– Last Updated on June 8, 2018 7:50 am
2016 Football Preview – Big Ten – Ohio State Buckeyes
Looking for 2016 Ohio State Buckeyes predictions? The Ohio State Buckeyes open up the season coming off a win in the Fiesta Bowl against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, only weeks after a heart breaking loss against the Michigan State Spartans to hold them out of the College Football Playoffs.
2016 Big Ten College Football Preview – Ohio State Buckeyes
Head Coach: Urban Meyer
2015 Record: 13-1
Ohio State Buckeyes Odds To Win NCAA Championship +700
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Ohio State comes into the 2016 season after losing 16 starters from last season, in which includes 12 players being drafted, and 5 inside the first round.
The Buckeyes have a tough schedule coming into the season, where they are on the road in Oklahoma to face the sooners September 17th, and they go to East Lansing this season for a matchup with the Michigan State Spartans.
2016 Ohio State Buckeyes Predictions: Team Strengths
The overall strength of this team with many new faces includes one of the veterans on the team. The strength of this year’s Buckeye’s team is the offensive backfield. The backfield consists of possible Heisman candidate and the driver of this offense J.T. Barrett. span>
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Barrett will finally be going into camp as the absolute starter of this team, after two off-seasons which included an injury to Braxton Miller and the quarterback controversy that the Buckeye’s had with Cardale Jones and Barrett.
Barrett will be the face of this offense this year and the offense will roll as he does. Beside Barrett in this offense could be a few different styles of players which really makes this backfield exclusive.
Redshirt freshman Mike Weber leads the way to take the starting running back position, and he has big shoes to fill after Ezekiel Elliot was a top 5 pick after a decorated Ohio State career. Weber is set to take over the carries for the most part.
Brionte Dunn is coming on for his 5th season with the Buckeyes, and he has been more of a special teams player overall. You can look for Dunn to be a contributor offensively for the Buckeyes in 2016.
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With the contribution that Barrett will bring to the season paired with the Weber/Dunn combo, the offensive backfield sits as the strong point of this Ohio State team.
2016 Ohio State Buckeyes Predictions: Team Weaknesses
The weakness on this Ohio State team also occurs on the offense, and that position group is the wide receivers/tight ends. The Buckeye’s said farewell to wide receivers Michael Thomas, Braxton Miller, Jalen Marshall, and Nick Vannett to the NFL last season.
It is tough to say this is the weakest part of the team, but when you look at the amount of playing time this group of guys has played, it is tough to believe in this group 100%. This group of players could be led by many different players this season.
The group of players including Noah Brown and Corey Smith were expected to play a lot last season, but their seasons were ended due to injury. You can expect to see them along with Noah Samuel, who played in extended time last season, to contribute too much of this offense.
The other group of possible receivers that could be contributors could be: Torrence Gibson, Johnnie Dixon, Dontre Wilson, Austin Mack, Marcus Baugh, James Clark, and Parris Campbell. With that group of guys, Urban Meyer can play all of them in spurts until he is confident with a select group of guys.
This group of receivers will be skilled, but the lack of experience could hurt them come September.
2016 Ohio State Buckeyes Predictions:
(Ohio State Prediction: 12-2)
It is hard to predict an Ohio State season under the command of Urban Meyer because you can never be sure what he can get out of his players.
Also, with the 16 new starters this team will have, it is unpredictable to see how each and every player will pan out.
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My prediction for this Ohio State football season ends in the Semi-Finals of the College Football Playoff.
I look for Ohio State to lose on the road against Oklahoma on September 17th, then go on and run the table in the Big Ten, win the Big Ten title game before being defeated in the first round of the College Football Playoff.
2016 Ohio State Buckeyes Football Schedule
- 9/3/16 vs. Bowling Green Falcons 12:00 PM/ET
- 9/10/16 vs. Tulsa Golden Hurricanes 3:30 PM/ET
- 9/17/16 at.. Oklahoma Sooners 7:30 PM/ET
- 10/1/16 vs. Rutgers 12:00 PM/ET
- 10/8/16 vs.. Indiana Hoosiers TBA
- 10/15/16 at. Wisconsin Badgers 8:00 PM/ET
- 10/22/16 at.. Penn State Nittany Lions 8:00 PM/ET
- 10/29/16 vs. Northwestern Wildcats 5:30 PM/ET
- 11/5/16 vs.. Nebraska Cornhuskers 8:00 PM/ET
- 11/12/16 at.. Maryland Terrapins TBA
- 11/19/16 at. Michigan State Spartans TBA
- 11/25/16 vs. Michigan Wolverines TBA
What do you think about our 2016 Ohio State Buckeyes predictions? Please leave us a comment below telling us how you think they’ll do in 2016!
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