There’s a single-mindedness to Ryan Day’s team that continues to give them an edge. The players talk about it over and over again, each in their own way.
Snowbelt, OH – The most often asked question I’ve been asked since returning from sunny California: “Why is Ohio State suddenly playing so well?”
The No. 2 question: “Can the Buckeyes keep playing great?”
I read a quote by author George Orwell today that has nothing to do with football.
Veteran columnist Jeff Gilbert writes Ohio State football and OHSAA sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
“The great enemy of clear language,” he said, “is insincerity.”
Here’s the truth as clearly and sincerely as I can state it.
In answer to the first question: The Buckeyes are dominating because their minds are focused on what comes next (game by game, day by day, play by play).
In answer to the second question: Absolutely.
Some of the players spoke Sunday about their journey to the College Football Playoff semifinals (otherwise known as the Cotton Bowl) and their opponent – the Texas Longhorns.
The players said several things that support my observations that they will be the same team they’ve been the past two games. These aren’t the only factors. But – even if some of it sounds cliché – these statements are what they believe. And strong belief in what you are doing creates great focus and preparation.
Linebacker Sonny Styles talked the most about our topic du jour.
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“Our preparation has been better than the last two teams we played,” Styles said.
That speaks to focus, a word often casually thrown around like an insincere compliment. But true focus creates single-mindedness. Head Buckeye Ryan Day sees it. He talked about the conversations he heard on the defensive bus after the Rose Bowl. The players talked about football and moments from their 41-21 dismissal of top-ranked and top-seeded Oregon.
Someone asked Styles why the defense is connected in a way that prevented their casual conversations from drifting into other subjects.
“What really makes us go is the guy next to us,” he said. “We all trust each other, we believe in each other, and we want to play for each other. No one’s out there with any kind of selfish intentions.”
Togetherness and focus are necessary brothers for playing football well. This team, through two playoff games, has that. There’s no reason to expect anything different when the eighth-seeded Buckeyes play the fifth-seeded Longhorns at 7:30 p.m. Friday in AT&T Stadium.
“We’re not focused on anything that’s happened in the past – it’s a clean slate,” Styles said. “We’re focused on beating Texas. They’ve got a really good team, a really talented team, and we’ve got to bring our best to be able to win that game.”
“I’ve been here going on four years, and we haven’t really done anything. Finishing in the right way is our mindset right now.” – Tyleik Williams
Fans also wonder if the Buckeyes will wrangle the Longhorns like they did Tennessee and Oregon. That’s not the goal. Win and the prize is a trip to Atlanta for the national championship game.
“Doesn’t matter how we beat the last two teams,” Styles said. “This is a completely different team.”
Caleb Downs, the consensus All-American safety, says Texas is the only thing. Maybe he and Styles talked about it on the bus.
“It’s win or go home, so whatever happened in the past doesn’t mean anything,” he said. “We have to play on Friday, and that’s really all that matters.”
The Buckeyes have yet to talk revenge. Perhaps four straight losses to Michigan have taught them a hard lesson about thinking that way. But they are embracing second chances. Making the playoff is a second chance to right the wrongs of the regular season. They made amends against Oregon. And now they can do the same for the awful game they played in the Cotton Bowl last year against Missouri.
For defensive tackle Tyleik Williams, the frustrations to make amends for goes back farther than a year ago.
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“I’ve been here going on four years, and we haven’t really done anything,” he said. “Just to have this chance, go end it the right way, with all the guys that are done at the end of this season, I think it’s great. Finishing in the right way is our mindset right now.”
First-year quarterback Will Howard also knows what it’s like to lose to Texas. While he was at Kansas State, he never beat the Longhorns, including in a Big 12 title game. But he’s focused on what this win would mean for his team more than himself.
“The team that you were last week or the gteam that you were in Week 5 isn’t good enough to compete in the College Football Playoffs.” – Gee Scott
“I know a lot of these guys on this team didn’t feel great about how that game went,” Howard said of last year’s Cotton Bowl. “So it’s good that we’re getting another chance to go down there and right some wrongs again.”
Howard’s performance in the two playoff games hasn’t gotten the amount of attention that receiver Jeremiah Smith and the defense have. But he is OSU’s obvious leader – every player that speaks says so – and his definition of why the Buckeyes are playing well can’t be true if a team isn’t focused on what’s next.
“We’ve just got to keep playing free, playing with an edge, and doing what we’ve been doing,” he said.
And the Buckeyes say they believe what coaches always say about the importance getting better every game.
“You have to upgrade week by week,” tight end Gee Scott Jr. said. “The team that you were last week or the team that you were in Week 5 just isn’t good enough to compete in the College Football Playoffs.
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“Even to this point in the year, why we practice so hard still is to give ourselves the mental confidence over the opponent.”
But confidence hasn’t made this team cocky. Not even with a 34-8 halftime lead against Oregon. They didn’t relax at halftime.
“The job wasn’t done,” receiver Brandon Inniss said. “We had nothing to be excited about at the moment. We were excited during the game when we were making the plays, but at halftime, you go back to 0-0.”
Convinced yet?
Of course, all of this could be talk and the Buckeyes could come out flat, kick field goals instead of score touchdowns, give up too many big plays and lose. But that seems as far-fetched now as it seemed six weeks ago that they would lose to Michigan.
“The mindset that we have for everybody is that we all need to be doing our part,” Scott Jr. said. “Ultimately, we have the guys, we have the talent, and so you look up at the scoreboard and like where you’re at.”
With two playoff victories, and in Big D aiming for a third.
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