Ohio State, college football’s sleeping giant, is finally awake thanks to an unlikely culprit
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Ohio State, college football’s sleeping giant, is finally awake thanks to an unlikely culprit

Posted on by Amelia Pressman

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Michigan may have awakened a sleeping giant that the rest of college football will now have to pay the price for.

Ohio State has a Michigan problem, and their recent loss to the Wolverines was proof of that.

But the Buckeyes’ victories in the College Football Playoff — Dec. 21 over Tennessee and Wednesday over Oregon in the Rose Bowl — are also evidence that their problems in The Game have nothing to do with any other game they’ve played possibly participate.

In fact, that loss to Michigan and the three losses before it may have become the motivating factor for an unstoppable force.

Michigan is the reason this Ohio State roster exists. Three straight losses led a group of veteran players to give up on their NFL dreams and patch things up last offseason. Those losses to Michigan are why the Buckeyes entered the transfer portal more than any other offseason, adding safety Caleb Downs, quarterback Will Howard, running back Quinshon Judkins, tight end Will Kacmarek and center Seth McLaughlin. That’s why Ryan Day quit acting and hired his mentor Chip Kelly to take on the role.

Michigan was the first to go and they failed.

That failure, coupled with the Oct. 12 loss to Oregon in the regular season, also meant their second goal of winning a Big Ten championship failed.

These two failures increased the pressure for the third goal, a national championship, and led to an angry and desperate football team.

We saw that in these first two playoff games.

The Buckeyes have dominated their last two opponents, jumping out to an early lead and never taking their foot off the gas. Because they can’t. They live with the losses to their rivals that can’t be undone, and instead use that pain as fuel to carry them through the College Football Playoff in the same way they carried them through last offseason.

What happened against Michigan on November 30th was unforgivable and left the program in a state of uncertainty and negativity.

Then OSU took the field against Tennessee and everyone came together again. On Wednesday it took on Oregon and the hope that this season was destined for something special was reborn.

Everything positive that has happened in the Ohio State ecosystem has come from the pain that always happens on the last Saturday in November. This is a problem that still needs to be solved, but these failures have created a sleeping giant.

Tennessee was the first to receive this revenge. Oregon next got a chance in the Rose Bowl as OSU avenged a regular-season loss.

Next up on January 10th is Texas with Quinn Ewers, a quarterback who was once expected to be part of the Buckeyes’ future.

Michigan may have awakened a sleeping giant. Now the rest of college football has to deal with this.

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