Bill Connelly did a pretty cool article where he simulated every season since 1966 in a universe where there is a playoff every season since then. Unfortunately it seems he just did one random simulation instead of doing multiple simulations to determine the most likely, but it was still pretty cool. Some quick points for those who don’t have ESPN+:
- Unfortunately, the only national title that we kept in this simulation was 1970. Somehow the simulation has our 1968 team losing to Penn State, 2002 didn’t even have us in the championship game, and same with 2014.
- However, we instead get national titles in 1975, 1996, and 1998. Trade 2 of, story wise, some of the best national title teams of all time for 3 titles that we already should have won. Not sure if I would make this trade.
- We are also runner-ups in 1973, 1993, 1997, 2018, and 2019
In this scenario, John Cooper is arguably in the GOAT debate for OSU coaches with 2 national titles and 2 runner ups in a span of 6 seasons. Tressell and Meyer are without titles, though of course if John Cooper has the success he had in this simulation then it’s possible neither of those guys end up as our coaches.
Mod Edit - Closing, article summarized in this morning's Skully: https://www.elevenwarriors.com/skull-sessions/2024/03/146039/skull-sessi...
