Ohio State’s road back to playoff paved with historic players, coaching succession plan

Ohio State is one of four teams to make the College Football Playoff and despite dominating all year, many didn’t expect the Buckeyes to be here.

On Dec. 4, 2018 coaching legend Urban Meyer announced he was going to retire from coaching following his Ohio State football team’s Rose Bowl game against Washington. For the first time since before Meyer came to the program in 2012, it was questionable if the Buckeye program would be successful in its upcoming season.

It was announced soon after that Ryan Day, the team’s offensive coordinator would be the team’s next head coach. Sure, Day had a lot of success in 2018 as the Buckeyes’ acting head coach while Meyer was placed on administrative leave. Ohio State went 3-0 during that time span, including a 40-28 win over No. 15 TCU in Arlington, Texas.

But could Day sustain that success over a full season?

Buckeye fans had high hopes for Day, but they really had no clue what was in store for 2019. Ohio State ranked No. 5 in the preseason AP poll, but that was based on talent. Could their coaching be a boon to the team and its success, or would it hinder it?

Short answer: Day was the perfect man for the job and has since proved that he is possibly one of the best coaches in all of college football.

Day knows the pulse of his team and seems to call the perfect plays at the perfect time. He and his staff have coached the Buckeyes to a 13-0 record, a No. 2 ranking in the College Football Playoff rankings, and a Big Ten Championship.

They also have their offense playing at an elite level as it is scoring 48.7 points per game. Their defense is also humming as it is only allowing 12.5 points per game.

Everyone has bought into Day’s program and it is showing on the field.

Day has also done a great job of hiring assistants including guys like Tony Alford, Brian Hartline, and Larry Johnson, but no one has meant more to this program than co-defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley.

Hafley turns Buckeye defense around

In 2018 the Ohio State defense struggled immensely, allowing 25.5 points per game and there seemed to be holes everywhere. They gave up 49 points to a 6-7 Purdue team that only averaged 30.5 points per game, and they gave up 51 points to a 5-7 Maryland team that only scored 28.7 points per game.

Against Purdue, Ohio State allowed David Blough to throw for 378 yards and three touchdowns, in addition to allowing Rondale Moore to catch 12 passes for 170 yards and two touchdowns. Against Maryland, the Buckeyes allowed Anthony McFarland Jr. to run for 298 yards and two touchdowns.

The Buckeye defense was getting torched all over the field and especially at the linebacker position.

Then Hafley came in.

Hafley came to Ohio State from the San Francisco 49ers where he was the secondary coach from 2016 through the 2018 season. Since coming to OSU he has absolutely turned this defense completely around.

Ohio State is tied for the second-best scoring defense in the country, only allowing 12.5 points per game; they have the sixth-best rushing defense in the country, only allowing 99.8 yards on the ground per game; and they have allowed the second-least amount of passing yards per game, 148.1 yards per game, only behind Clemson who has played no one.

In comparison, during the 2018 season, Ohio State had the 52nd-ranked scoring defense, the 57th-best rushing defense, and was 86th in passing yards allowed per game, allowing 245.2 passing yards per game.

That is an unreal turnaround and Hafley and his staff gets a lot of the credit.

As does the best player in the country, defensive end Chase Young.

Young becomes a Buckeye legend

Defensive end Chase Young showed a lot of promise his first two seasons at Ohio State, racking up 14 sacks over those two seasons. He, however, has become one of the best defensive players in Ohio State history this season.

Often recognized as the best overall player in all of college football, Young has 16.5 sacks in only 11 games this year. This includes a four-sack performance against Wisconsin and a three-sack performance against Penn State. Whenever a quarterback drops back, it is almost expected that Young will be back there to either hurry the throw or to get the sack.

There has been some pretty special defensive lineman to play for Ohio State. Guys like Mike Vrabel, Will Smith, Vernon Gholston, Joey Bosa, Nick Bosa, but Chase Young has proven to be the best.

Young’s 16.5 sacks are the most in a single season in Ohio State history. Gholston’s 14 in 2007 stood for 12 years before Young broke it against Penn State. He is also second all-time in career sacks at Ohio State with 30.5 and would blow Vrabel’s career record of 36 out of the water if he stayed for his senior season.

Is that enough proof that he is the best Ohio State defensive lineman off all-time? If not, Young was ultimately named as a Heisman finalist, the first defensive player in Ohio State history to be named as a finalist.

He did enough over the course of the season to be recognized as one of the nation’s best, despite missing two games due to suspension.

Young, who will most likely be one of the top picks in the 2020 NFL Draft, has been the most dominant player and certainly the most dominant junior in college football this year. He is not the only junior to have a stellar season for the Buckeyes though.

Dobbins bounces back, becomes a top back in the country

After an incredible freshman season where running back J.K. Dobbins ran for 1,403 yards on 7.2 yards per carry, Dobbins had a down season in 2018 as he had 1,053 yards on 4.6 yards per carry.

Many people think Dobbins’ down season was due to quarterback Dwayne Haskins being a pocket quarterback and not much of a runner. Defenses could stack the box and just focus on Dobbins or former OSU running back Mike Weber since they were the only options to run. They didn’t need to worry about Haskins carrying the ball.

This year, however, Ohio State has Justin Fields who can run and throw the ball at elite levels, so now defenses have to worry about Dobbins and Fields both carrying the ball.

This could be the reason Dobbins has had an excellent season, maybe it isn’t, but whatever the reason is, Dobbins has been the best running back in the country this year. Yes, I said it. Sorry, Jonathan Taylor.

Dobbins has run for 1,829 yards this season and 20 touchdowns on 6.5 yards per carry. He has been a workhorse in big games this season, running for 211 yards and four touchdowns on 31 carries against Michigan, 157 yards on 36 carries against Penn State, and 172 yards on 33 carries in the Big Ten Championship Game against Wisconsin.

Dobbins’ rushing yards rank third in the nation. However, he didn’t play in a lot of fourth quarters due to the Buckeyes blowing out a lot of teams, so he has fewer carries than Taylor who has the second-most yards, and less carries than Oklahoma State’s Chuba Hubbard who is the nation’s leading rusher.

Not only do Dobbins’ numbers this season rank among the best in the nation, but he has his name all over Ohio State’s record books. Dobbins is now the second-leading rusher in Ohio State history with 4,285 career rushing yards, only behind two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin who had 5,589.

Dobbins, like Young, will most likely declare for the NFL Draft but if he stayed for his senior season he would most likely become Ohio State’s all-time leading rusher. That’s incredible.

The 48.7 points per game Ohio State’s offense puts up is in large part due to the play of Dobbins, but no one can forget about Fields, Ohio State’s other Heisman finalist.

Fields exceeds the hype

Justin Fields was the No. 2 overall recruit in the 2018 class, according to 247Sports, only behind Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence.

Fields then went to Georgia and saw limited action as the Bulldogs decided to go with Jake Fromm to start at QB for them. This ultimately made Fields transfer to Ohio State where he has not only been better than Fromm, but he has been one of the top two quarterbacks in the country.

On the season, Fields has thrown for 2,953 yards, 40 touchdowns and only one interception. The 40-touchdown-to-one-interception ratio is really the craziest stat when looking at Fields – he takes care of the ball.

Not only can he pass the ball at an elite level, but he has also run for 471 yards and 10 touchdowns on the season.

His play has led him to become a Heisman Trophy finalist and has helped lead Ohio State to a 13-0 record, good enough for the No. 2 seed in the CFP rankings.

Do you know who is not a Heisman finalist? Fromm. Do you know who is not in the College Football Playoff? Georgia.

Fields was a five-star recruit coming out of high school and was 247Sports’ No. 8 recruit of all-time. He had a lot of hype and he has lived up to that hype.

Many are calling him possibly the best quarterback in Ohio State history. His ability to throw, run, and to throw on the run might make him just that. He is only a sophomore too so he could have a lot in store for next season.

When looking at Ohio State’s dominance this season, Fields’ play is one of the first things that stands out and his play will be crucial in the Buckeyes beating the Clemson Tigers to advance to the national championship.

This could be the best team to ever wear Ohio State’s scarlet and gray. That’s saying a lot too because those 2014 and 2002 national championship-winning teams were pretty darn good. We will just have to see if that is actually the case when Fields, Dobbins, Young, and the rest of the Ohio State Buckeyes take on the Clemson Tigers in the CFP Semifinals on Dec. 28.

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