Ohio State Football: 2019 Buckeyes could recreate magic of 2014
Five years ago, the Ohio State football team was crowned the champions of college football in the inaugural season of the College Football Playoff. Can this year’s team achieve the same?
After losing Heisman-candidate QB Braxton Miller, the 2014 Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer was forced to look to talented but inexperienced redshirt freshman J.T. Barrett to lead the offense.
As we know in retrospect, Barrett expertly led the offense as the defense dominated teams all season before he went down in The Game.
Ohio State turned to redshirt Sophomore Cardale Jones, who tore apart Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship, then Alabama and Oregon in the College Football Playoff.
Heading into 2019, the Buckeyes are hungry to return to the top of the college football mountain. With a talented young QB, NFL-ready defense and an impressive receiving corps, that return could happen this year.
Justin Fields, who transferred from Georgia this winter, is extremely talented and should help to continue the momentum from last year’s Buckeye offense.
With K.J. Hill, Austin Mack and Binjimen Victor at the head of an explosive receiving corps and uber-talented RB J.K. Dobbins running over defenses, much like Ezekiel Elliott in 2014, the offense should be the strength of the team.
While the strength of 2014 was the defense, and 2019’s Buckeyes will rely on the offense, the defense this year will still best many in college football.
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Much like Joey Bosa in ’14, Chase Young will be a force to be reckoned with, tearing through offensive lines and crushing ballcarriers into the ground.
The Linebackers and secondary will need to improve throughout the season. If they do, the Buckeyes could be back on the road to a defense like the one led by Darron Lee and Vonn Bell.
While Urban Meyer may have taken three years to win a championship at Ohio State, Ryan Day could achieve the same even sooner. With a team with immense talent on both sides of the ball and a talented recruiting class coming in, the Buckeyes have the tools to make a move at returning to the College Football Playoff.
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If the offense stays on course and the defense takes a step forward, the Buckeyes should find themselves on the road back to the CFP..