Is the Ohio State football team playing at a National Champion level?

The Ohio State football program has gone several years without winning a National Championship. Coming into the year that was the goal. But are the Buckeyes on track?

The Ohio State football team has gone on several years with one of the best offenses in the nation. Since Ryan Day’s arrival that has become the calling card of the Buckeyes. The ability to score points has never really been in doubt since Dwayne Haskins, Justin Fields, and C.J. Stroud have been the quarterbacks. The problem has been the defense.

Outside of the 2019 season where Chase Young almost single-handedly carried the Buckeye defense, the Buckeyes have not been good. This has cost some of the most talented offenses to come through Columbus a chance to win the game’s biggest prize.

With new defensive coordinator, Jim Knowles, Ohio State knows they have the pieces in place to compete for National Championships. But, early in the 2022 season, are the Buckeyes showing the necessary improvement?

The short answer is yes.

If you follow Ohio State football and are active within the Buckeye Nation community, you know there has been some skepticism about what the defense is doing. They have given up 21 points to Toledo and Wisconsin in consecutive weeks when the hope from many was that this unit would be able to shut down opposing offenses. Even giving up these points, Ohio State has shown massive improvement.

Against Toledo, the Buckeyes faced a quarterback that was equally adept at running as he was at passing and had an incredible ability to extend plays. While this is a great quality, it is not something that most quarterbacks have.

Looking at the rest of Ohio State’s schedule and considering their possible opponents in playoff games, there just aren’t many quarterbacks that can tout that ability which means Ohio State faced their most difficult quarterback challenge already.

Wisconsin poses one of the most talented running backs in the Nation, and Ohio State held him to right around 100 yards until the team put in their backups. There are not many teams that can say they have a running back much more talented than what Wisconsin put on the field. So, Ohio State has also faced a top-tier rushing talent and come out on top.

Now, the challenge will be against teams that can throw and run with regularity, but until you get out of the Big Ten there are not many teams able to do both well. Until the College Football Playoffs, the Ohio State defense has likely faced its most difficult challenges of the season.

Even with plenty of areas to work on, the Buckeye defense has elevated Ohio State into a legit National Title contender.