Back then, CJ Stroud was really good – but not perfect – in a highly profiled opening day loss against Oregon in 2021. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Some thoughts on the world as we now know it…Trump, Putin, deportations, and downtown violence…and does the Ohio State losing to Texas top them all in terms of things that consume your thinking?
On a Sunday three weeks away from Ohio State proving that ‘hookin’ the horns in their own corral last January was not coincidental…a Press Pros associate asked me Friday where their opening game with the Texas Longhorns stands in terms of priority with other, lesser, worldly concerns this side of the Ohio River.
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“What if they lose?” asked Dan Huff, a friend from back in my Chesapeake days, and one of our proof-readers who lives out of the area.
“Are the expectations too high?” he added.
Publisher Sonny Fulks writes OHSAA sports and Ohio State baseball for Press Pros Magazine.com.
“Have the younger, replacement Buckeyes bitten off too much, too soon?”
“And what kind of pressure will they face the rest of the season, because you know…they have to play Michigan, in Michigan, and they can’t afford any slips along the way?”
“Or,” he laughed. “Do you think people are more worried about Trump, Putin, and Sydney Sweeney?”
Danny, you see, attended Marshall University, where nine wins and any bowl game is cause to close Third Avenue for a ticker-tape parade in Huntington.
“It’s a little different down here,” he adds. “I read where the athletic director up there (Ohio State) said they weren’t going to play Hang On Sloopy at the start of the fourth quarter anymore. People are losing their minds. Good Lord…what if they lose to Texas?”
“Bubble burst?”
It’s hard for me to look that far ahead – three weeks – given that we have so many other fish to fry between now and then. But I would suspect that Ohio State is going to have to do more than have their rookie quarterback (whoever that may be) play well.
In fact, given the revenge factor that Texas should have, having lost in the CFP semi-final to Ohio State just 200 days ago, Julian Sayin, or Lincoln Kienholz may have to be perfect…not just good…to beat Arch Manning and Texas.
If you remember CJ Stroud’s home debut against Oregon in 2021, he had a pretty good day…until a late interception snuffed out what would have been a late Ohio State comeback. He threw for almost 500 yards, put up 28 points, and still got beat, 35-28. And yes, to your point, people left the stadium looking like Linda Blair in the scene from The Exorcist.
Will Howard came within seconds of yanking victory from the jaws of defeat last year…against Oregon. (Press Pros File Photos)
And last year, against that same Oregon team, Will Howard came within one play at the end of the game of yanking victory from the jaws of defeat. And there was talk, afterwards. Oh…but wasn’t there talk!
I blame it on Ohio State wearing those white pants. You don’t change clothes at the altar!
As for the rest of their season, this is a highly-talented Buckeyes team, regardless of who plays quarterback, and they really won’t be seriously challenged by anyone (I don’t think) outside of Penn State (at home, Nov. 1) and at Michigan (November 29). They do have road games at Washington, and at Illinois, and a home game with UCLA, but those teams are not talked about in the same breath as the Buckeyes.
If they lose to Texas…and if they lose to Michigan…and go 10-2 it’s still going to be hard to keep them out of the 12-team playoff because it’s more watered down compared to the old days when it was the proven best four teams chosen from the regular season. Of course there’ll be the same talk about replacing Ryan Day because he can’t beat Michigan, always a distraction.
There were people last year that said they’d rather beat Michigan than win the national championship – 12-0, or bust. Get someone else to coach…maybe Tim Walz.
But the Ohio State brand sells supreme, which means tons more money for everyone, so they’re going to be one of the twelve, even at 10-2.
The expectations really are that high.
And don’t I wish they were for baseball!
But to your point, again, if they do happen to lose, the right-thinking people that I know will be more concerned about the Dow Jones on Monday, knowing there’s still four months of football.
A few, I suspect, will even sweat about Sydney Sweeney, and her genes.
Er…jeans!
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