Why the Ohio State Football team will win National Championship in 2021
By Alex Austin
Ohio State shouldn’t lose during the regular season which lines them up with a top seed
Out of the four teams that consistently make the College Football Playoffs, there is little reason to suspect that at least three out of the four won’t be back for 2021. Ohio State sits in the sweet spot of having a schedule they can absolutely traverse and get through undefeated, but enough quality wins to make up for a loss.
Oklahoma has a relatively easy schedule in the Big 12 without much competition from outside the conference. The Sooners only have three games against teams currently ranked, Iowa State (8), Texas (19), and Oklahoma State (22).
Clemson plays Georgia (5) in the opening week but then can coast through the ACC without playing another ranked opponent since they have the benefit of Notre Dame being independent again this year. Alabama will have the most difficult schedule with matchups against Miami (16), Florida (11), Texas A&M (6), Ole Miss (25), and LSU (13).
Ohio State does have some difficult matchups; Oregon (12), Indiana (17), Penn State (20), but it does not seem as difficult a lineup. The only road matchup out of their ranked opponents is Indiana and that comes directly after a bye-week where Ohio State can spend two weeks preparing.
Given Ryan Day’s recent success against the Big Ten, predicting Ohio State to roll into Indianapolis doesn’t seem like too big of a stretch. The strength of schedule also looks like it would match up comparably with Oklahoma and easily beat Clemson if it came down to it. The first step of winning a National Championship is making the Playoffs and the Ohio State football team looks to have a clear path forward.