Ohio State finally kicks off the 2020 football season tomorrow. It鈥檚 a pandemic shortened season, but also one of high expectations for the Buckeyes.
They enter the season as one of the favorites to win the national title following last season鈥檚 crushing loss in the college football playoff semifinal to Clemson.
鈥淵ou鈥檝e got a great quarterback in Justin Fields, you鈥檝e got maybe the best offensive line in college football this year, you鈥檝e got both veteran and young receivers, you鈥檝e got a couple of tight ends in [Jeremy] Ruckert and Luke Farrell that could be probably be starting anywhere in the country,鈥� says Tim May, sports reporter for Lettermen Row.
And that鈥檚 just the offensive line-up. May says the defense may be the best in the program鈥檚 history.
鈥淲hen you watched that team walk out of the Woody Hayes Athletic center the day the Big Ten announced it was postponing the season til the spring, it took almost two hands to count the guys that probably wouldn鈥檛 be part of that,鈥� May says. 鈥淎nd that was a team seldom seen in football walking out the door there that might not be together again when the spring starts.鈥�
OSU is the runaway favorite to win the conference, but May says the question mark of COVID means nothing is certain.
鈥淐ollege football is a week-to-week experience,鈥� he says, 鈥淔or example, if Justin Fields comes down somehow, some way with COVID-19, he鈥檚 out for three weeks, he鈥檚 out for three games.鈥�
The tight schedule, of nine games in nine weeks, leaves even less room for that sort of deviation.
鈥淎nybody who thinks everybody is gonna play nine games鈥擨 would take the under on that if this was a betting game in Las Vegas in a sports book. There are all kinds of things that can trip a team up,鈥� May says.
