The Big Ten Championship: What Does it Mean Now for Ohio State and Buckeye Fans?
The BCS National Championship game, later transformed into the College Football Playoff in 2014, coupled with the routine success of Ohio State against conference opponents might have an impact on the way some Buckeye fans look at a Big Ten title nowadays.
Unless news changes drastically in the coming weeks, it looks as though a Big Ten title will be the only thing the Silver Bullets will be competing for this upcoming season. Years ago, a conference crown was the ultimate goal for teams such as Ohio State.
With few out-of-conference games and no national playoff system, teams felt fulfilled boasting a Big Ten title and earning a subsequent trip to the Rose Bowl. Programs were able to represent a prestigious conference which has been naming champions since 1896, when Wisconsin won the inaugural crown.
Legendary Michigan coach Bo Schembechler once said... “Our goals have always been to win the Big Ten title and the Rose Bowl. If we do that, we consider it a successful season.”
Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, winning a Big Ten title might not seem like enough anymore. Commencing with the remarkable run of the 2014 team winning the first-ever College Football Playoff, the Buckeyes have enjoyed repetitive and dominant success on the conference level.
Winning four of the last six Big Ten championships, the Scarlet and Gray are searching for their fourth-straight crown when the pseudo season begins in 2021. En route to their 2019 title, the Buckeyes outscored conference opponents by an average of 33.3 points per game. To put that in more perspective, runner-up Wisconsin only won one of its Big Ten games by more than Ohio State’s average margin of victory in the conference.
In 2016, Ohio State didn't even make the Big Ten Championship in Indianapolis yet was still selected to the four-team College Football Playoff. The year prior, in 2015, the Buckeyes embarrassed Wisconsin, 59-0, at Lucas Oil Stadium before going on to win the national title.
In addition to their recent Big Ten domination, head coach Ryan Day and the Buckeyes are making historical progress on the recruiting trail. With the No. 1 class for 2021, and a current number No. 2 projection in 2022, Ohio State is adding more fuel to the scarlet Ferrari that has seemingly left the rest of conference on the side of the highway.
Has Ohio State become victims of its own in-conference success? Has the incredible on-field performance and recruiting domination made it "national championship or bust" every year in Columbus?
Obviously for Buckeye fans it will never get old beating TTUN, but with an average margin of victory over a Harbaugh-coached team being nearly 20 points per game, it may be tough for Ohio State fans to find the same adrenaline they felt deep in the fourth quarter with Clemson last December.
As it turns out, its a fairly split decision among fans. BuckeyesNow conducted a Twitter poll asking fans to choose only one preference of three options. Results showed that 47 percent just want to win the national title, 45 percent say a Big Ten still crown matters and 8 percent voted they just want to beat Michigan above anything else.
We do not seem to be going out on a limb predicting the dominance will continue this winter/spring season. Assuming all Buckeyes play, and quite honestly even if they do not, it would be a surprise to see Day’s group less than double-digit favorites for any contest. While the strong possibility remains of fans sitting in their living rooms this winter watching Ohio State roll to another Big Ten title, the question becomes… is that enough anymore?
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