Buck: OSU’s biggest loss was Bryant

Given the standards to which they are held and the expectations placed on them before the start of the season, 2013 will likely be considered a letdown in the eyes of Ohio State football followers.

After two straight season-ending losses, the last play of the Sept. 28 win over Wisconsin, overlooked as a footnote at the time, has revealed its magnitude.

“We just got news we lost our captain,” a visibly distraught Urban Meyer told reporters after the game. “Christian Bryant has a broken ankle. Hardest part of this whole job, man, is to see this. That darn kid has done so much for our program and just come so far — incredible leadership skills — and he’s going to be even more valuable outside of football. Man, I love that guy. Doggone it!”

The second-year coach with two Bowl Championship Series titles to his name slammed his left hand to the wooden podium top in disappointment. Meyer’s palm gavel might as well have been OSU’s ultimate sentence from national title contender to national title pretender.

Meyer called the underrated Bryant, a senior free safety, the team’s best player early in the season and Ohio State’s defense, already a question mark with having to replace seven starters from 2012, lost not only a captain, but a consistent stopgap and playmaker for the final eight games. Bryant was all over the field in wins over Wisconsin and Michigan at the end of the 2012 season and already had a key interception in the win at California.

Fifth-year senior Corey “Pittsburgh” Brown, a career backup in the secondary, stepped in alongside classmate C.J. Barnett. Both were high school stars who were injured early in their Buckeye careers and never seemed to fully recover. Defensive linemen Michael Bennett and Joey Bosa were having all-conference seasons and Ryan Shazier proved to be an All-American at linebacker.

Bryant’s void was also masked by the Buckeyes’ record-setting offense and superior athleticism over the sacrificial lambs of their non-conference jokes and their very weak Big Ten brethren, but the problems grew. Northwestern and Iowa were able to move the ball at will at times and even lowly Illinois was good for 35 points and over 400 yards.

Their last three games were a different story. Bryant’s absence, especially in preventing long pass plays, was a large factor in the Buckeyes’ undoing.

A very average Michigan team and wildly inconsistent quarterback Devin Gardner (who went 11-for-23 for 97 yards and two interceptions against Connecticut) torched OSU for 451 yards and four touchdowns before his two-point conversion pass was intercepted at the goal line in the final minute of regulation to save OSU from an embarrassing loss. Worry turned to panic.

One week later in the Big Ten Championship loss, little-known Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook and his solid corps of receivers repeatedly beat Barnett and Brown and Jeremy Langford found holes in the running game that Bryant would likely have covered. Clemson’s Tajh Boyd and Sammy Watkins should send tapes of their Orange Bowl performances to every NFL club leading up to this year’s draft as they abused the OSU secondary that was also without standout cornerback Bradley Roby.

Given the youth set to take over in the Buckeyes’ defensive backfield in 2014, OSU fans should be praying that Bryant’s petition for a fifth-year medical redshirt is granted, ensuring the safety of the podium inside the Ohio State media room and psyches throughout the Buckeye state.

Ryan Buck is a sports writer for The Vindicator. Email him at rbuck@vindy.com.