Ohio State football: 3 offseason questions Buckeyes need to answer
By John Buhler
The Ohio State football team should view this season as one where the Buckeyes can win it all.
Expect Ryan Day’s Ohio State football program to be one of the teams making it into the College Football Playoff this holiday season.
Ohio State missed out on the final four a year ago after losing a pair of regular-season games to the Oregon Ducks and the arch-rival Michigan Wolverines. The good news is the Buckeyes are riding a ton of momentum after beating Pac-12 champion Utah in an absolute barn-burner of a Rose Bowl. If Ohio State is as good as advertised, the Buckeyes can totally win the whole thing.
For that to even happen, the Buckeyes must first answer these three burning offseason questions.
Ohio State football: 3 offseason questions the Buckeyes will have to answer
3. Will the receiving corps not skip a beat after last season’s major departures?
One of the best parts of the thrilling Rose Bowl victory over Utah had to be the impressive play of an otherwise inexperienced receiving corps. Keep in mind that the Buckeyes’ two first-round receivers from a season ago in Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson opted out of “The Granddaddy of Them All” to get ready for the 2022 NFL Draft. We can’t blame them, but it did work out just fine.
With the trio of Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka, quarterback C.J. Stroud should have enough talent around him to be in the mix for the Heisman Trophy again this season. While there could be some regression in the Ohio State receiving corps, how this returning group performs will go a long way towards the Buckeyes contending for a national championship or not.
Smith-Njigba is ready, Harrison seems to be, but this is a big opportunity for Egbuka in Columbus.