Ohio State’s claim to being the only northern team capable of winning the national title without cheating is officially dead after more than two decades. It was fun while it lasted, but there is no time to mourn. Another title team must be built, and Ryan Day can’t trust what’s always been done will be enough.
By Marcus Hartman for Press Pros
Ohio State’s reign as national champion is officially over, but that’s not the worst part.
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For the second time in three years, the Buckeyes are looking up at a Big Ten neighbor in the final polls.
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Two years ago, it was Michigan. Now it’s Indiana.
While the Wolverines essentially abdicated the throne when Jim Harbaugh left for the San Diego Chargers and took nearly half his staff (leaving multiple NCAA investigations in their wake), Indiana looks like it could be here to stay with Curt Cignetti at the Hoosier helm.
Cignetti assembled a roster better than the sum of its parts, and the parts are pretty good. That’s why the Hoosiers went 16-0. How the NFL views those parts will be interesting, but that’s beside the point.
Indiana did not just march through a cupcake schedule then luck its way through the CFP. The Hoosiers were the best team in college football by any measure (except recruiting rankings).
That means Ohio State’s claim to being the only northern team that can win the national title without cheating is officially dead after more than two decades.
The reign was fun while it lasted, but there is no time to mourn. There is another title team to build, and Ryan Day can’t trust the old ways will be enough to get back to the top of the mountain.
I am not buying the idea Cignetti has reinvented roster building or solved the puzzle of the portal. There will be a lot of variance in portal success. Every team leaning heavily upon it is one year away from a slip like we’ve seen at Florida State over the past two years (from 23-4 in 2022 and ’23 to 7-17 since) or Colorado this season.
(Remember Colorado? Deion Sanders’ Buffalos nearly made the CFP in ’24 then went 3-9 last fall.)
But that could also be wishful thinking for those dismayed by the new world order. Cignetti’s got the crown until someone takes it from him, and that begs the question: Should Ohio State be concerned?
Or maybe HOW CONCERNED should Ohio State be?
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We won’t begin to know how Day did assembling his next squad until spring ball starts in March. We won’t really know until the games begin, and maybe not even then.
The Buckeyes will really have to earn whatever they get. They go to Texas on Sept. 12 before Big Ten trips to Indiana, Iowa and USC. Oregon and Michigan will visit Ohio Stadium.
We also have to acknowledge another new reality: Having the most talented roster isn’t enough. Ohio State was decisively out-coached in both of its losses, especially Indiana.
Piqua grad Bryant Haines had his defense one step ahead of Day and Julian Sayin, who looked like a redshirt freshman quarterback, in the Big Ten Championship Game. The defense couldn’t figure out how to stop the Hoosiers when they really needed the ball back with enough time to do anything with it.
The Cotton Bowl was more of the same as Day and erstwhile offensive coordinator Brian Hartline and staff designed a clunker of an offensive game plan. Instead of getting the ball out of Sayin’s hands fast, OSU allowed Miami’s star pass rushers to tee off and dominate the first half while failing to accentuate the Buckeyes’ strengths at receiver.
What will it take for Ohio State to get back to the top of the Big Ten and college football, which are now officially the same place?
Well, Indiana having a rich benefactor like Mark Cuban to juice the name, image and likeness fund doesn’t hurt, but we saw Monday night it still comes down to blocking and tackling. Indiana executed those fundamentals better than anyone regardless of where the players doing it came from.
Better offensive line play…and better running back play are both essentials for going forward in 2026.
Haines did a good job varying his attack, but the IU offense was nothing special from an Xs and Os standpoint. Just a simple plan executed well over and over again by a great quarterback with a great offensive line and good skill players. Move the chains. Make them stop you over and over again. It worked because they blocked people, the backs broke tackles and the quarterback delivered the ball where it needed to go.
Blocking is what Ohio State needs to worry about more than anything next season. A new offensive coordinator from the outside to spruce up the attack might help, but so would just being able to knock people off the ball at the snap. Five years without a great offensive line is far too many for the Buckeyes.
I thought they were fit to at least get in the way long enough for Sayin and his speedy receivers to do enough damage for Ohio State to run through another playoff field, but that did not happen.
Good enough should not be the goal anyway.
Physical. Nasty. Impactful. They should be that this fall, and not just when they have a score to settle against Michigan or it’s Rutgers or UCLA on the other side of the ball.
Be dominant: Accept no substitutes.
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Returning starters Austin Siereveld, Luke Montgomery, Carson Hinzman and Phillip Daniels will be juniors or seniors with a year or more starting experience. If not now, when will Ohio State ever have an offensive line Woody Hayes (or Urban Meyer for that matter) would be proud of again?
Sayin will still have Jeremiah Smith to throw to, but he needs to display all-around growth in 2026, including a better sense of when to get out of the pocket and get what he can get on the ground. That skill was driven home by Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza’s dramatic fourth-down QB draw that proved to be the winning touchdown for the Hoosiers against the Hurricanes.
Ohio State’s running backs need to be a lot better, too. More than once I thought if Ohio State had any of the top four backs in the championship game they would have been in Miami on Monday night, and that might expand to the top 8 or 9 backs in the whole CFP.
Bo Jackson had some big moments, but he also went down far too easily at times. Another year of winter conditioning under Mickey Marotti could do wonders for him and fellow sophomore-to-be Isaiah West, but the proof will be in the pudding next fall.
The defense is a greater unknown.
As far as we know, Matt Patricia will be back for another season on the sidelines, though the NFL coaching carousel is still spinning.
Retaining Patricia would be a good start with four potential first-round NFL draft picks gone (Caleb Downs, Kayden McDonald, Sonny Styles and Arvell Reese) and productive senior Caden Curry among those out of eligibility.
Here is another area changes in the sport may or may not work out for Ohio State.
With the way the Buckeyes recruit, future Silver Bullets are always waiting in the wings, but a few of them flew the coop when the transfer portal opened. So Day and Co. turned to the portal for a mix of players who are proven starters (Wisconsin linebacker Christian Alliegro, UCF defensive tackle John Walker, Florida State safety Earl Little Jr. and Duke safety Terry Moore) and some with something left to prove (Alabama defensive linemen Qua Russaw and James Smith, Georgia CB Dominick Kelly).
That was an important audible to call on his preferred plans for roster building (primarily via high schoolers), but will it be enough?
King Curt will be waiting to let them know Oct. 17 in Bloomington with a retooled roster of his own.
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