Can Ohio State finish the season strong now that a national championship is off the table?

Excluding the bowl-banned 2012 season, Ohio State has entered the final week of the regular season with a legitimate shot at playing for the national championship in every season of the Urban Meyer era. Well, every season until now.

After Saturday’s blowout loss to Iowa, Ohio State is almost certainly out of the playoff hunt, and faces the very real possibility of things going off the rails with both Michigan State and Michigan left on the schedule.

On this episode of The Hangout in the Holy Land, Colton Denning and Patrick Mayhorn wonder if Ohio State can rebound and finish the season strong, and recap everything that went wrong on Saturday versus the Hawkeyes, including:

• J.T. Barrett’s ominous Pick-6 to open the game, and why he was uncharacteristically forcing throws, even when the game was still close.
• Why this game felt doomed from the beginning, and a discussion on the coaching staff looking completely unprepared for what Iowa was doing.
• The littany of defensive mistakes, and how an unlikely bad game from the defensive line led to the linebackers and secondary getting exposed.
• Lamenting the lack of touches for J.K. Dobbins, wondering why Mike Weber was returning kicks, and more.

After breaking down the game, the guys call for a youth movement, wonder whether the Buckeyes can avoid a four-loss season, and discuss what a successful year at this point would be.

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