Ohio State is struggling with three losses in football already. The last time the team had three losses was in 2011. Head football coach Ryan Day is sad and stressed. He says he alone is accountable for the three losses. The buck does ultimately stop with him, and some of the sources of stress for Day relate to player personnel. His team had to integrate 51 new players. And he is not playing talented freshmen.
Ohio State looks to end its struggles this coming Saturday at noon in Ohio Stadium in the Big Noon kickoff. They are currently 12.5-point favorites, so things are looking good. They are going to benefit from playing Northwestern, which does not have its quarterback, Aidan Chiles. Do you think the Buckeyes will win?
Ohio State is Struggling: Explanation 2
Ohio State is struggling to win football games. They have three losses for the first time since the 2011 season, when they were coached by Luke Fickell in the wake of the tattoo-gate scandal that cost Jim Tressel his job. Can the Buckeyes turn things around in their game on Saturday afternoon against Northwestern? They will be successful only if they can successfully integrate all of their new players and if they play thier talented freshmen. Here are two more reasons why they have struggled this season.
51 New Players
One of the main reasons why Ohio State is struggling this season in football this season, is because they have 51 new players. They had a lot of players off last year’s roster drafted by the National Football League. Then, they had a large and talented freshman class. They also welcomed in a very large transfer class, which is a fact of life in modern college sports.
The Ohio State Buckeyes have struggled to integrate all of their new players. This has been complicated by the fact that the transfer portal class is probably the worst Ohio State has ever had. There are several players who were transfers, starting for the Buckeyes. Most of these players are on the defense. They are average, at best, football players.
It is difficult in modern football for a team to assess how talented the thousands of players in the transfer portal are. Ohio State should have the best at every position and from any source. One way to ensure this with respect to the transfer portal is to only sign players who could have gone pro and been drafted by the National Football League. That is not what happened this season.
Play the Freshmen
Equally puzzling has been the Coaches, presumably Day’s, reluctance to play some of the talented freshmen the team has. On offense, it is true that Chris Henry Jr. is playing; Legend Bey is not. He is an ultra-talented freshman who has demonstrated, in limited playing time, that he is a threat to score every time he touches the ball. The Buckeyes have few offensive weapons, so they need to play Bey, who has been riding the pine due to maturity issues.
Even more vexing is the paltry pass rush for the Buckeyes, which is the worst in team history. The offensive line for the Buckeyes is not generating pressure. Why is freshman Khary Wilder not playing? In very limited playing time, he has shown that he is the best pass rusher on the team.
Conclusion: There are yet More Reasons why Ohio State is struggling this Season
Ohio State is struggling to win football games. Another reason for this is the lack of talent on the field for Ohio State. One can see this when one asks how many Buckeyes will be drafted. The answer is not many. One also must wonder why, with the best strength and conditioning coach in college football, the team has seemingly wilted in the second half of games. Conditioning may be one of the reason Ohio State is struggling.
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