Every year, the goal for the Ohio State football program is to do three things. They want to beat TTUN, win a Big Ten Championship, and win a national championship. It's very rare that they are able to achieve all three of those goals at the same time. It's actually the last flaw on Ryan Day's resume.
Day had the opportunity to achieve that goal last season after the Ohio State Buckeyes started 12-0. Beating TTUN in Ann Arbor was a great way to finish the regular season. Unfortunately, they lost the final two games, including the Big Ten Championship. They failed to repeat as national champs, too.
This season, the Buckeyes return a ton of talent on the offensive side of the ball. In fact, they might be the best offense in the country. One major publication certainly thinks so. In fact, Athlon Sports gave their bowl predictions for this season, and they are very favorable to Ohio State.
Athlon Sports predicts an Ohio State national championship
During their annual preview, Athlon Sports gave a prediction for every bowl game. In that prediction, they gave the Bucks the number one overall seed. They have them taking on eighth-seeded Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl. After that, they have the Buckeyes advancing to take on fourth-seeded Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl.
It culminates in Ohio State beating second-seeded Georgia in the national championship game, which takes place in Las Vegas this season. Based on their seeding, Athlon has the Buckeyes beating TTUN, winning the Big Ten, and winning a second national title in three years.
That is a prediction of which every single Ohio State fan would sign up for. That would make this team the best Ohio State football team of all-time. That could end up being true, but the Buckeyes would ahve to go undefeated in order to achieve that goal. That's a tall order with their schedule.
Ohio State feels confident it can win it all
Heading into this season, the Buckeyes are extremely confident that they can pull off this exact prediction. There is a very good chance they have the highest-scoring offense in the country next year with Julian Sayin throwing the ball to Jeremiah Smith and Chris Henry Jr.
Defensively, Matt Patricia returns to coach a talented but inexperienced unit. They will have to rely on several transfer portal players on all three levels of the defense. Still, Patricia coached up the defense to have the best statistical performance of any defense in the nation a year ago.
It seems the Buckeyes have finally cured their kicking problems, or so they hope. Missed kicks have plagued the team for the last few years, and they hope that issue is fixed. That, along with the offensive line, is the biggest question mark the team possesses heading into the Fall.
If those questions are answered, Ohio State could be in the market for a lot of wins next season. In fact, it could be that golden year Day has been searching for.
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