in the 2006 and 2008 seasons.  As we all know, there was not a successful repeat in the years immediately following any of those four championships. 

So, in order to repeat, we'll need to keep history from repeating itself.   

There are many similarities between the '68 "Super Sophs" and the 2014 Buckeyes.  The youth of both teams was remarkable.  Because of that, the number of returning starters was in '69 - and is today - very impressive.  According to research by our own Remy, what may be a modern-day (since 1960) record 15 starters returned in 1969.  That number will have been matched only by the 2015 team. 

Much like 1969, in 2015 the Buckeyes will be coached by an exceptional man with multiple national championships under his belt.  They'll feature an established quarterback, a great running game and a fine defense.  They'll be favored to win every game - and they'll be closing out the regular season on the road against their major rival which will be in it's first year under a new head coach.

While there weren't quite as many, Urban Meyer's 2009 Gators had a lot of returning starters, too.  They were led by an established quarterback and they were favored to win every game.  Their offensive coordinator had just left for his own head coaching opportunity - and several other key assistants had departed as well.

I'm merely touching on a handfull of the many parallels that exist between the '69 and '15 Buckeyes - and the '09 Gators and the '15 Buckeyes. 

As most 11Wers surely know - both the '69 and '09 teams lost only one game - to an arch-rival - at the end of their respective seasons - costing them a repeat of their national titles in the process.

Before going any further - it should be said that major college football is an extremely competitive sport by its very nature.  There's a reason why repeating champions are such a rarity.  Defending national championship teams are big targets.  A coaching staff may do pretty much everything right and still come up a game short.

So - knowing that history is not on our side, what if anything, can be done about it? 

There's been a lot written about complacency - and that is a genuine concern.  By definition, we are dealing with a bunch of gifted athletes who are only in their late teens to early twenties.  Outside of the OSU athletic facilities they're hearing a lot about how great they are these days.  It's not unreasonable to think that will have an impact.

On a personal note:  I came up through athletics - followed by a career in broadcasting.  I learned to really admire the people who did not let it (everybody telling them how great they were, that is) go to their heads.  Talented people are usually going to have egos.  But I think there's often a link between the ability to keep one's ego in check - and greatness.

We're especially fortunate to have Urban Meyer as our coach in this situation.  Not only is he known as the the "master motivator",  but as noted above, he's been in a very similar set of circumstances before.  If anybody's going to be able to handle this sort of thing - it's him. 

Having a bunch of high-powered youngsters who will be hungry for playing time themselves, coming up through the program should keep complacency in check a bit, too.

Also, I think having Virginia Tech as our opener will be helpful.  I've heard a lot of talk about revenge oriented blow-outs in that game - but don't be surprised if it's an extremely tough contest again. 

The Hokies weren't as bad last season as their record indicated.  In the weeks following our game, they battled a lot of injuries and some inconsistent play from their new quarterback.  They will have one of the toughest defenses we'll face all season - and we know they're well-coached.  A narrow escape in Blacksburg should put the kibosh on any complacency issues.

But a team doesn't necessarily have to suffer from complacency to have a bad game.  Sometimes, it just happens and the coaches are unable to figure out exactly why.  We can only hope that if and when that happens next season, we'll survive it.  The good news is we have reason to believe we will.

You only have to go back as far as our last game.  Normally, a four turnover performance against a team that's good enough to be playing for a national championship would be the kiss of death.  But our guys were playing so well, it almost didn't matter. 

To put things in to perspective, Florida State turned the ball over five times to the same team and lost in a blow-out.  The Buckeyes may be so good next season, a bit of an "off day" could be survived.

In any case, the near-misses by the 1969 Buckeyes and the 2009 Gators should serve as a warning that even under the best circumstances, a repeat is hard to pull off.  But if anybody can do it, I have faith that this coach and this team has the ability to keep history from repeating itself -

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