It was a weird year. Honestly, if you ask any die-hard fan about the 2017 Ohio State Buckeyes football team, you’re going to get a heavy sigh before they even start talking. This wasn't a "bad" team by any stretch of the imagination—they won the Big Ten and smashed USC in the Cotton Bowl—but they are the ultimate "what if" squad of the Urban Meyer era. They had the talent to win a national title. They really did. But they also had a tendency to disappear at the worst possible moments, and that dichotomy defines how we remember them nearly a decade later.
Coming off that humiliating 31-0 loss to Clemson in the 2016 playoffs, the vibe in Columbus was tense. J.T. Barrett was back for what felt like his tenth season under center. Urban Meyer had cleaned house on the offensive staff, bringing in Kevin Wilson and Ryan Day to fix a broken passing game. On paper, it worked. The offense was prolific. But the scars of 2017 aren't about the points they scored; they're about the points they gave up in a cornfield in Iowa.
The J.T. Barrett Paradox and the Birth of the Ryan Day Era
J.T. Barrett is a legend. You can't argue with the record books. He owns basically every major passing record at Ohio State, but in 2017, he became a lightning rod for criticism. Fans were split. Half the stadium loved his leadership and grit, while the other half was screaming for the young, strong-armed backup named Dwayne Haskins.
The season started with a clunker. They traveled to Bloomington and struggled with Indiana for three quarters before Barrett finally pulled away. Then came the Oklahoma game. Baker Mayfield planted a flag in the middle of the Block O at Ohio Stadium after a 31-16 Sooners win. It was embarrassing. Mayfield carved up the Buckeyes' secondary, and suddenly, the "Best in America" moniker for the defensive backs felt like a joke.
But then, something clicked.
Between late September and late October, the 2017 Ohio State Buckeyes football team looked unstoppable. They were dropping 50 and 60 points on everyone. The chemistry between Barrett and his "Zone 6" receivers—guys like Parris Campbell, Terry McLaurin, and K.J. Hill—was finally evident. Kevin Wilson’s influence was clear; the Buckeyes were playing fast, spreading the field, and actually utilizing the middle of the turf, which had been a dead zone the year prior.
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That Penn State Comeback
If you want to talk about the peak of 2017, it’s October 28th. The Horseshoe was a sea of red. Penn State, led by Saquon Barkley and Trace McSorley, was ranked No. 2 in the country. They went up 21-3 early. It felt over. I remember sitting there thinking the season was dead.
Then J.T. Barrett played the greatest quarter of football in his life.
He went 13-of-13 in the fourth quarter. It was surgical. He found Marcus Baugh in the end zone to take the lead with less than two minutes left. The stadium literally shook. That win vaulted Ohio State back into the playoff conversation and seemingly fixed all the mistakes from the Oklahoma loss. It was supposed to be the springboard to a title.
The Iowa Nightmare: What Really Happened?
One week later. Everything fell apart.
Traveling to Kinnick Stadium is always a trap, but nobody expected a 55-24 blowout. To this day, fans try to figure out how a defense loaded with NFL talent—Nick Bosa, Sam Hubbard, Tyquan Lewis, Denzel Ward—gave up 55 points to an unranked Iowa team. It wasn't just a loss; it was a systematic dismantling.
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Iowa tight end T.J. Hockenson was wide open on every play. Seriously. Every. Single. Play.
The Buckeyes looked slow. They looked unprepared. J.T. Barrett threw four interceptions. It was the kind of loss that doesn't just ruin a season; it stains a legacy. Because of that game, the 2017 Ohio State Buckeyes football team became the first two-loss team to ever be seriously debated for the College Football Playoff, but ultimately, the committee couldn't look past that 31-point margin in Iowa City. Even after they beat undefeated Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship, the Iowa "stink" stayed on them. The committee chose a one-loss Alabama team that didn't even win its own division instead.
People were furious. But honestly? If you lose by 31 to Iowa, you kind of lose your right to complain about the playoff committee.
The Cotton Bowl and the "What If" Defense
The season ended in Arlington against USC and Sam Darnold. The Buckeyes won 24-7. It wasn't even as close as the score suggested. The "Rushmen" defensive line absolutely terrorized Darnold. Watching that game, it was painfully obvious that Ohio State was one of the four best teams in the country. They just didn't have the resume to prove it when it mattered.
Key Personnel of the 2017 Roster
- The Backfield: Mike Weber and a true freshman named J.K. Dobbins. Dobbins was a revelation, rushing for over 1,400 yards and proving he was the future of the program.
- The Defensive Ends: This might have been the greatest collection of DE talent in college history. Bosa, Hubbard, Lewis, and Chase Young (who was just a freshman).
- The Future Pro Bowlers: Terry McLaurin and Jerome Baker were already showing the traits that would make them NFL mainstays.
The tragedy of the 2017 team is that they were caught between eras. They were the bridge between the power-running style of the early Urban Meyer years and the high-flying, pass-first identity that Ryan Day would eventually cement.
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Lessons from the 2017 Campaign
What can we actually learn from this specific year? First, it proved that a "signature win" like the Penn State comeback can be completely invalidated by a "signature failure." Consistency is more valuable than peak performance in the playoff era.
Second, the 2017 season was the beginning of the end for the traditional "dual-threat" quarterback at Ohio State. While Barrett was successful, the brief glimpse of Dwayne Haskins in the Michigan game—where he came off the bench to lead a comeback win in Ann Arbor—changed the expectations of the fan base. People wanted the big arm. They wanted the NFL-style passing game. The 2017 season effectively ended the J.T. Barrett era and birthed the modern Ohio State offense we see today.
If you’re looking to truly understand the modern history of the Buckeyes, you have to look at 2017 as the year they learned that talent isn't enough to overcome a lack of focus.
Actionable Insights for the Modern Fan:
- Watch the 2017 Penn State game film if you want to see the absolute ceiling of what a senior leader can do for a program.
- Study the Iowa game as a blueprint for how an underdog can use tight-end mismatches to neutralize a superior defensive line.
- Acknowledge the recruiting impact: The 2017 class brought in Chase Young, Jeff Okudah, and Josh Myers—the core that would eventually lead the Buckeyes back to the playoff in 2019.
The 2017 Ohio State Buckeyes football season was a wild ride of extreme highs and inexplicable lows. It remains a cautionary tale of how one bad Saturday in November can outweigh three months of dominance.
Next Steps for Deep Research:
To get a better technical understanding of the tactical shift that occurred this year, look up the coaching clinic notes from Kevin Wilson regarding the 2017 "RPO" (Run-Pass Option) integration. You should also compare the defensive snap counts from the Iowa loss versus the Cotton Bowl win; the adjustment in linebacker depth and safety rotation after the Iowa debacle is a masterclass in mid-season course correction. Finally, check the 2018 NFL Draft results to see exactly how much "Sundays" talent was actually on this roster—it's higher than you remember.