Ohio State Football: One overachieving unit may be the best ever

There were many great storylines when the Ohio State football team won the National Championship in 2014, but the performance by one unit stood out among the rest.

In the spring of 2014 Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer had the task of replacing four starting offensive linemen. Ryan Day has that same challenge this year but the prospect of doing so successfully looks far more promising than the situation five years ago.

Let’s look at that great group of “Slobs” who stepped in and led the Buckeyes to the National Championship. You may not have expected them to do so prior to the 2014 season.

When Jack Mewhort, Andrew Norwell, Corey Linsley and Marcus Hall moved on Taylor Decker was the only returning starter. And he moved from his right tackle spot over to protect the blind side. Who would fill the other positions?

Redshirt sophomore Pat Elflein was the lowest ranked player in the 2012 Ohio State recruiting class, the No. 998 overall player in the country, but he won the starting left guard spot. Another three star recruit in the class, Jacoby Boren, took over at center. He had backed up Linsley for two years but didn’t have much playing time under his belt.

The right side of the line was manned by former defensive linemen. Redshirt freshman Billy Price played right guard and senior Darryl Baldwin started at right tackle, and other defensive linemen were moved to offense for backups.

Chase Farris was behind both Price and Baldwin on the right side of the line and Joel Hale backed up Elflein at left guard. Antonio Underwood (center) and freshman Jamarco Jones (left tackle) provided the rest of the depth.

With question marks all over the line and the lack of depth, things didn’t look promising for Buckeye fans as far as the offensive line situation was concerned. After defensive guru Bud Foster exposed this rag-tag group the second game of the season there were even more concerns.

However, coach Ed Warinner corrected their flaws and the five young men were on a mission to prove themselves from that point forward. And boy did they?

After the 36-21 loss to Virginia Tech, the Buckeyes scored at least 50 points five times during the final 10 games of the regular season and only failed to score 40 twice, in large part due to the outstanding line play. But the best was yet to come.

The Buckeyes had little chance of making the inaugural College Football Playoff heading into the Big Ten Championship Game, but after defeating the Wisconsin Badgers 59-0 they were included. The dominating win was due in large part to the fact the line kept Badger defenders away from QB Cardale Jones and opened holes for Ezekiel Elliott to rush for 220 yards and two touchdowns.

But how would the “Slobs” perform against Alabama’s defense, widely considered to be the best in college football? They did just fine.

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Ohio State gained 536 yards and Elliott rushed for 230 yards and 2 scores. The offensive line pushed the Crimson Tide front seven around and wore them down by the end of the game.

In the win over Oregon in the title game the O-line paved the way for Zeke to rush for 246 yards and 4 touchdowns. The big guys up front came up big when it counted the most that season.

Who would have thought those things would have happened before the season started?

And who would have predicted two players from that unit would become first round NFL draft picks with another chosen in the third round? It’s even more amazing when you think that the two guards went on to win the Rimington Award as the best center in the nation before their college careers ended.

Next. If Urban Meyer returns to coaching, will it be USC?. dark

With the things they accomplished, the offensive linemen on the 2014 Ohio State football team has to go down as one of the best units ever. However you rank them, you have to admit that group of “Slobs” was special.

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