Ohio State's new problem: Everyone expects Buckeyes to repeat in 2015

Published Apr. 8, 2015 8:00 a.m. ET

Stewart Mandel

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- As practice wrapped up on a recent Thursday morning, familiar faces from Ohio State's 2014 championship run sprang up all around the Buckeyes' indoor practice facility. Ezekiel Elliott, the speedy tailback who ran all over Alabama and Oregon, held court with a throng of reporters. Cardale Jones, the quarterback who won three trophies in three starts, sat on a bench in conversation. J.T. Barrett, Jones' predecessor and Heisman top-five finisher before breaking his ankle, lingered on the field to get in a few more throws.

All three are so ingrained in the college football landscape that it's hard to believe how anonymous they still were at the start of the current school year. Elliott was a touted recruit who'd played sparingly as a freshman. Barrett was the unknown redshirt freshman who'd soon be thrust into duty as injured star Braxton Miller's replacement. Jones, future postseason sensation, was known solely for a two-year-old tweet.

And as recently as last December, the Buckeyes were nobody's pick to even play for, much less win, last year's national championship. Now, they go through spring practices knowing they're the far-and-away 2015 favorite.

"Last year, we were kind of the underdogs a lot of the time, which I like being," Barrett said. "I like people counting us out. But now, people are definitely going to be coming at us even harder than last year. People don't look at us as underdogs anymore."

Ohio State coach Urban Meyer knows well the pressures that come the season after a big season, both as participant and spectator. As Florida's coach during the Gators' back-to-back basketball titles in 2006 and '07, he remembers visiting that team's locker room after an ugly win over South Carolina during the eventual repeat season. Coach Billy Donovan was letting his players have it.

"Joakim Noah, who I had a great relationship with, walked by me," Meyer recalled. "He looked right at me and he said, 'You know, there was a time when we enjoyed winning' -- and threw his towel at the locker. I thought, 'Wow.'"

Two years later, Meyer found himself in the same predicament. As soon as Tim Tebow announced he'd return for his senior season after winning the 2008 BCS title, expectations for the 2009 team became impossibly high. The Gators began 12-0 but failed to dominate the way they had the year before.

"To say that I enjoyed '09 -- I did not," said Meyer, who went to an Atlanta emergency room with chest pains after losing to Alabama in the SEC title game. "My personal struggles, you could see it on the team, where nothing was good enough. I'll never forget the day we beat Tennessee by [10 points], and everybody in the locker room was pissed off. And then I walk in the press conference and all I answer is questions about why we didn't play well.

"You can't lose the enjoyment of winning," he said. "That's something I have to do a good job of [this season], make sure we never lose that enjoyment."

It'd be easy to look at the Buckeyes' returning roster and assume the 2015 season will be even more enjoyable than the last. In addition to Elliott and the much-chronicled quarterback trio of Jones/Barrett/Miller, Ohio State welcomes back four starting offensive linemen. Defensive standouts include All-American end Joey Bosa, linebackers Darron Lee and Joshua Perry and safeties Vonn Bell and Tyvis Powell. All will be expected to pick up right where they left off in Arlington, Texas, last January.

But like every team, the Buckeyes have areas of concern they're addressing this spring. Meyer lists three in particular. One is replacing star defensive tackle Michael Bennett, one of the most important figures in Ohio State's postseason run. "We've got bodies there but no one has really stepped up," said Meyer.

Second is offensive line depth. The first five are solid, led by likely preseason All-American tackle Taylor Decker, but "our backups are not very good," said Meyer. "I'd actually put them in the way-below-average category right now, and if we lose a guy, we're in trouble."

And third is finding a new home-run threat to replace valuable receiver Devin Smith, Jones' most frequent target on his many postseason deep balls. Two redshirt freshmen, Parris Campbell and Johnnie Dixon, are among those vying for the role. Evan Spencer, another key wideout last season, is gone as well.

"We've got a couple situations where we need to replace some great guys, and if we don't replace them, we won't be as good," said Jones. "Everyone's got to play their roles and step up like we did when Braxton went down last year."

Ah yes, Braxton. And Cardale and J.T. The sport's most fascinating quarterback derby is well underway, even though Miller continues to be sidelined by a serious shoulder injury. While Barrett has progressed well enough to throw in 7-on-7s, the fully healthy Jones maintains the leadership role he developed during his rapid ascension last winter.

And all three are adjusting to a new position coach, Tim Beck, formerly of Nebraska, after offensive coordinator Tom Herman -- widely hailed for his role in developing all three -- landed the Houston head-coaching job.

Fans and media across the country have been wondering since before last season ended how this unprecedented race will play out. Would Meyer really bench Jones after leading Ohio State to a national title? (Unofficially, no one currently holds the lead.) Will Miller, a two-time Big Ten player of the year, transfer and play elsewhere next year? (To this point he's given no indication he will.)

The quarterbacks themselves find the whole thing amusing.

"We think it's really funny, being as we compete all the time," Barrett said. "It's not anything new or different to what we already do. Being as we came off the season we did and all of us played, I guess the whole country could see that we can all play ball. So that just raised some eyebrows like, what are they gonna do?

"Well, we're going to do the same thing we've been doing. The best player's going to play."

But Meyer admits his impending decision is weighing on him, not out of difficulty over deciding which standout will play but the heartbreak of having to tell the other two that they won't.

"It's tough, because they're so invested," he said. "The team won a national title, and every one of those three quarterbacks had an awful lot to do with it. If we didn't develop the momentum from the 12-0 year with Braxton [in 2012], we wouldn't be there. He worked his butt off again the next year. And then J.T -- are you kidding me? And then Cardale. So every one of them is as invested as anyone on the team."

Again, most would deem this a first-world football problem, as are most of Ohio State's issues lately. In fact Meyer's biggest hiccup this offseason was getting stuck on a cruise for a couple extra days.

But only three schools in the last 35 years have repeated as national champions, despite plenty who returned as much or more star power than Ohio State will this season. One need only look to Florida State last season, which brought back a Heisman quarterback (Jameis Winston) and a boatload of NFL-caliber talent, entered the College Football Playoff undefeated but spent the entire year fighting to overcome cracks that Oregon eventually exploited in a Rose Bowl blowout.

"I know we won the national championship. That's cool, but it's a new year, new people, new coaches coming in," said Barrett. "With that, you've got to be focused and not try to be complacent with where we're at. People are gunning for us because we are at the top, and it's harder to be at the top than at the bottom."

All the teams at the bottom would surely disagree, but being No. 1 certainly comes with its own unique challenges.

"Your life doesn't change," said Meyer, who's gone through a season-after twice before. "You kind of expect your problems won't be as serious, that everything's OK, we won the national title. But you find out what I found out -- you have the same, if not more difficult, problems."

Choosing a quarterback does not even crack his top three.

Stewart Mandel is a senior college sports columnist for FOXSports.com. He covered college football and basketball for 15 years at Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter @slmandel. Send emails and Mailbag questions to Stewart.Mandel@fox.com.