Similarities to 2022 and 2014
As a die-hard Buckeyes fan who hasn't missed an Ohio State game since 2004, I always point out when things are similar to past seasons. For instance, the other day I glanced at the clock at 3:14 PM and said to my fiancé, "Ha, 3:14! That was the final score of the Ohio State-Michigan game in 2007 when the Buckeyes gave Mike Hart, Chad Henne, and many other promising Wolverines an 0-4 record versus the Scarlet and Gray.
Similarly, one day my total came out to be $338 at the grocery store, and my immediate thought was that that was the exact number of total yards that Terrelle Pryor had himself versus the Oregon Ducks in the 2010 Rose Bowl (266 passing and 72 rushing).
Like the aforementioned scenarios, I see a lot of similarities between Ohio State's 2022 season and its 2014 season, which was the last time the Buckeyes won the national championship. Here they are:
- Injuries to key players. Going into the 2014 season, Ohio State had to start redshirt freshman QB J.T. Barrett due to the injury of Braxton Miller who was named the Big Ten's Offensive Player of the Year in the previous two seasons. Barrett would start in place of Miller for the first twelve games of the season before breaking his leg versus Michigan. Ohio State would go on to win the national title with third-string QB Cardale Jones.
Similarly, Ohio State lost arguably the nation's best wide receiver in Jaxon Smith-Njigba during the first game of the season, and the first two running backs on the depth chart, TreVeyon Henderson and Miyan Williams, have been dealing with nagging injuries all year as well.
- Disappointing late-season finishes. In 2013, Ohio State went 12-0 before losing in the Big Ten championship game and then losing to Clemson in the Orange Bowl. Despite that, it competed for the national championship the following year.
After back-to-back devastating losses to Michigan, Ohio State will still have the opportunity to compete for a national, as it secured a spot in the College Football Playoff.
- Embarrassing regular-season losses at home. In 2014, Ohio State lost at home by 14 to a Virginia Tech team that ended up going 6-6. This season, they lost by 22 points at home versus Michigan, a team that hadn't won in Columbus in 22 years.
Ouch!
- Making a playoff appearance when many thought that they weren't deserving of it. Everyone made a big fuss over Ohio State earning a spot over TCU in the 2014 college football playoff, assuming that Ohio State wouldn't have gotten the nod over TCU if it wasn't a college football blue-blood.
This year, many skeptics are now arguing that Alabama should have made it to the four-team playoff over Ohio State and that the Buckeyes don't deserve a spot after the manner in which they lost to Michigan.
- Fourth-seed underdogs to an SEC power that has looked like the best team in the country all year long. Remember when Alabama was the clear-cut favorite to win the national title entering the 2014-2015 college football playoff? Well, the same applies to Georgia this year.
As the defending national champions, Georgia has looked like the best team in the nation from day one, despite losing a lot of production from last year's squad.
They will undoubtedly be favored to win versus the Buckeyes, but as shown before, Ohio State can be a scary team when it is the underdog.
CONCLUSION: Look, I'm not saying that Ohio State will win the national title this year. They still have a lot to prove. But things sure do look eerily similar to how they did the last time a national championship trophy made its way to Columbus.
