The Ohio State Buckeyes are a stone’s throw away from a berth in the national championship game—the first since the College Football Playoff expanded to include 12 teams.
First though, they have to get through the Texas Longhorns. The two teams face off Friday night in the Cotton Bowl.
WSU's Matthew Rand spoke with Bill Rabinowitz, who covers the Buckeyes for the Columbus Dispatch.
Matthew Rand: It was a little over a month ago now that the Buckeyes suffered their fourth straight loss to their bitter rivals, the Michigan Wolverines. After that, it seemed like a lot of fans were really calling for head coach Ryan Day's head. What's your sense of where the fans are now, and does the OSU-Michigan rivalry still matter as much in this new era of the expanded playoff?
Bill Rabinowitz: You can't let anyone at Ohio State say the rivalry doesn't matter as much as ever. You can't go there. But look, the Michigan game was a disappointment. It came out of nowhere. It was shocking. It was inexcusable. But it wasn't the season. And yes, there is a faction of Ohio State's fan base that considers the Michigan game almost to be the season. But, you know, it's not. And there are bigger things than Michigan. And again, for that small segment of fans, there may not be. But I think that the way that Ohio State played against Tennessee and especially Oregon has made people who are on the fence certainly come back around and say, okay, this is the team we thought we'd see.
Matthew Rand: Right, well the Buckeyes do seem to be really re-energized in this postseason, as you mentioned, most notably Oregon, defeating them in the Rose Bowl after losing to the Ducks by one point back in October. What do you think accounts for the Buckeyes' recent success?
Bill Rabinowitz: Well, I think what happened after the Michigan game is they had a team meeting. That's been pretty well documented. It was a very candid, hard meeting. And I think that nobody left there feeling like feelings were not unexpressed. And I think that was healthy for this team. Whatever it was, whatever the issues were—and I'm not privy to that—I think they got them resolved. And I think the team realized, okay, we didn't beat Michigan, we didn't win the Big Ten because of that loss to Michigan. We didn't get a chance to play Oregon in Indianapolis. So we got one thing left. We all came back. All these seniors came back to win a national championship. That's still the biggest goal, and it's still in front of us. And they got a tough draw. I mean, playing Tennessee was not easy and certainly playing Oregon as the number one seed in the Rose Bowl was not an easy seed. But they know that if they play their best, they can beat and should beat anyone. And that's what they've done.
Matthew Rand: Looking ahead to tomorrow's Cotton Bowl, which is, of course, going to be played as usual in Arlington, Texas. I'm curious, will that give the Longhorns any sort of home field advantage?
Bill Rabinowitz: Well, there definitely is a home field advantage. Now, the weather in Dallas is supposed to be pretty bad. It kind of varies from every time I look, it's a little different. I'm not sure how it's going to play out. Look, Ohio State will definitely be the road team here. But I think they like that. I think they like the "us against the world" stuff. They've generally thrived in that kind of situation. They played very well in Atlanta against Georgia a couple of years ago. They didn't win the game, but they probably should have and certainly could have. So I don't think that that's a worry for them at all. This is a very united team. I think that they're ready to take on the world, and that's the way they look at it.
Matthew Rand: What are you going to be watching for that could end up being the keys to the game?
Bill Rabinowitz: Well, there are a lot of things, obviously. I think Will Howard plays the way he has the first two games, Ohio State is going to going to do fine. The defense is very, very good. Texas has a very good defense, but they haven't faced an offense like Ohio State's. And Texas has to be able to run the ball, which has been very inconsistent for them. Sometimes they've run it very well and other times they haven't run at all. So Texas is a very talented team. They certainly can beat Ohio State, but they haven't been a consistent team even within games. They jumped ahead of Arizona State early and then had to go to double overtime and got lucky to win that one. So they'll have to be at their best to beat Ohio State. You know, I like Ohio State's chances in this one, but that's why they play the games.
Matthew Rand: We should also acknowledge these athletes are also, first and foremost, students. What's your sense of how this longer season—potentially 16 games if they win Friday—is impacting their studies?
Bill Rabinowitz: It definitely is an issue. And, you know, it kind of speaks to the hypocrisy of college sports to think that you can be a full-time student and not have the pressures and the time demands that this requires of them. I do think that this happened kind of between semesters. And so I think it's not a big deal, but it's certainly something they've got to pay attention to.
