It is almost impossible to believe Jeremiah Smith still has another year of college football.

That is how good he is.

He already feels like an NFL player who just happens to still be wearing an Ohio State uniform. And if the Buckeyes are going to get back to the national championship game, he is going to be one of the biggest reasons why.

Ohio State went 12-2 last season and finished 9-0 in the Big Ten during the regular season. The Buckeyes lost their final two games, but context matters. Those losses came to Indiana in the Big Ten Championship Game and Miami in the Cotton Bowl.

Those were the two teams that ended up playing for the national championship.

So this was not some collapse.

But in Columbus, the standard is different.

Ohio State was coming off a national championship season. It had finally beaten Michigan again. It had one of the best defenses in the country. It had a quarterback playing at an elite level. It had the best receiver in college football.

And still, because the Buckeyes did not win it all again, the season felt incomplete.

That is life at Ohio State.

HEAD COACH

• Ryan Day, entering year eight at Ohio State
• Day is 82-12 with the Buckeyes.
• Ohio State went 12-2 last season.
• The Buckeyes went 9-0 in the Big Ten during the regular season.
• Ohio State has won double-digit games in every full season since 2011.

Ryan Day finally got the Michigan win last season.

He had been carrying that record around for years, and it had become the thing people used against him no matter how much Ohio State won. Last year, he finally got over that hump.

But that did not end the pressure.

Nothing ends the pressure at Ohio State.

Day is 82-12, which is ridiculous by almost any normal standard. But five of those losses came to Michigan, and he is 6-5 in bowl games. That is why the conversation around him never feels as simple as “look at the record.”

The expectations are national championship expectations every year.

This year is no different.

Ohio State averaged 30.6 points per game last season and 405 yards per game. The Buckeyes were elite on third down, converting 51.7% of their chances, which ranked second nationally. They also completed 76% of their passes as a team, the best mark in the country.

That is the good.

The run game was more ordinary.

Ohio State averaged 145.3 rushing yards per game, ranking in the 70s nationally. That is not bad, but it is not what you expect from a team with this kind of talent.

That is the offensive question.

Can Ohio State run it well enough when the games get biggest?

QUARTERBACK

Julian Sayin is the reason Ohio State can win the whole thing.

He was unbelievable last season.

Sayin completed 77% of his passes for 3,610 yards, 32 touchdowns and eight interceptions. Those are elite numbers. And when you combine that accuracy with the receivers he has around him, the passing game becomes a nightmare to defend.

The interesting part is how he performed in the biggest games.

Against Texas, Michigan, Indiana and Miami, Sayin threw six touchdowns and four interceptions. In the other games, he threw 26 touchdowns and only four interceptions.

That does not mean he was bad in the biggest games.

But it does show the standard.

Ohio State does not need Sayin to dominate Ball State and Kent State. It needs him to be great against Texas, Indiana, Oregon, Michigan and whoever shows up in the playoff.

The pressure numbers are impressive.

Sayin completed 58.9% of his passes under pressure last season, with seven touchdowns and three interceptions. That ranked among the best marks in the country. He also had one of the highest touchdown totals under pressure nationally.

That is not normal.

Most quarterbacks fall apart when the pocket gets muddy. Sayin did not.

And when teams did not get pressure, he was surgical. In a clean pocket, he completed better than four out of every five passes.

That is the problem for defenses.

If you do not pressure him, he picks you apart.

If you do pressure him, he is still good enough to beat you.

That is why Ohio State’s ceiling is so high.

THE REST OF THE OFFENSE

The offense starts with Jeremiah Smith.

There is no need to overcomplicate it.

Smith had 89 catches, more than 1,200 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns last season. He already has more than 27 career touchdown catches at Ohio State.

He is the best receiver in college football.

He might be the best player in college football.

If he had been eligible for the last two NFL Drafts, he probably would have been one of the first names called.

That is the kind of player we are talking about.

Carnell Tate is gone to the NFL, but Ohio State is still Ohio State. Brandon Inniss is back, and the Buckeyes will have other talented receivers ready to step into larger roles. The passing game is going to be fine.

The run game is the bigger focus.

Bo Jackson had nearly 1,000 rushing yards last season and finished with the second-most rushing yards in the country among freshmen. He is a major piece of the offense.

But Ohio State still ranked only 52nd nationally in rushing yards per game and gave up 10 sacks combined against Indiana and Miami.

That is the issue.

The Buckeyes have to be more physical up front when the games get tight.

The offensive line has important pieces back, including Phillip Daniels, Carson Hinzman, Luke Montgomery and Austin Siereveld. With NFL influence on the offensive staff, including Arthur Smith, the expectation should be that Ohio State leans harder into being a more physical, more complete offense.

That is what separates great from championship-level.

Ohio State is going to throw it.

Sayin and Smith make that obvious.

But if the Buckeyes run it better, there may not be a defense in the country that can consistently deal with them.

DEFENSE

This is the side where expectations need to be realistic.

Last year’s Ohio State defense was absurd.

The Buckeyes allowed 10 points per game, the fewest in the country. They gave up only 223 yards per game and 3.9 yards per play, both near the top nationally. Opponents converted only 31% on third down and 37% on fourth down. Ohio State allowed just 69% red-zone scoring, also one of the best marks in the country.

The pass defense was ridiculous too.

The Buckeyes allowed only 5.5 yards per pass, ranking near the top of the country, and the sack rate was 9.35%.

That is elite defense in every possible way.

Now the defense has to replace a lot.

Ohio State lost multiple All-Americans from that group. That kind of production does not just get replaced without some drop-off.

The good news is the Buckeyes still have talent.

Kenyatta Jackson Jr. is back on the defensive line. Jermaine Mathews Jr. is back in the secondary. Jaylen McClain is back as well. Those are three important returning pieces.

The transfer additions should help too.

James Smith comes in from Alabama and should help on the defensive line. Terry Moore comes in from Duke and could play a key role in the secondary.

The defense probably will not allow 10 points per game again.

That is almost impossible.

But it does not need to.

If Ohio State’s offense is even better, the defense just has to remain elite enough. And under Matt Patricia, with this level of talent, there is no reason to expect a collapse.

The standard may fall from historically great to merely really good.

That is still good enough to win a national championship.

SCHEDULE

Nobody should say Ohio State does not play anybody this year.

That argument does not work with this schedule.

The Buckeyes open with Ball State, then go to Texas on Sept. 12. That is a massive early-season test against Arch Manning and a Texas team that should be good again.

After that, Ohio State hosts Kent State, then goes to Iowa on Oct. 3.

Kinnick Stadium is never fun.

Then comes the real meat of the schedule.

Ohio State hosts Illinois, goes to Indiana, gets a bye, then goes to USC on Halloween.

That is a brutal road stretch.

Indiana is the defending national champion. USC has one of the most experienced rosters in the country. And both games are away from Columbus.

Then Oregon comes to Ohio Stadium on Nov. 7.

That game could be enormous.

The Buckeyes then host Maryland and Northwestern, go to Nebraska, and finish with Michigan on Nov. 28.

So the road games are Texas, Iowa, Indiana, USC and Nebraska.

That is not easy.

And the home schedule includes Oregon and Michigan.

This is a real schedule. A hard schedule. A schedule that will test Ohio State before the playoff even begins.

The Buckeyes are talented enough to handle it.

But there are dangerous spots everywhere.

OUTLOOK

Ohio State can win the national championship.

That is the obvious part.

The Buckeyes have one of the best quarterbacks in the country. They have the best receiver in the country. They have a running back who could become a star. They have enough offensive line experience to be better up front. They have defensive talent everywhere, even after losing a historic group.

That is the optimistic case.

The concern is the same one that showed up late last season.

Can Ohio State be physical enough in the biggest moments? Can it run the ball when it has to? Can the offensive line hold up against elite defensive fronts? Can the defense replace that many stars and still be championship-level? Can Sayin take another step in the biggest games?

Those are fair questions.

The best-case scenario is that Sayin becomes the best quarterback in college football, Smith dominates every week, Jackson makes the run game more dangerous, the offensive line takes a step, and the defense under Patricia stays elite enough.

If that happens, Ohio State can win it all.

The worst-case scenario is that the run game is still not quite powerful enough, the offensive line struggles again against the best fronts, and the rebuilt defense is good but not special.

That would still probably mean a very good season.

That is the thing about Ohio State.

The floor is ridiculously high.

But the standard is not the floor.

The standard is the title.