College football: Biggest Achilles’ heel for every Top 25 team

College football 2018: Biggest Achilles’ heel for every Top 25 team

ATLANTA, GA - JANUARY 08: Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (13) celebrates and holds up the CFP Trophy after the College Football Playoff National Championship Game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Georgia Bulldogs on January 8, 2018 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

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Photo by Zach Bolinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images /

4. Ohio State

Achilles’ heel: Tough road tests

Heading into the Ohio State Buckeyes spring game in 2018, my best bet for this team’s Achilles’ heel would have been at the quarterback position. After all, Urban Meyer’s team will no longer have J.T. Barrett at the helm. Say what you will about Barrett’s talent as a passer, but there’s no denying the level of success and record-breaking productivity that he had throughout his career in Columbus. However, the spring game quelled those concerns as Dwayne Haskins shined and Tate Martell looked like a more-than-capable backup.

With there being no real obvious problem at quarterback, this Ohio State team looks absolutely stacked. Nick Bosa leads the defense as arguably the best edge-rusher in college football, and with a talented group behind him. What’s more, J.K. Dobbins looks to build on the promise that he showed last season as he’ll likely touch the ball even more in 2018.

What could be an issue for Ohio State, though, is the simple fact that they are cursed with an absolutely brutal road schedule this season that will put them to the test time and time again. That starts on Sept. 15 in their third matchup of the season as they go down to Arlington, TX to face a feisty and talented TCU Horned Frogs team.

Then in the Big Ten, the Buckeyes start conference play in Happy Valley against Penn State and later take a late-season road trip to Michigan State. Throw in a trip to face a hard-nosed Purdue team and OSU is going to have to bring it on the road to be in the CFP picture.