What He Said: How do the Buckeyes recover from Iowa?

The Campbell family

There is an end game to the picture that I have included above, I promise.

One of the things that I truly love about college football is the possibility that a team can bring their A-game at any moment in any match-up. We have seen it over and over this season and probably more than we have seen early in a season in recent years. There have been multiple games of an unranked team beating a very good power five team that has expectations of making the CFP.

Let's face it, Buckeye fans root for the underdog in most cases because they want some help getting to the top. The time is now for that to really happen, but a lot of it has to happen for the Buckeyes to get back in the convo. It's not going to happen though, I think at least three of the top four have been decided and the only involvement the Buckeyes will have in it is maybe keeping Wisconsin from it.

I knew that the Buckeyes had dodged bullets in the past since Urban Meyer's arrival and for the most part the wins have been the rule and not the exception. We fans are spoiled beyond belief. I have read multiple theories so far around the why and my least favorite of these is that the defense just isn't that good. I don't buy that for a second and what I will sell you is that Nick Bosa means more to the heartbeat of the team than you think.

The offense was a combination of things from a great gameplan by Iowa to a cover guy playing the game of his life spying. The least favorite I have seen this week, and mostly from fans is that J.T. Barrett is the QB we have always feared he was. I am sorry but that is ludicrous. You don't have a quarter in the best comeback in forever without being pretty good. J.T. is not the problem.

He was on one of the better streaks for an Ohio State QB that I have ever witnessed and he was bound to have a bad game again. All players have them and it's unfortunate but Troy Smith's didn't come until playing Florida! J.T. Barrett is the only chance we have to get back in the saddle and compete for a B1G title over the next few weeks.

I am not 100 percent sure where I read it, but it is the one thing that I have read that almost made sense. Someone was writing about the culture that Urban Meyer has created in Columbus and whether or not the players have bought into it. The interesting part of the theory is they are comparing what he has accomplished while there versus what Nick Saban has in Alabama.

The foundation of the theory is that while recruiting at a very high level in the country and just as good as Nick Saban, that somehow he is getting players that only care about getting to the NFL. First of all, wasn't that Saban's excuse for why they lost to the Buckeyes in the CFP? He said he had players that were already checking out for the NFL.

This is not a unique problem for the Buckeyes and every college coach in America faces this at some point. The reason I have included the picture of the Campbell family in this article is to tell you that I have no doubt there is a good culture in Columbus. That the players and parents are mostly focused on the now and winning it all. They may have one eye on the future prize, but not showing up in a game can ruin a lot of people's thoughts on a special player.

I have been fortunate enough to get to know Parris' mother and family all the way up to his awesome grandfather. I can tell you, and they will also, that there is no problem at Ohio State with these kids only looking to the future. I believe they will also tell you that nobody is more disappointed in Saturday's loss than the players and they all wish they could have the game back.

Unfortunately, that's not how this works. They have to accept the loss and move forward. Prove themselves to the rest of America. It wasn't the culture or the players lack of buying into the Urban Meyer system, not even close. They just simply got outplayed and beaten in a way that they will never forget. Trust me when I say that this team is a team that might have a say in the postseason, but they control that.

The Buckeyes have to get back to the business they know and that's playing a stout defense and continue to be efficient on offense. The Nick Bosa loss last week was a game changer for sure, but they can prove themselves against Sparty. J.T. has his bad game out of his system and can now focus on taking care of things as they come.

They will recover because it is what Buckeyes do, and they will do it with the support of the best support group in the land.