The college football season is over. We’ll pause for a moment and let the tears stop flowing. Okay, we must move onward, so we will.
It’s now time to reflect on the season that was, and Paul Myerberg of USA TODAY has done so by dishing out grades for all 130 FBS teams from 2019. It must be noted that teams are graded on a curve based on expectations. For example, Minnesota’s season is graded differently than Alabama, who failed to make the College Football Playoff for the first time.
So where is Ohio State? The Buckeyes weren’t thought to be a threat to the College Football Playoff by many because of a year of transition. One that saw the loss of head coach Urban Meyer and quarterback Dwayne Haskins, among several other significant unknowns.
But instead of taking a slide back, the Buckeyes and new head coach Ryan Day went undefeated in the regular season and made the College Football Playoff. It ultimately ended in frustration and despair with a loss to Clemson that felt like highway robbery in the desert, but still — it was a fantastic season.
Myerberg gave Ohio State an A, but failed to peg it with an A+, probably largely because of the historical expectations heaped on the program. There were only four teams graded out with an A+. Those teams were LSU, Clemson, Baylor, and Minnesota.
Where is Ohio State football on USA TODAY's early top 25 for 2020? https://t.co/2QIKZT2U4C
— Buckeyes Wire (@BuckeyesWire) January 15, 2020
There were six other teams he gave an A to. Those include Air Force, Appalachian State, Florida, Memphis, Navy, and SMU.
It’s fun being a fan of a program like Ohio State, but it sure makes it tough to blast through such high expectations. This is one example. Of course the Buckeyes could have beaten Clemson and won a national title, but with what Ryan Day was dealing with, it’s hard to think of a better coaching job in America aside from what LSU’s Ed Orgeron did down in Baton Rouge.
By the way, Michigan received a B-. Who’s got it better than them?