COLUMBUS, Ohio — If Ohio State were counting solely on the brightest stars to light a path to the College Football Playoff, it never would have found it. The presumptive centerpiece of the offense, Braxton Miller, was lost during training camp and never took a snap at quarterback this season. Arguably the most touted returning defender, Noah Spence, never played a down, either, because of what turned into a permanent suspension. Those weren’t the only holes the No. 4 Buckeyes would have to fill after losing a handful of significant contributors from last year’s roster. Any chance of developing into a contender was always going to include contributions from fresh faces and new leaders. Even without what appeared to be Ohio State’s most important players on both sides of the ball, as it stormed to a conference title and into the Allstate Sugar Bowl against No. 1 Alabama, it morphed into the most dangerous kind of team: a complete constellation. “Incredible year, a year that if you would have told me back in August when I saw our starting quarterback go down that this would happen, I would have said, ‘Not yet,'” coach Urban Meyer said. “You just never can devalue the chemistry on a team, the closeness of a team. And then when you deal with tragedy and other things that our team has experienced throughout the year, it was a learning experience. …
Continue Reading: Team, not individuals, stars for Ohio State
