Ohio State Football: Will Back-to-Back Losses Help or Haunt Buckeyes in 2014?

When the Ohio State football team reported for fall camp on Monday, head coach Urban Meyer gathered his players at midfield and addressed the Buckeyes’ disastrous finish to the 2013 season with two simple questions.

“The past?” Meyer asked, according to Bleacher Report’s Ben Axelrod. “Who gives a s–t?”

The memories of devastating back-to-back losses should be fresh in the mind of every Buckeyes player. Just nine short months ago, Ohio State was one victory away from punching its ticket to Pasadena, California, for a spot in the national title game.

Michigan State dashed those hopes with a 34-24 upset win in the Big Ten Championship Game. A month later, the Buckeyes were pushed further down their road of despair with a 40-35 loss to Clemson in the Orange Bowl.

Those losses came on the heels of a historic win streak. With Meyer at the helm, Ohio State had won a school-record 24 consecutive games before running into the Spartans in Indianapolis.

Will the Buckeyes bounce back this season?

Embracing A Fresh Start

Following Ohio State’s loss to Clemson, Meyer spoke bluntly about the pain of coming up short.

“It’s going to sting for a while, probably a long while because we didn’t finish,” Meyer said, according to Steven Wine of The New York Times. “It was right there.”

Falling short of a national title can create aftershocks that effect the following season. Ohio State experienced that firsthand in 2007 after its devastating…

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