Urban Meyer, one of the greatest coaches in the college game, is no longer around. That hasn’t changed the expectations of the Ohio State Buckeyes under his replacement Ryan Day. More than the loss of Meyer, though, is a new season without Dwayne Haskins after OSU put up the most explosive passing season in program history. There is an expected decline for the Buckeyes now that Meyer has passed the headset, but this is hardly a team lacking talent.
With perhaps the best collection of players in the Big Ten, a favorable schedule and a coach that showed his chops in the wake of Meyer’s suspensions last season, a Big Ten championship is the carrot at the end of the stick. Day isn’t given a transition period into his new post and he showed the willingness to add coaches that will help the team, bringing in a pair of defensive minds from archrival Michigan. Everything is fine as long as the Buckeyes continue to win, and they should be in the discussion for a conference title and CFP berth.
College Football Playoff Odds at BookMaker.eu
Ohio State Buckeyes To Make 4-team Playoff
Yes +260
No -350
Meyer set the bar high during his time in Columbus winning over 90 percent of his games with two playoff appearances and a national title in the inaugural CFP season. There is some talk that the team will regress in 2019, and that’s a possibility with the departure of several key players. However, Meyer left the program in good shape with plenty of talented personnel to keep the tradition of winning alive and well.
2019 Ohio State Buckeyes Schedule
Week 1: vs. Florida Atlantic Owls
Week 2: vs. Cincinnati Bearcats
Week 3: at Indiana Hoosiers
Week 4: vs. Miami (Ohio) RedHawks
Week 5: at Nebraska Cornhuskers
Week 6: vs. Michigan State Spartans
Week 7: OFF
Week 8: at Northwestern Wildcats
Week 9: vs. Wisconsin Badgers
Week 10: OFF
Week 11: vs. Maryland Terrapins
Week 12: at Rutgers Scarlet Knights
Week 13: vs. Penn State Nittany Lions
Week 14: at Michigan Wolverines
Ohio State Buckeyes Schedule Analysis
Not one Power 5 school on the non-conference slate could be a blessing or a curse. Those heavyweight matchups go a long way with the CFP selection committee and not having one could be a strike against the Buckeyes. The good news is that those games are all at the horseshoe and should be easy wins. OSU will need a clean slate to have any chance of reaching the playoff.
A bizarre road loss at Purdue last year cost the Buckeyes a playoff berth and Indiana, Nebraska, and Northwestern are all eager to get the defending champs on their home turf. Rutgers should be an easy win leaving those three matchups as the only worrisome road games before the regular season finale at the Big House. Wisconsin is a home date, as are East tilts with Michigan State and Penn State. The Buckeyes could conceivably be undefeated heading into the showdown with their biggest rivals.
Ohio State Buckeyes Season Preview
The biggest question is what changes with the Buckeyes now that Meyer has hung it up? One difference will be at quarterback where Georgia transfer Justin Fields takes the reins after Haskins put up excessive numbers in a record shattering 2018. Fields may not match the 4,800 yards and 50 touchdowns Haskins produced last season, but he’s a highlight reel talent and he gives the offense a dimension it didn’t have last season.
There are a lot of moving parts this year and it may take a few games for the offense to come together. Make no mistake, though, there is plenty of talent to match the 535 yards and 42.4 points per game from last season. Leading rusher J.K. Dobbins is back looking for even bigger numbers, which could be attained with little experience behind him. Dobbins is the quintessential every down back and could blow up as a receiver as well.
A dynamic offense covered for a lot of problems on defense. The group allowed over 400 yards and 25.5 points per game, which is nowhere near where a playoff-bound team should be. The front expects to be better with a number of gifted ends, and the secondary is the unit’s strength. Filling holes in the middle of the defense could make this group a whole lot better. It doesn’t need to be great, especially with a soft schedule, but avoiding a meltdown like it had against Purdue last year will increase OSU’s CFP chances.
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