COLUMBUS, Ohio — As Ohio State approaches the midway point of its 2015 season, one question throughout Columbus—and by extension, all of college football—persists.
What’s going on with the defending national champion Buckeyes?
Yes, Ohio State remains undefeated, is still the nation’s No. 1 team and could very well find itself in pole position when the first College Football Playoff rankings of the season are revealed in four weeks. On the surface, the Buckeyes seem to be right on track when it comes to defending college football’s crown.
But for anyone who’s watched Ohio State play and not just checked its box scores this season, a different story has begun to unfold.
Despite returning a combined 15 starters on both sides of the ball from last year’s championship squad, the Buckeyes have hardly looked like the dominant force that many expected them to be when when they were named college football’s first-ever unanimous preseason No. 1 team in August.
Ohio State’s latest close call came by way of a 34-27 escape from Bloomington, Indiana, where the Buckeyes held off a last-minute drive in regulation that could have given the Hoosiers the opportunity to pull off the upset with a two-point conversion.
“I think I’ve learned to enjoy it,” Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer said of the win in his postgame press conference. “But I’m very frustrated.”
Perhaps that’s because it wasn’t the first time this season that the Buckeyes had found themselves on the…
Continue Reading: The State of Ohio State’s National Championship Defense
