Ohio State football: 3 biggest offseason questions facing Buckeyes in 2021
By John Buhler
Ryan Day has an incredible Ohio State football team, but we do have some questions for them.
While Ohio State football fans had to have been ecstatic about their favorite team making the College Football Playoff and playing for a national championship, the Buckeyes do have some questions to answer heading into this offseason.
Ohio State navigated a brief Big Ten season cancelation, as well as COVID-19, to get back into the College Football Playoff. Even though the Buckeyes only went 5-0 during the regular season, their head-to-head victory over the Indiana Hoosiers helped give the Big Ten university presidents enough confidence to waive the six-game minimum and send them to Indianapolis anyway.
Ohio State defeated the Northwestern Wildcats in the Big Ten Championship game. The Buckeyes went on to upset the Clemson Tigers in the Sugar Bowl. However, they ran out of gas vs. the Alabama Crimson Tide in the 2021 National Championship game. Ohio State will be a contender again next season, but we have to wonder if the Buckeyes are getting back to the national title.
3 biggest offseason questions for the Ohio State Buckeyes
3. What should we make of Ryan Day’s worst loss of his career?
Ryan Day has only suffered two career losses as the Ohio State head football coach. Interestingly enough, both have come in the College Football Playoff. Ohio State bowed out to Clemson in the 2019 Fiesta Bowl. While they avenged that heart-breaking loss a season later in New Orleans, Ohio State still had a whopping 50 burger hung on them vs. that high-octane Alabama offense.
Though Day was fortunate to get the Lincoln Riley-level stigma of not being able to win a playoff game of his back, he is now 1-2 in the postseason leading Ohio State. For years, Ohio State has recruited at a level rivaled only by Clemson, the Oklahoma Sooners and a handful of SEC blue-bloods, we have to wonder if he will be able to win a title at Ohio State in the coming years.
While Ohio State does a better job of reloading than arguably any team in the country, the losses his team will experience to the 2021 NFL Draft will be significant. Yes, Ohio State will be the presumptive favorite to win the Big Ten East, get to Indianapolis and represent the Big Ten in the College Football Playoff. However, 2021 will be a third year removed from Urban Meyer’s shine.
No, this was not a damning loss for Day, as his team dealt with COVID issues and went up against one of the best teams in modern college football history. What is concerning though Ohio State will have lost its best quarterback ever to the NFL, as well as several major offensive contributors. If Ohio State gets back to the playoff, Day must be the one to coach up his offensive personnel.