Ohio State Football: Defining a successful 2023 season

Expectations are a tricky thing to manage. Ohio State football fans always have them extremely high for their team. The Buckeyes recruit at an elite level and are always in the top five in terms of recruiting rankings. Because of that, there’s no reason they shouldn’t be competing for national titles.

The Buckeyes came extremely close to achieving that goal last year. Yet, the Ohio State football team has three goals they set out to do every year. They want to win the Big Ten Championship, beat TTUN, and win a national championship. For two straight years now they’ve gone 0-3.

Do those three metrics constitute a successful season? Do they have to go 3-0 on those marks? Or could they go 2-1 or 1-2 and still consider the season a success? The answer to these questions are nuanced, so let me break it down.

The Buckeyes don’t have to go 3-0 on all of these metrics. 2-1 is actually the sweet spot to determine what a successful 2023 year is. They have to beat TTUN and win a national championship though. They can afford to not win the Big Ten Championship.

You could talk me into Ohio State falling short of a national title but beating TTUN and winning a Big Ten Title as a successful year, but I wouldn’t feel good about that. Ohio State is one of just a handful of programs where a national title is realistic every single year, so that should be the expectation.

I do know that losing to TTUN for a third straight year would be an unmitigated failure. That is not debatable. Unfortunately, that’s a real possibility with what the Wolverines have coming back this year on offense. Ohio State needs to make sure their secondary is ready this time.

Ryan Day knows what his goals are. He needs to start hitting them with regularity.