He Who Would Be King

By Ramzy Nasrallah on December 2, 2015 at 1:15 pm
zeeeeeeeeeke
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We began the regular season mesmerized by Ohio State's quarterback derby.

Would J.T. Barrett mend properly, rehabilitate and be allowed to resume his wanton destruction of Ohio State and Big Ten record books, or could its accidental postseason hero Cardale Jones hold onto the the position he so admirably rescued?

Or would Braxton Miller mend properly, rehabilitate and be allowed to resume his own wanton destruction of Ohio State and Big Ten record books? There was no shortage of backfield suggestions or ideas. One writer even called for situational quarterbacking back in April that had Cardale between the 20s and not-Cardale in the red zone (the Buckeyes adopted that strategy mid-season and promptly cured themselves of their red zone disease) (the writer takes full credit for that).

dolodale
Jones never rediscovered his postseason momentum.

Cardale would continue throwing laser bombs and J.T. would come in and read-option and play-action opponents to death. Braxton would be the queen of the chessboard defenses couldn't afford to ignore, but he wouldn't throw a pass until the Michigan game. Or maybe the Michigan State game? Nah, the Michigan game. We played the 2015 season out in our heads for eight straight months. Every scenario was violent, beautiful and undefeated. It wasn't a fantasy. That's some kind of destiny.

Regardless of who was lined up behind Jacoby Boren, Ezekiel Elliott would be standing next to him. Zeke was the easiest Heisman prediction Ohio State has ever had in its history. If he could rush for 700 yards against three top-tier defenses last winter, failing to eclipse 2,000 would require an act of the supernatural. 

Especially with Michael Thomas occupying each team's best defensive back and any one of a number of burners stretching the field like Devin Smith. Those deep options didn't even need to have his body control, pass-catching skills or 50/50 ball ability; they just needed to deliver the threat of a threat, which begged the question: How are they going to get all these guys enough touches? 

The Buckeyes ended up having the Big Ten's offensive and defensive linemen of the year, its offensive player of the year and a staggering 19 players with all-conference honors. Ohio State prides itself on being Nine Units Strong, and every single unit was represented when the Big Ten coaches and media revealed their best players.

Every unit but one. Quarterback. The position whose potential mesmerized us for eight months.

What the hell happened isn't a question anyone was expecting to ask about Ohio State's quarterback in December, especially now - days after the reigning Quarterback and Freshman of the Year absolutely torched Michigan in Ann Arbor. Everyone understandably fell in love with Cardale's potential and perhaps J.T. wasn't 100 percent in September. That problem should have taken, at most, four games to solve.

Ohio State couldn't figure out what it wanted its offensive identity to be for the entire balance of the season. The Buckeyes routinely went drives without read-option, scrape exchanges, short passes, medium passes, long passes and several games without bothering to even demonstrate the threat of a threat. They produced the Big Ten's worst passing offense by a significant margin - with three Heisman-contending QBs on the roster.

EIGHT OF NINE OHIO STATE UNITS EARNED ALL-B1G HONORS. ONLY QUARTERBACK - WITH THREE HEISMAN CANDIDATES - FAILED TO BE RECOGNIZED.

Michigan State had one defensive back - safety Demetrious Cox, largely used by Mark Dantonio in run support - earn 3rd-team honors, and that's it. The Spartans' defensive backfield is the glaring weakness of the team, and the Buckeyes sluggishly tried to QB sneak their way past them, revealing a new identity it hadn't shown before - and should never, ever, ever show again. That was Game 11.

A week later the Buckeyes looked unbeatable, running an offense that made sense going back to last January when we first started thinking about it. Try and recall any Ohio State team that outsmarted itself for an entire season the way this one did. Perhaps they were just too good. The Grind may have been the players' mantra, but in hindsight Just Don't Screw This Up should have been the directive given to the coaches.

To go from three Heisman candidate quarterbacks to wondering what the hell happened is a catastrophic failure of the position coach. You could blame his boss, who openly operates on trust and stubbornly refusing to compromise his health again via obsession, but I'll point the finger at the position coach and co-offensive coordinator who coached the entire unit downward in 2015. 

As for the units that earned conference honors, Zeke might still get invited to New York City. He may even win the Silver Football, depending on Connor Cook's closing argument in Indianapolis this weekend. Thomas, who is the most unguardable Ohio State receiver since Ted Ginn Jr. made the All-B1G 3rd team. Jalin Marshall and Braxton were honorable mentions.

How are they going to get all these guys enough touches? The answer turned out to be they didn't give anyone enough touches. Every game felt like the Buckeyes were saving something for another opponent, being coy or acting in self-preservation - but there was no big reveal. They simply didn't know who they were the entire season.

the worst game plan in ohio state football history
In the B1G game of the Year Ohio State was listless.

Ohio State only had to replace very few but vital 4-star guys with any one of a litany of other 4-star guys. More importantly, they needed to replace Stan Drayton and Tom Herman with new assistants who - at the bare minimum - only had to be competent coaches. Hold serve. One did.

Look at the players they were handed. Look at the momentum that was inherited. Look at the results they delivered. Eight out of nine units. An offense that never figured out exactly who or what it wanted to be.

It's a whole different season, but the deliberate effort to distance this year's team from the championship one sure seems like it didn't work as planned. There's no shame in going 11-1 except that this team was constructed to destroy everything in its path and it's going to sit at home on Saturday and watch two other teams play for its conference championship. In January we fully expected the Buckeyes to enter this weekend looking like a team no one wants to play, and that's absolutely what they looked like after Michigan. Finally, but quite possibly too late.

We began the regular season mesmerized by Ohio State's quarterback derby. And we're going to finish it by rooting for some conference title game underdogs to bless the Buckeyes with a second chance at returning to the playoff. That's some kind of destiny.

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