They were coming off of a national championship and returned the usual unholy fuckton of talent that tends to accumulate in Columbus. They beat the pants off of they played (including Michigan, finally good god thank you) until they ran into Cignetti in Indy. A down year for the Buckeye faithful, but again: they beat Michigan. Let's remind ourselves of the beatdowns.
What were the expectations?
Transient Buckeye: Ohio State entered 2025 as reigning national champions, having just completed a very impressive four-game run through the College Football Playoff. A lot of talent from that team had moved onto the NFL, but many of the new starters were guys who had already seen plenty of game action, and the ones who hadn't were typically players who had been blue-chip recruits coming out of high school. Ryan Day's decision to hire Matt Patricia as defensive coordinator was the object of quite a bit of snickering from fans of other Big Ten teams (and, to be fair, a sizable slice of the OSU fanbase). That skepticism aside, OSU was seen as a virtual lock to return to the College Football Playoff, one of the favorites to win the Big Ten, and a legitimate national title contender.
MaximumSam: Win or die, as is tradition.
Kind of...: Some people thought it was finally going to be Penn State's year. However, folks less easily distracted coalesced into the standard "Ohio State now, Ohio State forever" consensus. Ryan Day had finally gotten over the hump, what was to stop him from repeating given all that talent that was returning?
WSR: Get to the championship game. All the Buckeyes needed to do was get as far as possible in spite of the coach.
So, how'd it go?
Transient Buckeye: Ohio State mostly rolled to an undefeated regular season. They were really only in one game whose outcome was in doubt going into the fourth quarter, that being the season opener against Texas. Matt Patricia definitely got the last laugh over his doubters, as OSU's defense was elite all season long. The offense was fine, but felt a little bit sluggish in comparison to some of its previous incarnations. Things went less well in the postseason. Ohio State lost a tightly contested Big Ten title game to Indiana, which dropped them into a CFP quarterfinal matchup with Miami, the one team in the CFP field that I least wanted to see them play (and yes, that included Indiana). Miami posed a matchup problem for Ohio State in a way that few teams in the CFP field would have, and the Hurricanes ended Ohio State's season in the Cotton Bowl, defeating them 24-14.
MaximumSam: The morning after the Miami game, the radio guys were saying it was a wasted season and the coaches messed it all up, as is tradition.
Kind of...: Mixed bag by the standards of people who wear poisonous nuts around their necks. 12-2 is a very good season. And they beat Michigan. So...any dipshit who thought the '24 title was incomplete because the lost to Michigan cannot consistently argue that last year was a complete failure. Then again, we're talking about one of the worst fanbases in the sport. There are about as many consistent fans as empty seats in the Horsehoe (almost as if these things are correlated...). And to be fair to folks who don't deserve such consideration, going another year without winning the B1G, and then going one-and-done in the CFP, does make a pretty loud thud. Sympathy is in short supply, however.
WSR: I will continue to bang on my drum and be infuriated about the performance of this team in allowing Indiana to have nice things. Football season is when the Hoosier fans are supposed to wear the Notre Dame side of their jackets. Ohio State allowed them to win a B1G and National Title, and they should be ashamed of themselves for that failure.
What were the highlights?
Transient Buckeye: In the Michigan recap, I mentioned that the Wolverines' 2025 record was inflated by their schedule. In fairness, Ohio State's schedule, while not quite that weak, wasn't great, either. The win over Texas in the season opener lost some of its luster over the next month, as it turned out that 2025 Texas was merely good, not great. OSU did manage road wins over solid Washington and Illinois teams, and notched a highly therapeutic (at least for me) win over Michigan in Ann Arbor. The rest of the season was a collection of contests against horrifically overmatched G5 and lower-tier Big Ten teams, but at least Ohio State did what a good team should to do inferior competition, and sent their opponents packing with a minimum of stress.
Kind of...: Caleb Downs was one of the best defensive players in recent B1G history. Only three teams scored more than one TD on this defense. They gave up 13 TDs all year, three of which were garbage time, and one of which was an INT return. So...nine TDs surrendered in competitive play. The highlight was watching a historically great defense.
WSR: The defense was insane. Not allowing a TD in 5 games is a video game number, and it was so smothering that we were shouting at the Gophers to punt on 2nd downs. The performance against Texas in the 2nd half of the opener was an absolute clinic as well.
AlmaOtter: Man, what idiot would have predicted a backslide on the defensive side of the ball? OOPS.
AlmaOtter
And the lowlights?
Transient Buckeye: Well, the end of the season wasn't great. I wasn't initially that upset with the Big Ten title game loss to Indiana, because that game was a nailbiter. Like a lot of observers, I felt that there was a pretty good chance that the Buckeyes and Hoosiers were going to play each other twice, with the loser of the first game more likely to win the rematch. But in retrospect, that loss wound up being hugely important, because it locked OSU into the aforementioned unfavorable playoff matchup with Miami.
Kind of...: Despite having the best offensive weapon in the nation...and, separately, the first WR taken in this year's draft...Ohio State's offense was rather pedestrian. It crashed out at the end of the year scoring 24 points in 120 minutes against elite competition. Take away the Grambling State game, and the Buckeyes just barely broke 30 ppg, despite a totally reasonable B1G schedule. It's one thing not to show too much of the playbook when you're grinding Wisconsin into dust. It's another to try to get through the season only using 10% of the playbook.
WSR: The last two games are going to be deservedly harped on. Just a pathetic showing for a team with this much talent.
Any memorable and or absurd moments?
Transient Buckeye: Beating Texas is always memorable, because every time it happens we can collectively push the "Texas is back" meme another year into the future. I don't really recall anything absurd about OSU's 2025 campaign. Jeremiah Smith probably did any number of ridiculous things, but he makes them look so easy that after a while they just stop sticking with you.
Kind of...: Beating both the #1 team in the country (Texas) and then ending a relatively long losing streak to your chief rival really seems like a memorable season. That is wasn't tells you a lot about the concept of absurdity when applied to a CFB powerhouse.
WSR: Look, as a Minnesota fan I'm going to go back to that game. It was the most thorough and efficient vivisection I can remember, and I've seen far too many. At least we scored on the opening drive and got to celebrate for nearly 4 minutes.
