Apparently, the Ohio State Buckeyes didn't prepare themselves for the Big Ten Championship and College Football Playoff after a 14-7 win over the Texas Longhorns in Week 1 of the 2025 season. That's what ESPN's Jake Trotter believes, anyway.
Per Trotter on The Paul Finebaum Show, "I don't think that they're, you know, no doubt surefire number one team in the preseason. You just look at their offensive line last year. Ohio State beat Texas, and they were on absolute cruise control until the postseason... You saw when the competition went up, they got pushed around a little bit."
There's a lot to unpack here.
While the win over Texas was a hard-fought one, and truly one that exposed some holes offensively, Ohio State certainly didn't coast in "cruise control" for the rest of the regular season. The Buckeyes' defense ceded only 219.1 yards and 9.3 points per game. Matt Patricia coached a historic effort during his first year in Columbus.
When it comes to the B1G title game loss to the Indiana Hoosiers, or the team's Cotton Bowl Classic loss to the Miami Hurricanes, there were other things at play that had nothing to do with coasting or taking it easy in the preparation for those matchups.
Ohio State had a Brian Hartline problem and championship fatigue
The No. 1 person to blame for OSU's two postseason losses was undoubtedly Brian Hartline. Leaving right before the playoffs, but not actually leaving, giving Ryan Day a strange in-between period of time where he had to multitask, was the biggest problem the Buckeyes faced in their repeat bid.
Another issue, which is harder to quantify, is the fact that Ohio State had championship fatigue. After running the table against the Tennessee Volunteers, Oregon Ducks, Longhorns, and Notre Dame Fighting Irish the previous season, and upholding a championship standard throughout the regular season -- which included an emotional win over TTUN in Ann Arbor -- the Buckeyes simply ran out of gas.
The Indiana game was one that came immediately in the aftermath of the Hartline departure, whereas the Miami game saw an offensive line that's not loaded with top-tier NFL offensive tackles facing two first-round draft talents along the edge.
It's not as difficult to understand why Ohio State fell short as some are making it out to be.
Add us as a preferred source on Google