It was supposed to be a coronation. Honestly, if you were a fan of college football back in the summer of 2015, you probably felt like the season was already over before it started. The 2015 Ohio State Buckeyes football team wasn't just coming off a national championship; they were returning almost every single superstar from a squad that had just dismantled Alabama and Oregon. They were the first-ever unanimous preseason Number 1 in the history of the AP Poll. All 61 voters looked at that roster and said, "Yeah, nobody is beating these guys."
But sports don't work like that. They never do.
The 2015 season is a weird, frustrating, and fascinating case study in what happens when you have too much of a good thing. You had Urban Meyer trying to manage a roster that featured a staggering 12 players who would eventually be drafted in the first two rounds of the NFL Draft. We're talking about Ezekiel Elliott, Michael Thomas, Joey Bosa, and Marshon Lattimore all on the same field. It was an NFL scout's fever dream. Yet, for about ten weeks, the Buckeyes looked like they were sleepwalking through a haze of expectations and a clunky two-quarterback system that nearly broke the offense.
The Quarterback Conundrum that Paralysed Columbus
Most teams pray for one elite quarterback. Urban Meyer had three. Cardale Jones had just finished a legendary three-game run to win the 2014 title, playing like a literal giant among boys. J.T. Barrett was the hyper-efficient distributor who had set school records before getting hurt. Then you had Braxton Miller—the two-time Big Ten Player of the Year—who was so athletic he transitioned to wide receiver just to get on the field.
It sounded great on paper. In reality? It was a mess.
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Meyer chose to start Cardale Jones, likely out of loyalty to the "hot hand" from the playoff run. But the rhythm was off. The offense lacked the identity it had the previous year. They’d struggle against teams like Northern Illinois and Indiana, winning by the skin of their teeth. It felt like they were waiting for a light switch to flip. You’d watch Zeke Elliott—arguably the best back in the country—get fewer carries than he deserved while the coaching staff tried to make the passing game happen. It was clunky. It was frustrating. It was a Ferrari being driven in a school zone.
The Statistical Dominance People Forget
Despite the "struggles," this team was still a juggernaut. They started 10-0. The defense, led by Joey Bosa and a young Malik Hooker, was terrifying. They held opponents to 10 points or fewer in five different games.
Let's look at the sheer talent. Joey Bosa was a nightmare on the edge. Raekwon McMillan was a tackling machine in the middle. In the secondary, Eli Apple and Vonn Bell were erasing wide receivers. They weren't just winning; they were suffocating people. But because they weren't winning by 50 every week, the media narrative turned sour. People started calling them "bored." Maybe they were. When you know you're better than everyone else, sometimes you play down to your competition. It's a human flaw that even elite athletes can't always dodge.
November 21: The Rainy Nightmare in the Shoe
Everything crashed on a cold, miserable, rainy Saturday in Columbus. Michigan State came to town. The Spartans didn't even have their starting quarterback, Connor Cook. It should have been a blowout. Instead, it became the most infamous game of the Meyer era.
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The play-calling was, frankly, bizarre. Ezekiel Elliott, the heart of the team, carried the ball only 12 times. Twelve. In a hurricane. On a day where throwing the ball was nearly impossible, the Buckeyes' staff seemingly forgot they had a future NFL rushing champion in the backfield. When Michael Geiger kicked that 41-yard field goal to win it for the Spartans and did his windmill celebration across the turf, the silence in Ohio Stadium was deafening.
The aftermath was pure chaos. Zeke Elliott didn't hold back in the post-game press conference. He was hurting. He was frustrated. He basically told the media he was gone to the NFL and questioned why he didn't get the ball. It was a rare moment of public friction in a program that usually kept things behind closed doors. At that moment, it felt like the 2015 Ohio State Buckeyes football season was a total failure.
The "What If" That Still Lingers
The crazy thing is what happened next. After the loss, the "light switch" finally flipped. Ohio State went to Ann Arbor the following week and absolutely destroyed Michigan, 42-13. They looked like the best team in the world again. Then they went to the Fiesta Bowl and hammered a very good Notre Dame team, 44-28.
If you ask any college football analyst today who the best team was at the end of 2015, most won't say Alabama (the actual champions). They'll say Ohio State. If the playoff had been eight teams, or if the Buckeyes had just given Zeke the ball five more times against Sparty, they likely would have repeated as champions.
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They finished 12-1. In most universes, that’s a legendary season. In Columbus, it’s remembered for the one that got away.
Why This Team Still Matters for Modern Fans
The 2015 Buckeyes are a blueprint for why roster management is more important than raw recruiting stars. It’s the ultimate example of how the "burden of greatness" can actually hinder a team's performance. They were so talented that the coaches felt obligated to satisfy everyone, which ultimately satisfied no one until it was too late.
If you’re looking to understand the DNA of modern Ohio State football, you have to look at this year. It’s where the high-flying, pro-style expectations really took root. It also serves as a warning for current "super-teams" in the NIL era: talent wins games, but clarity of roles wins championships.
Actionable Insights for the Modern Fan:
- Study the Draft Value: Go back and look at the 2016 NFL Draft. Five Buckeyes went in the first round (Bosa, Elliott, Apple, Decker, Lee). This remains one of the most concentrated talent pools in college history. Watching their college tape compared to their NFL careers is a masterclass in player development.
- Watch the 2015 Michigan Game: If you want to see what this team was supposed to look like every week, watch the condensed replay of the 2015 "The Game." It is the perfect execution of Urban Meyer’s spread-power run system.
- Evaluate Coaching Decisions: Use this season as a case study in why the "Two Quarterback" system almost never works at the elite level. It's a great reference point when debating current college football quarterback battles.
The 2015 Ohio State Buckeyes football season wasn't a failure by any standard metric, but it remains a haunting reminder that in college football, your biggest opponent is often the one inside your own locker room.