Ohio State embarks on a road to repeating that never has been rougher

One coach voted for Alabama. Another tabbed TCU. Maybe the outliers know something everyone else doesn’t, or maybe they were just contrarians. But the other 62 voters placed Ohio State atop their ballots for the preseason Amway Coaches Poll. And absolutely no one in the entire Associated Press Top 25 voting panel disagreed.

Less than a week from kickoff of the 2015 season, the overwhelming favorite to win the national championship is last season’s national champion. Ask around — almost anybody, almost anywhere but within the walls of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center — Ohio State looks as formidable as any defending champion in a long while.

The entire topic, along with the term “repeat” and its many variations, has been banned from conversation by Urban Meyer. That’s probably a good thing, because those two voters may have gotten it right.

The Buckeyes are unlikely to win it all. With the advent of the College Football Playoff, the entire process has grown exponentially more difficult for every team. No defending champion has ever had it tougher.

Sure, there’s more access to the championship than before. Under the old BCS system, Ohio State wouldn’t even have played for the title last season. For that matter, Oregon wouldn’t have either. It would have been Alabama vs. Florida State. Instead, those two lost in the semifinals. And by doing so, they became examples of how life is harder in the new era.

But even though Ohio State gained access because the postseason expanded from two to four, and even though it won as the No. 4 seed — meaning mathematically, there’s more opportunity — there’s much more to the equation.

Meyer and Oregon’s Mark Helfrich both said their teams were showing signs of fatigue as they prepared for their 15th game of the season. The Ducks especially were a banged-up bunch by the time they got to Arlington, Texas. And Ohio State was down to its third-team quarterback, Cardale Jones. Though that turned out to be no big deal, attrition is likely to play a role most seasons, for most teams.

Even if it’s only one more game, it’s against elite competition — probably better than any regular-season opponent. The degree of difficulty in winning might just be exponentially higher.

That’s great news for college football, but probably not so good for fans who hope to see their program become a dynasty. Or for fans who would love to see their conference unspool, say, seven national titles in a row.

The SEC remains the best, deepest conference in college football. This season like every other, it’s capable of producing a couple of teams capable of winning it all. But the gauntlet to get there is more difficult than it was when the league was passing around the crystal football from team to team.

“Your players really have to be geared into what it takes to finish the season,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said, “because before, maybe you didn’t have to do all this.”

Maybe Alabama wins the national championship this season. Or Auburn. Or Georgia. Or insert your favorite SEC team. No one would be surprised. But it appears much less likely a league wins two in a row, which means it’s certainly more difficult for one program to do it.

That’s not to suggest Ohio State isn’t brimming with talent. This season was supposed to be the one when Meyer’s reclamation project would be complete, when his highly ranked recruiting classes would have matured into a squad capable of a breakthrough at an elite level. The Buckeyes just got there a little early. With 16 returning starters, they’re loaded. Even the all-important quarterback competition is a first-world problem. Either J.T. Barrett or Jones will be fine. Both have played high-level football.

It’s also wise to factor what looks like, at least in August, a very manageable calendar. Ohio State plays at Virginia Tech on Labor Day without four suspended players including All-America defensive end Joey Bosa, but the Big Ten schedule hasn’t morphed into murderers’ row. Ohio State won’t play anything like the gauntlet faced by, say, those SEC West teams.

The tangibles are only part of it, of course. Meyer understands the extra pressure that threatens to envelop the Buckeyes this season. He knows it’s not a simple thing to wrestle with human nature, which tends to get satisfied after success. He’s been there twice before, and described the experience as “miserable.”

After winning BCS national championships in 2006 and 2008 in Florida, the Gators had their shot at repeating. In 2007, Florida was 9-4, though that might have been expected after replacing 17 starters. But in 2009, the Gators brought back the bulk of the national championship team from the year before. They went undefeated until the SEC championship game, then lost to Alabama. Meyer suffered from health problems, retired, then unretired, only to retire again a year later.

“Which is more difficult, to reach (the top) or to stay there?” he said last month at Big Ten media days. “I can’t answer that; there are too many variables. But I can tell you what’s more enjoyable — and that’s the run up the hill.”

Meyer might have been asking the wrong question. Whether it’s reaching the top or staying there, both are more difficult than ever before.

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