National championships are hard to come by, even for a program like Ohio State, which is a perennial contender on the gridiron and a top 25 team on the hardwood.
Still, with the bowl system making possible a win to end the football season in many years, it’s been awhile since both teams went out on losses as deflating as the ones we’ve observed in the first quarter of 2021.
Ohio State kicked off the new year with a seminal win over Clemson in the College Football Playoff semifinal on Jan. 1, but quickly saw its national title dreams dashed by the Crimson Tide in dominant fashion just a week-and-a-half later.
March Madness had hardly gotten underway in Indianapolis before the basketball team suffered a crushing defeat of its own, becoming just the ninth No. 2 seed ever to lose to a No. 15 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday.
With both games still fresh in our minds, we can’t help but ponder which loss was more disappointing for the Scarlet and Gray.
Our team writers Griffin Strom, Jacob Benge and Marcus Horton all share their thoughts on the subject below.
