Top 5 Issues Ohio State Football Needs to Address Before the 2014 Season

Many teams and fanbases would kill for a 24-game winning streak and a BCS bowl appearance. Urban Meyer and company led the most efficient offense in school history last season, featuring a deadly rushing attack that carved up the Big Ten. The defense was disappointing at times but still managed to help the Buckeyes win 12 games for the second straight year. Unfortunately, winning 12 games wasn’t the only thing on that team’s to-do list.

It’s no secret that Urban Meyer and the Buckeyes followed their historic 24-0 start with two very disappointing losses. Heading into the Big Ten championship game, Ohio State was primed for its first national championship game since 2007 but simply couldn’t keep up with the Spartans of Michigan State, losing 34-24.

In the Orange bowl, the Buckeyes were again torched on defense and fell to Clemson in a thrilling shootout, 40-35. These last two games really magnified some of the areas of weakness at Ohio State and left plenty of room for improvement in 2014.

Obviously, with new faces on the defensive coaching staff, necessary changes will be made to the Buckeyes back seven. The schematic approach of new defensive coordinator Chris Ash will be much more aggressive, which should be music to Buckeye Nation’s ears.

However, this isn’t the same exact team from last year. The Buckeyes will also be asked to replace some key contributors from last year’s team, including two first-round picks in this year’s NFL draft.

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