I've had a lot of varying thoughts of this upcoming season, ranging from playoff caliber to "this team can't overcome their brutal schedule." I'm not one to use comparative studies in regards to previous Buckeyes teams to predict the upcoming season, especially since the 2013 class is arguably one of the best to play in the modern football era. Just for the sake of the argument, however, we will use those teams from the past couple of years as a barometer for the level of talent needed to at least reach the playoffs.
There is a common argument from people who mention Urban's recruiting and say that talent will never be a problem. To play devil's advocate, I will say that while talent may never be a problem for an OSU team to reach 8-10 wins, this current team does not have comparable talent to years past. Unproven potential? Certainly, they can end up having multiple All-Americans and make this discussion seem asinine. How many of you are truly comfortable that, by the end of the season, there will be individuals or position groups that mirror the abilities of those in '14-'15? Currently, I don't see a Michael Thomas this year. Carlos Hyde and Zeke are barometers that don't need to be reached every year, but I don't necessarily see that talent (yet).
Do you believe this team has enough legitimate talent this year to get through the brutal schedule and earn its way back into the playoff? Is it too young and needs more time to develop? Or is there going to be a discussion of potential 1st round picks by early November?
Full disclaimer: this is a quasi-serious argument, one that derived from this morning's Skully and a dream I had last night in which Ohio State had to fight back diligently against Tulsa (shivers).