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Path To The Playoff: Ohio State
– Step Two: You’re the defending national champion. Act the part
– Step Three: Dominate, just in case
– Step Four: Depth, depth, depth. Use it
– Step Five: Don’t keep the other team in the game with giveaways
– Step Six: Stay interested until Thanksgiving
– Step Seven: For the love of Urban, HAVE FUN
– Is It Going To Happen?

Until the end of human existence, Ohio State will always be first.

Even if a Reggie Bush-like scenario comes up and some phony-baloney governing body gets asterisk happy, and no matter how college football determines a national champion ten, 25, 100 years from now, the Ohio State Buckeyes won the first ever College Football Playoff national championship. Nothing can ever take the historical accomplishment away.

So now what?

The bar is always set impossibly high in Columbus, and that’ll never change as long as Urban Meyer is at the helm. But even for the biggest monster of monstrous college football programs, the national title expectations this season are going to be about four notches above 38-0 Kentucky basketball level.

And what not? 2015, not 2014, was the year everything was supposed to come together and gel – the Buckeyes just so happened to win the national championship a season early. There’s an abundance of riches across the board, the Meyer recruiting classes are kicking in full-force, and things are just like they’re supposed to be in Columbus.

Unfortunately, though, Ohio State still has to deal with the formality of the season before it can book tickets to either the Orange or Cotton Bowl.

OSU will be everyone’s preseason No. 1 team – unless someone is trying to be trolling/quirky/different – with the schedule, the talent and the coaching in place to get back into the fun for a second year in a row. It’s still going to be a fight, though, as the hunted on Ohio State’s Path to the Playoff.

Step One: Accept that the quarterback situation is going to be a distraction and just live with it.

The Buckeyes have three of the best quarterbacks in college football in Cardale Jones, Braxton Miller and J.T. Barrett, but even though everyone wants to make a huge deal out of the derby for the starting gig, Jones is the only one who’s healthy. Barrett is coming back quickly from his broken ankle, but he’s still going to be a question mark when August camp kicks in, and Miller’s banged up shoulder is still healing.

Meyer has to continue to play this loose until he knows everything he has to deal with, but it’s obviously an easy choice if Jones is the only 100% healthy option. If everyone is okay and looks and plays like they’re supposed to in the fall, then there’s really no right or wrong answer other than to simply go with the guy who appears to be the best option for right now and this season.

Meyer’s biggest task might be to keep the team from dividing into camps and taking sides in the debate – the media will be happy to fuel that fire all summer. As long as there’s an attitude that the best players get the top spots on the depth chart – always – then the controversy ends. The second-biggest job might be to make sure the backups in the pecking order stay happy and there’s no second-guessing whenever the starter struggles.

Considering he has more of a pro future as a receiver or a running back, will Miller switch positions? Will Barrett take a year off to let his leg fully heal? Did Jones put off possibly being a first round draft pick because he knew he’d be the main man? It’s going to be college football’s biggest soap opera.

Path To The Playoff: Ohio State
– Step Two: You’re the defending national champion. Act the part
– Step Three: Dominate, just in case
– Step Four: Depth, depth, depth. Use it
– Step Five: Don’t keep the other team in the game with giveaways
– Step Six: Stay interested until Thanksgiving
– Step Seven: For the love of Urban, HAVE FUN
– Is It Going To Happen?