It is not everything, but it might be something. Few people knows every college football program's rosters inside and out quite like Phil Steele does. His annual previews remain gospel in the heart of the offseason. Ahead of his preview, he provided everyone with his four preseason All-Big Ten teams. While you will surely find stars abound from many of its top schools, this scares me with Ohio State...
The Buckeyes only have three players making any of Steele's four preseason all-conference teams along either the offensive or defensive lines. Yes, Ohio State lost a ton to the NFL Draft, but these are the only linemen Steele though were worthy of mentioning: Guard Tegra Tshabola (second team), offensive tackle Ethan Onianwa (third team) and defensive tackle Eddrick Houston (second team).
Ahead and around those three standout linemen are a bunch of Oregon Ducks, Penn State Nittany Lions, Indiana Hoosiers and even some Iowa Hawkeyes. Those four teams, plus Michigan and to some degree Illinois and USC will be vying for playoff spots this season out of the Big Ten. Ohio State is essentially a lock to make it back this year, but it is hard to win prolifically without quality line play.
What are realistic expectations for Ohio State heading into the upcoming college football season?
Ohio State national title repeat could be undone by unproven line play
If the Big Ten sends three teams into the playoff, Ohio State will be among them with Oregon and Penn State. Anything short of a 10-2 season may not cut it for them, especially if they were to lose a critical non-conference game at home to Texas, or to arch rival Michigan for the fourth year in a row. This team should make the playoff, and be capable of winning a game or two should they qualify for it.
In a way, what Steele pointed out may be a reason why the Buckeyes have never repeated as national champions at any point in my lifetime. I am not ruling out them potentially doing so, only suggesting that the odds may not be in their favor. Teams like Clemson and Penn State return so much, while others like Georgia, Notre Dame, Oregon and Texas have enough horses to potentially make a big run.
Those are probably the seven teams I like the most heading into this season. Their could be an eighth team or so who may have serious national title aspirations, but I am not about to crown them just yet. I am looking at you, Alabama. What I have noticed over the last several years in college football is a team will only go as far as their line play will take them. They need to have a quality quarterback, too.
This is all the more reason why winning a College Football Playoff is so hard. Ohio State has won it twice in 11 years, and it need 10 seasons to get its second. I will say though that Ryan Day having just won his first takes a huge amount of pressure off his plate. He knows what it takes to win at the highest level, but I am dubious he has enough players at critical positions to make it happen again.
Ohio State can win the national championship, but this feels more like a team losing in the semifinals.