October 29th, 20225 This is for a school assignment and it was rushed so some info might be off.
Dear Ohio State Football 2024,
There have been many Ohio State football teams that have gone undefeated, won the National Title, and had 10+ NFL players on the roster, which is extremely outstanding. It truly represents the amazing culture in the program and the greatness in the coaching staff, but the 2024 team, to me, stands out the most. I believe this because this team set the record for the most NFL players on one college team roster and won the National title, and I want to praise them for what they did and share it with the rest of the Ohio State football community.
Many People say that the greatest Ohio State team is the 2014 team, which won the national title, beating a powerhouse Oregon team 42-20. They also ended with a 14-1 record, only losing to one of the best teams in the country. They were also littered with NFL talent like J.T. Barrett and Terry McLaurin. Still, Ohio State 2024 had some of the biggest NFL stars on its roster, including Emeka Egbuka, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Treveon Henderson, and Quinshon Judkins. They also have current college stars Caleb Downs and Jeremiah Smith, who had a big impact on the team last season but are only sophomores in college.
With this said, you would assume most people think that this would be the best team in Ohio State history, but people argue it isn’t due to their loss to a rebuilding and, quite frankly, a terrible Michigan team. To me, this does not make them a bad team at all because it is the biggest college football rivalry in all of college football. Meaning that anything can happen, no matter how big the skill gap is between the two teams in rivalry games like this. On the other hand, the 2014 Ohio State team lost to an out-of-conference team that the program had no rivalry with, which means the team was just better than them. With all that information, we can clearly see that the 2024 team is better than the 2014 team, but I haven’t talked about coaches yet. Ryan Day, the current head coach at Ohio State, has a .882 win percentage or 88.2% which is the greatest win percentage of all time in College football history. This is evident in his coaching, as since he took over Ohio State, they have consistently remained in the top 12 rankings and are usually in the top 3. With this being said, they also have one of the best receiver coaches in the game. Brian Hartline, the current receivers coach, has created literally the best receivers college football has seen between Emeka Egbuka, Marvin Harrison Jr, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Jeremiah Smith, and Carnell Tate, all of whom are either already in the NFL or could easily be starters once they are drafted. In 2014, Ohio State did not have nearly as strong a receiver room as in 2024, and overall, the whole team has more talent in 2024. Another reason why the 2024 team is so good is its defense. This 2024 defense averaged only 16 points a game, which is astounding considering the teams they played and the conference they are in. With star players like Sonny Styles and Caleb Downs, their defense struck fear into other teams.
As someone who is a die-hard Ohio State fan, I hope other fans and the program appreciate my opinion. The 2024 Ohio State football team is the best Ohio State football team there has ever been. I also hope that the players on that team can get even more recognition for how good they were and for their futures in the NFL.
Sincerely,
Holden Irby is, long-time Ohio State football fan and football player.
