The Ohio State football team is coming into the 2025 season as defending National Champions, but the theme will be more about the reload and new look squad than the defense of a national title. Not only did the Buckeyes lose six starters on offense and eight starters on defense, this squad lost both coordinators.
With all of that turnover, DraftKings still has the regular season win total for OSU at 10.5 and it is tied with the Texas Longhorns for the best odds to win the National Championship at +550. These seem like lofty goals for a team losing so much, but with arguably the two best players in college football returning, it is understandable to see the optimism and potential.
Chip Kelly maybe gone, but Brian Hartline learned a lot last season and many of the tools that made the offense so efficient last season are just as good this year. The receiving corps is still arguably the best in the country and they added Max Klare in the transfer portal from Purdue. He was the entire Boilermaker passing offense last season and still managed to snag 51 passes for 685 yards. Everyone focuses on Jeremiah Smith and for good reason considering he is the most elite playmaker in all of college football, but Carnell Tate is a special talent who is ready to breakout.
The offensive line also looks strong as injuries last season forced an inexperienced group to grow up fast. Carson Hinzman is the returning anchor at center and it will be interesting to monitor how the two incoming transfers adjust with Phillip Daniels coming in from Minnesota and Ethan Onianwa coming in from Rice.
Everyone is labeling the running back room as a mystery, but that is an odd thing to say about a room that features C.J. Donaldson who gained 2,058 yards and 30 touchdowns during his time at West Virginia. The quarterback room is the biggest concern with Julian Sayin coming in with a ton of hype, but little tape to back it up.
Despite losing Jim Knowles to Penn State, new defensive coordinator Matt Patricia has a great resume and enough talent on this roster to make this unit special once again. The defensive backfield is arguably the best in the country with the nation’s best defensive player in Caleb Downs returning at safety and another talented returning starter in Davison Igbinosun at cornerback. Jermaine Mathews Jr. is the other starting cornerback and he was arguably the best pure cover guy on the roster last season. Lorenzo Styles Jr. is a player slept on too often at the corner position as well.
The linebacker room also has some upside with Sonny Styles returning, but the defensive line needs to prove itself. Outside of incoming North Carolina transfer, Beau Atkinson there is not a lot of experience. Although Eddrick Houston did look like the real deal on the interior when he played.
Okay here is how we will do this. We will list the schedule and either place a win, loss, or 50/50 next to the game. Wins and losses are self explanatory, obviously these are games I have extreme confidence in the results, but the 50/50s are where we think it could be a toss up
So we have eight easy wins and zero guaranteed losses, but four games that make you think. The season opener against the Longhorns will be a huge test for a new quarterback in Sayin against a national championship favorite. The contest against the Fighting Illini is away and that team is experienced and tough. The Nittany Lions come to Columbus, but that squad returned most of their production and stole Knowles. Despite any apparent talent gap between Ohio State and the Wolverines, this is Ryan Day’s Achilles Heal and it is always a question mark.
The win total seems right on the money to me, especially with a new quarterback. I suppose if my hands were tied, I’d lean to take the under 10.5 wins, but I will not be placing my cash on this bet. It appears the best bang for your buck on the Buckeye market is OSU to win the Big Ten at +190. The Texas game is a major issue for the total wins, but doesn’t effect the conference standings at all. They could theoretically lose to Texas and a Big Ten school and hit the under on the season win total, but still win the Big Ten, which makes that +190 feel like a more decent price.
