By Anthony Ventura | West Virginia University
The Alabama Crimson Tide won the 2015 College Football Playoff Championship to repeat after winning the 2014 College Football Playoff Championship. Ezekiel Elliott is the leading rusher for Ohio State in 2016 with second year starting quarterback J.T Barrett and senior backup Cardale Jones. Oh, what would be different if Braxton Miller would have never got hurt in fall camp 2014!
For starters, Barrett would have never gotten the right to start in 2014 over returning senior star Braxton Miller, so J.T would have never placed 5th in the Heisman that year, nor broken the Big Ten record for TD’s responsible-for in a single season. In this scenario, Ohio State probably doesn’t lose to Virginia Tech in week 2, and they probably have a much tougher game later in the year against Michigan State, considering Braxton’s struggles to overcome the Michigan State defense. Assuming they overcome that hurdle they probably march on to the Big Ten Championship against Wisconsin. Miller never lost to Wisconsin, even during the 6-7 2011 season, so it’s safe to assume that Ohio State overcomes that challenge as well and finishes the regular season undefeated with a Big Ten championship added on to be 13-0.
The Buckeyes would have probably earned the number 1 seed as 1 of 2 undefeated teams. Alabama would sit at number 2, with undefeated Florida State at 3 and the great Oregon Ducks with 1 loss at number 4. So, it’s Ohio State-Oregon in the semifinals. That Mariota-Miller quarterback battle would be quite something and I think Ohio State would be able to pull off the victory because I think Braxton and the Buckeyes would once again be able to score more than 20 points and trounce to the championship against Alabama who dominated the Seminoles in the other semi. This time I think the Tide would beat the Buckeyes and, to be honest, I think they would do it handedly. Without Cardale’s ability to spread the field with the deep ball, the safeties could play up and stop Braxton Miller on that read option with Ezekial Elliott. Braxton might have been able to get a few past the safeties when they’re up, but not enough to overcome the Tide and win. The Tide would then probably repeat in 2015 as Ohio State would have a first year starting quarterback in J.T Barrett, and this year they’d be going for the three-peat and continue their run as the only team to win the College Football Playoff
This non-injury wouldn’t only affect the Buckeyes season, it would affect lives to be honest. Braxton would probably not get drafted as a quarterback, maybe getting signed on as an undrafted free agent and maybe make a Terelle Pryor-esque move and switch to wide receiver in the NFL. It would take him longer to mature into a solid NFL receiver. Without a new quarterback in the 2014 postseason, Elliott would have never had those three breakout games and his role during the 2015 season would be dialed back and he would most likely not be the 4th overall pick in the NFL draft in 2016. As a result, Elliott may not be challenging for the rookie rushing record behind an offensive line other than Dallas.