I think the only question mark left on this team is the OL. And if that gets figured out, OSU is in the CFP once again. And has the talent to beat scUM in AA. I think last year, Day & Co didn't feel that the backups were up to speed enough and there would've been too big of a drop off to sub in. Though it was frusterating to watch starters in in late games even when the games were put away.Well stated, Script. Ponies won't do if you don't have the horses. Gotta have the talent, however, gotta be able to play the pieces on the board as well. Would like to see that statistic spread out among the position groups. tOSU has had an incredible amount of highly ranked players at the WR and DB positions over the years, but sorely lacking in several other positions (OL to be exact). That's why this year's OL is in doubt I'm thinking. Projects are fine, as long as you've got the studs in place. What I'm stumbling in saying is that in this era of college football, these young men have got to see some action to keep their interest. Coach J substitutes freely, even when game is on the line, and his DL troops have responded well to that. Other groups, not so much. And they lose interest and leave. Maybe that's a good thing, dunno, but it's hard (to me at least) to see a kid leave and excel on another team when it coulda been tOSU. On the other hand, coaches are paid millions to 'win', and you want the pieces on the board that can help reach that goal. Not certain that I've got an answer, maybe experimentation(?) during a game? Last year is a prime example of NOT putting in the youngsters when game is out of hand. OL, QB, DB, LB are prime examples. That's why this year is a 'rebuilding' year (yeah, I know tOSU reloads...), but OL and QB play has suffered. Go Bucks
The guys that OSU lost had slim chances of making impacts anyway. And I honestly wasn't surprised by any of them leaving(though Kaleb Brown leaving was somewhat of a surprise, but I figured at least 2 '22 WRs would transfer). As long as Day is the HC, I wouldn't worry about QBs. There was so much worry when Fields left, and multiple calls for Stroud's benching after the Oregon game, yet here we are. Again worrying about the next OSU QB starter, forgetting that many in the fan base wanted McCord to start over Stroud after the Akron game. The offense will be fine under Day/Hartline, and I'm sure year 2 for Knowles should go better as well.
But the flow of talent has to be constant if OSU wants to keep up in the NC hunt. And we're seeing this cycle that teams can't rely solely on collectives to bring in the talent. Coaches need to still coach, and they also need to find the right chemistry of players as well. Because its interesting that aTm is 4th on the list of blue chips, yet had a nightmare of a season.
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