With a trio of offensive suspensions and a recent season-ending injury to a starting wide receiver, Ohio State's offense will not be running at full capacity when it takes the field for its season-opener Sept. 7 against Virginia Tech.
But when the Buckeyes are back to full strength? Look out.
"We’ve got a lot of threats on offense," senior tight end Nick Vannett said. "We’re gonna spread the ball around a lot and it’s gonna be pretty lethal.”
Ohio State will be without H-receivers Jalin Marshall and Dontre Wilson, as well as wide receiver Corey Smith against the Hokies due to a one-game suspension for a violation of team rules (All-American defensive end Joey Bosa is also suspended, but this story is about the offense). The Buckeyes also lost starting wide receiver Noah Brown to a season-ending leg injury during Wednesday's practice.
Options are limited in Week 1, but if Ohio State can manage to survive that game in Blacksburg, Va., the potential of the Buckeyes' offense moving forward is pretty scary.
There's running back Ezekiel Elliott, who galloped for 1,878 yards and 18 touchdowns last year as a sophomore — including a 696 yard and eight-touchdown stretch over Ohio State's final three games.
There's wide receiver Michael Thomas, the potential first-round NFL Draft pick who led the Buckeyes in catches last year with 54 and was second in receiving yards (799) and touchdowns (nine).
There's quarterback turned H-receiver Braxton Miller, who didn't play last season due to a shoulder injury, but was the Big Ten Player of the Year in 2012 and 2013 and is one of college football's best athletes.
There's the mammoth offensive line, led by senior left tackle Taylor Decker, which returns four starters from a unit a year ago that was one of the best in the country by season's end.
Ohio State also has Curtis Samuel, who head coach Urban Meyer identified as one of the team's "top-five playmakers" and Vannett, the steady tight end who can block for Elliott as well as he can catch passes.
And oh yeah, the Buckeyes have quite a quarterback battle going on between two accomplished signal callers in J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones. Whoever wins that job will be one of the best quarterbacks in the country.
“Our offense has the flexibility within the system and all the talent at all the different positions that we can kind of move it in the direction we want.”– Ed Warinner
"In my personal opinion, yes. Hands down," said Jones when asked if Ohio State's offense could be one of the best in the history of college football. "Because of the playmakers we got, because of the youth we got, because of the depth we got and because of the experience, yeah."
Last season, the Buckeyes averaged 44.8 points and and 511.6 yards per game. Those numbers ranked fifth and ninth, nationally, and both were tops in the Big Ten. Ohio State scored at least 40 points in 11 of its 15 games and was held under 30 just once all season.
From that group, the Buckeyes lost a pair of wide receivers in Devin Smith and Evan Spencer, as well as Vannett's co-starter at tight end Jeff Heuerman. Everyone else returns.
"Our offense has the flexibility within the system and all the talent at all the different positions that we can kind of move it in the direction we want," offensive coordinator Warinner said. "But we do want to have a power-running game and be able throw the ball down the field, play-action pass and spread it out to all of our skill players."
Expectations are sky high for Ohio State's offense in 2015 and the Buckeyes have a combination of proven and unproven talent on that side of the ball.
Will Ohio State's offense live up to the hype? That's the only question that remains.
"We created a monster," Meyer said. "You've got to feed it."
