Ohio State Football fans left wondering what could have been
By Ryan Stano
![Dec 31, 2022; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; ohc]during the second half of the Peach Bowl in the College Football Playoff semifinal at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Ohio State lost 42-41. Mandatory Credit: Adam Cairns-The Columbus DispatchNcaa Football Peach Bowl Ohio State At Georgia](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape%2Fcover%2Fsport%2F0b7ee77b990e0c2300ff82a40c4d04bd90758adace0f10f473f1e5ff298515c3.jpg "Dec 31, 2022; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; ohc]during the second half of the Peach Bowl in the College Football Playoff semifinal at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Ohio State lost 42-41. Mandatory Credit: Adam Cairns-The Columbus DispatchNcaa Football Peach Bowl Ohio State At Georgia")
If you watched last night’s National Championship Game between Georgia and TCU, I’m sure you were filled with the same emotion I had: anger. I was angry watching that game because it should have been the Ohio State football team beating down TCU, not Georgia.
I was angry that Jim Knowles’ defense blew a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter. I was angry that the Buckeyes were only able to score three points in the fourth quarter when they needed just a bit more. They were the better team and still found a way to lose the Peach Bowl.
Had Ohio State played TCU on Monday night, it would have been a beatdown too. Ohio State’s offense is better than Georgia’s and the Bulldogs put 65 on the Horned Frogs. There’s no way that Ohio State wouldn’t have been national champions.
Had Noah Ruggles made that kick, the narrative around the Ohio State football program would be mightily different. Instead of talking about how Ryan Day is on the hot seat, we’d be talking about him being one of the best coaches in program history. We’d be talking about the chances of a repeat national title next year.
Instead, Buckeye fans are left wondering what could have been. This season will always nag at me. Not as much as the 2019 season when the refs took away a chance for the best Buckeye team I’ve ever seen play for a national title, but it will still nag badly at me.
Next. Ohio State Football: Two ex-Buckeyes make history. dark
The 2022 college football season has officially come to a close though. We can’t look back. All we can do is look forward to what the Buckeyes have to do to make sure this doesn’t happen again next year. There was too much pain at the end of the season to endure again.