Published: Sunday, 5/24/2015 With so many returning starters, OSU huge favorite to repeat national title BY DAVID BRIGGSBLADE SPORTS WRITER COLUMBUS — When Ohio State won the national championship last year, it was only natural the success would sire enormous expectations for the next season. But this … The Buckeyes certainly could not have foreseen this monster. As Las Vegas bookmakers and analysts continue to weigh in on the 2015 season, Ohio State’s national image has transformed from the Little Scarlet Engine that Could during last year’s storybook postseason run into a V24 wrecking machine. A portrait is emerging not of a great team but a potential all-time great one. They are the lopsided favorite to repeat as champions, claim the odds leader to win the Heisman Trophy, and project to turn out as many as six first-round picks in the 2016 NFL draft — a haul that would match Miami’s record total in 2004. Bettors appear convinced not even a sling armed with grenades would stagger this Goliath, and certainly not Virginia Tech. While the Hokies return 16 starters — and beat Ohio State in Columbus last season — one representative sports book, 5Dimes, lists the Buckeyes as a 20.5-point favorite for their Labor Day night rematch in Blacksburg, Va. ESPN’s Colin Cowherd last week matter-of-factly told his national radio audience, “The next dynasty in sports is going to be Ohio State football. It’s already starting. They’re going to reel off about three or four championships in the next five or six years.” For those close to the Ohio State program, the outsized hype can be both exciting and disorienting. “It is a worry, because, as wonderful as fans are, I don’t think they can think realistically like we do,” said coach Urban Meyer’s wife, Shelley. “They know that we have most of our team back. Last year was so unexpected, and I can just hear people saying, ’Well, wow, they did it last year when we didn’t think it was going to happen. Well, now everybody’s a year older and it should just automatically happen.’ ”And it just doesn’t go that way. You just don’t go out and win national championship after national championship really easily. It just doesn’t happen easily.“ No, in fact, winning one is immensely hard, and winning again is harder. Since 1979, only two schools have repeated — Nebraska in 1994 and 1995 and the Alabama in 2011 and 2012. Urban Meyer appreciates the challenge and is on watch for complacency and swelling heads. He has noted that ”the human element is very dangerous.“ Las Vegas, though, does not much care for the human element. The WestGate SuperBook and Bovada each list Ohio State as a 7-2 favorite to repeat. That’s double the odds of the Buckeyes’ perceived biggest title threat — Alabama is second at 7-1 — and still, Kevin Bradley, the sports book manager at Bovada, said more money has been wagered on OSU than any other team. The Buckeyes, who return 15 starters and welcome in another blue-chip recruiting class, are also the only major college team with a negative money line in the conference championship futures. At 5Dimes, they opened at -150, meaning a $150 bet would earn $100 if Ohio State wins the Big Ten. Michigan State (+300) was second — a $100 bet would pay out $300 — followed by Wisconsin (+800), Nebraska (+1100), Minnesota (+1200), and Michigan (+1300). Bookmakers and draft gurus are just as bullish on Ohio State’s stars. Bovada installed running back Ezekiel Elliott as the 6-1 Heisman frontrunner, while the winner of the Buckeyes’ quarterback derby promises to fall in right behind…
Continue Reading: Hype already building for Buckeyes
