Ohio State Football: 2021 team isn’t like 2014 as much as you think

A lot of parallels have been made between this Ohio State football team and the one that won the national title back in 2014. I understand why those have been made; both teams lost in Week 2 at home to teams they should have beaten. Both teams were integrating a new quarterback as well.

To me, that’s about where the parallels stop though. The 2014 team was ahead of schedule in winning the title. They were thought to be a year away because all of their talent was so young. The 2015 team was considered much more talented because they brought most of those guys back.

This year’s team was considered a team that could truly contend as a repeat National Championship Game participant. They returned almost everyone on offense except for three offensive linemen and Justin Fields. All of the skill positions returned players who played significant snaps.

Defensively was a different story in that regard. Even so, the defense line was supposed to be able to make up for that. The 2014 team was noted to have a good secondary and offensive line. Everything else was a little bit unknown with that team.

The coaching scenarios are also different. Urban Meyer had a track record of proven success and already had two national titles under his belt. Ryan Day has two CFP appearances to his credit but hasn’t quite gotten over the hump yet. He also had to make a change to the coaching staff midseason.

The 2014 team was also written off in the preseason after Braxton Miller went down two weeks before the season started. They had to throw J.T. Barrett in there because they didn’t have any other option. C.J. Stroud was picked by Day back in the Spring. He had plenty of time to prepare to be the starter.

We’ll find out whether or not this year’s team can complete the journey and win it all. Their regular-season schedule is much harder than the 2014 team’s was to finish. That’s perhaps the biggest difference between these two teams. If this year’s team runs through that gauntlet, they cold be favored to win it all by the time the Playoff starts.

The Ohio State football team would love nothing more than to have these comparisons made. For that to continue to happen, they have to finish the job.