Eight is Enough
The College Football Playoff semifinals took place Monday night and it resulted in Georgia and Alabama coming away victorious. They will now meet for the CFP national title.
Watching the Clemson-Alabama semifinal last night, the Ohio State Buckeyes had to think that they would have had a great shot at dethroning the Clemson Tigers.
The loss to Iowa ended all of that a long time ago, however.
Where does OSU head coach Urban Meyer stand on the playoffs and possible expansion?
“Has to go to eight,” he said after the Cotton Bowl. “I’m just kidding. We’ve been on the outside looking in twice, and we’ve been in there twice. I’m going to enjoy this win. I don’t know. I always think first of the student-athlete. And you tell me when you’re going to play two more games. And you need to increase the scholarship limit by 15 or something to be able to have that. So I don’t foresee that happening.”
Waiting for Next Year
For those Buckeyes who choose to watch next week’s national title game, they are no doubt going to be envisioning themselves on that field next year, and will work all offseason long to make that happen.
There are still a handful of players who will be on the 2018 team who were on the 2014 national championship team, but only kicker Sean Nuernberger and linebacker Dante Booker saw the field in those postseason games. The freshmen that redshirted that season will never forget the feeling of being part of a national title win, but the bulk of the team next year won’t have any idea what that feeling is like.
For defensive end Nick Bosa, he wants to change that. And he believes the Buckeyes will have the talent to get it done.
“I felt the feeling of a Big Ten championship and that was unbelievable,” he said recently. “So, just thinking about what it would feel like to be a leader on the team and win it and to be an integral part of a national championship game win, beat everyone, get to the playoff and win out. Next year my class is ready to take over the leadership role, and we’ll see who’s at quarterback. I think we’re going to have a really good chance. I know the defense is going to be set. That’s No.1 on my wanna-do list.”
Juniors Becoming Leaders
Much of Ohio State’s 2016 class will be juniors next season, and Urban Meyer has been talking about their maturity for a while now. Looking at the roster, the 2018 team is going to be led in large part by those third-year players.
At quarterback, it could be Dwayne Haskins, and he’ll be throwing to classmates Austin Mack and Binjimen Victor, while being protected by Michael Jordan. The defense will be Nick Bosa, Jonathon Cooper, Tuf Borland, Malik Harrison, Jordan Fuller, and more.
Most of these players received extensive action this season, and they are looking to put that experience to good use moving forward.
“I think we all feel now that some older guys are leaving, we have got to step up and a lot of guys in our class are coming into their own this season,” Full said. “I am excited for it more and more to come on. It is definitely going to be exciting, I am excited for my class and I love these guys. We are going to be good leaders.”
Be Like Braxton
The rising juniors who are now looking forward to being leaders have been given some very good examples of how to do it by departing Buckeyes like Tyquan Lewis, Billy Price, and J.T. Barrett.
Each of those players learned how to be leaders from the guys in front of them when they arrived. For Barrett, however, he learned a whole lot more. As a quarterback, Barrett’s situation is different than anybody else’s. The wins and losses are attached to him like scarlet and gray letters, and it can be a very stressful situation.
Barrett, however, has a very healthy relationship with stress.
“This is what I think about stress. If it’s something that’s out of my control, I don’t really stress about it. If it’s something I am in control of, I feel like I have a handle on things, so I don’t get stressed,” he said. “I had my fair share of fun being the quarterback at Ohio State. I think there’s a lot of responsibility that comes along with it, but I accept that willingly. I saw Braxton [Miller] go through it and handle it. I think the way he went about playing quarterback here I learned a lot from it, just how to carry yourself.”
What specifically did Barrett learn from Miller?
“He was never too high on himself,” Barrett said. “I think he was constantly trying to work and get better. I think he’s still like that today, even playing receiver. I think when the highs came of playing quarterback, he was never too high on himself and then when the lows came he wasn’t too down on himself either. There has to be that balance. If you get too high you’re gonna be that cocky person that nobody likes. And then if you get too low and let what y’all say get you down as a quarterback, then the confidence is gone and you’re in a hole that’s hard to dig out of.”