Ohio State Football: Is this team a true contender?

The Ohio State football team beat the Hoosiers 54-7 on Saturday night. It was a game that was truly never close. The Buckeyes have been killing teams that they’ve played since losing to Oregon back in September. They have looked like one of the best teams in the country.

Are they truly one of those best teams? Is this Ohio State football team a legit national title contender? They lost to the best team that they faced in Oregon. Since then, they have yet to play a ranked team. That will change when Penn State comes to town next week.

The biggest challenge for them to truly be contenders is to improve on the defensive side of the ball. As we know, the offense is prolific. They lead the nation in points per game and total offense. They are truly a menace to stop no matter who they face.

On defense, it’s a different story. They are just 48th in the country in yards per game, giving up 350 yards per contest. They also gave up 600+ to Oregon in the loss, but they have been much better in that regard since having Matt Barnes call plays.

Those stats are better than they were just a few weeks ago. This Buckeye defense may not need to be great, they just need to be average for Ohio State to make the CFP and get a chance to play for a national title. Can the defense continue to be average against better teams?

We’re about to find out. They face the Nittany Lions of Penn State next week in a night game showdown in the Shoe. Even though Penn State just lost and their offense didn’t look very good, they are still the best team the Buckeyes have played in a month.

The best offense they might face in the regular season could belong to TTUN. That still leaves four more games for this defense to improve until then. Then we can truly learn if this team is talented enough to win it all.