Ohio State third year wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba (11) recorded 1606 receiving yards and nine touchdowns in 13 games, during his second year campaign. Credit: Zachary Rilley | Photo Editor
Ohio State has a lot of weight on its shoulders entering 2022. And I mean a lot.
Last season, it lost to Michigan for the first time in a decade, failed to win the Big Ten Championship for the first time since 2016 and snapped back-to-back College Football Playoff appearances.
The Buckeyes put on a spectacular come-from-behind performance in their 48-45 Rose Bowl victory against Utah Jan. 1 in Pasadena, California, but head coach Ryan Day had this to say about last season’s finish at Big Ten Media Days July 27.
“Maybe at some places 11-2 with a Rose Bowl victory is a good year. It isn’t at Ohio State,” Day said.
I liken this season’s Buckeyes to “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.”
After Ricky Bobby rehabilitates himself following his horrific wreck, he is back racing at Talladega Superspeedway with a new number, no corporate sponsors, no team, a vinyl-wrapped cougar and “ME” on the hood of his car.
After cruising towards the back of the pack, he says to his crew chief over the radio, “Alright Lucius, time to let the cougar loose.”
That’s Ohio State football in 2022: a caged beast ready to be unleashed Saturday.
The Buckeyes return their firepower skill-position players in third-years quarterback C.J. Stroud and wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba and second-year running back TreVeyon Henderson — all of whom could find themselves in New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony.
A year ago, the world had no clue what potential the trio of weapons had at their disposal. Stroud had never thrown a pass, Henderson was just a true freshman and the only glimpse of Smith-Njigba’s game came against Nebraska during the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season, in which he made a circus, toe-tapping catch in the back of the end zone.
All three are now Ohio State record holders.
Stroud set the program record with 17-consecutive completions against Michigan State Nov. 20, 2021, also tying the single-game touchdown record with six in the same game. He also threw six touchdowns last season in his record-breaking Rose Bowl performance, where he became the first 500-yard passer in program history with 573 on 37 completions in 46 attempts.
Henderson broke Archie Griffin’s 49-year single-game freshman rushing record, notching 277 yards against Tulsa Sept. 18, 2021. In the season finale, Henderson broke Maurice Clarett’s 19-year freshman touchdown record, finishing with 19 scores a season ago.
Then, we have Smith-Njigba, who is one of the frontrunners for the Biletnikoff Award — given to the best receiver in college football — after hauling in 95 passes for 1,606 yards which are now both program records.
The Rose Bowl introduced Smith-Njigba to the country if they hadn’t already heard the name, putting up video game numbers with 15 receptions; a Rose Bowl, Football Bowl Subdivision bowl and Ohio State single-game record, 347 yards and three touchdowns.
They’re all back for 2022, so it’s safe to say Ohio State’s offense, which was already No. 1 in the country last year in scoring and total offense, will once again represent the winning ways of Ricky Bobby early in the film. And yes, they’ll most likely be doing victory laps around the second-best offense in the country.
However, who could be the Jean Girard to get in the way of the offense’s overarching success?
The defense.
Ohio State cleaned house on the defensive side of the ball, relieving Kerry Coombs, Matt Barnes and Al Washington — who is now Notre Dame’s defensive line coach — of their duties after producing the third-worst passing defense in the Big Ten.
The Buckeyes allowed 22.8 points per game a season ago — tied for the third-most in a season since 2012.
Last season, Oregon and Michigan ran all over Ohio State’s defense for 236 and 297 yards, respectively, in its two losses. New defensive coordinator Jim Knowles will look to come in and fix that after coaching Oklahoma State to an FBS fifth-best 87.6 rushing yards per game.
If they can shore up that side of the ball, Alabama will be the only other team to give them a run for the national title.
Smith-Njigba said on multiple occasions that Ohio State will be playing 15 games this season, which of course means it will play in the Big Ten Championship before appearing in the semifinal and national championship games.
And he’s 100 percent correct. The Buckeyes have entered national-title-or-bust territory this year because who knows how long it’ll be before they have three Heisman Trophy contenders on the same side of the ball again?
So, like Ricky Bobby’s mantra throughout the film, if the Buckeyes ain’t first in 2022, they’re last.
