The Ohio State Buckeyes got some rest and recovered this past weekend while watching a portion of Big Ten football games during their bye week.
Those games included Illinois securing a 21-10 upset against the Oregon Ducks in Champaign, the Minnesota Golden Gophers putting a dent in Iowa's CFP hopes, UCLA thrashing Michigan State and Northwestern earning a bowl bid with a 42-14 win against Rutgers in Evanston.
Transitioning back to the Buckeyes: their schedule resumes next Saturday as they moved to No. 2 in Sunday's AP Poll ahead of a key road game Saturday night against the USC Trojans (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC)
The Buckeyes' last outing saw them overcome an adverse Memorial Stadium environment in Bloomington, Ind. Oct. 17, they won 19-15 to end the Indiana Hoosiers' 22-game winning streak and earn their biggest win to-date.
Ohio State Can Still Write Its Season Story
But Ohio State's triumph in knocking off the defending national champion Hoosiers, a team that finished last seasn unbeaten in one of the greatest turnaround stories in sports, redefined one critical aspect for Ohio State: not every team is perfect, nor is a single player injury enough to derail a season.
At least not in Columbus. At least not yet.
As of this writing, Ohio State's season and its long-term goal of becoming a Big Ten champion or earning its second national title in three seasons are still on the table. Whether Luke Fahey or Tavien St. Clair (or both) suit up next Saturday, facts are facts.
Coach Ryan Day is a national champion. Both Buckeye coordinators (Matt Patricia and Arthur Smith) have won at the NFL level. From a football standpoint, the program prestige is still there.
College football podcaster Josh Pate (of both ESPN and On3) might suggest the Buckeyes could finish the season 9-3, but he fails to mention that the last time the Buckeyes won nine games or fewer was… drumroll, please… 1985.
So to predict the Buckeyes' season might be over is too far-fetched, but to say the team will look vastly different with a quarterback other than Julian Sayin is reasonable enough.
Plain and simply put, Ohio State is in the race for much more than itself. Should it make the CFP again, it'll have a chance to maintain the Big Ten's dominance by winning a national title again, further validating Day's greatness as one of the best coaches in school history.
If there is one overarching theme to take away entering Halloween week, the Buckeyes are resilient and shouldn't be labeled underachievers. Period.
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