# 2015 Ohio State Buckeyes football team

The 2015 Ohio State Buckeyes football team represented Ohio State University in the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It was the Buckeyes' 126th season overall, the 103rd as a member of the Big Ten Conference, and second as a member of the Eastern Division. The team was led by Urban Meyer, in his fourth year as head coach, and played its home games at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. They finished the season 12–1, 7–1 in Big Ten play, to finish in a tie for the East Division championship with Michigan State. Due to their head-to-head loss to Michigan State, they did not represent the East Division in the Big Ten Championship Game. They were invited to the Fiesta Bowl where they defeated Notre Dame.

## Schedule

The Big Ten Conference released the schedule for the 2015 season on June 3, 2013. Ohio State will face all six Eastern Division opponents Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State and Rutgers. Ohio State will also face two Western Division opponents: rival Illinois and Minnesota. Ohio State will play four non-conference games: Virginia Tech of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Hawaii of the Mountain West Conference, and Northern Illinois and Western Michigan of the Mid-American Conference. Ohio State has one bye week during the season between their games against Rutgers and Minnesota.
| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| September 7 | 8:00 p.m. | at Virginia Tech* | No. 1 | Lane StadiumBlacksburg, VA | ESPN | W 42–24 | 65,632 |
| September 12 | 3:30 p.m. | Hawaii* | No. 1 | Ohio StadiumColumbus, OH | BTN | W 38–0 | 107,145 |
| September 19 | 3:30 p.m. | Northern Illinois* | No. 1 | Ohio StadiumColumbus, OH | ABC/ESPN2 | W 20–13 | 104,095 |
| September 26 | 3:30 p.m. | Western Michigan* | No. 1 | Ohio StadiumColumbus, OH | ABC/ESPN2 | W 38–12 | 106,123 |
| October 3 | 3:30 p.m. | at Indiana | No. 1 | Memorial StadiumBloomington, IN | ABC/ESPN2 | W 34–27 | 52,929 |
| October 10 | 12:00 p.m. | Maryland | No. 1 | Ohio StadiumColumbus, OH | BTN | W 49–28 | 107,869 |
| October 17 | 8:00 p.m. | Penn State | No. 1 | Ohio StadiumColumbus, OH (rivalry) | ABC | W 38–10 | 108,423 |
| October 24 | 8:00 p.m. | at Rutgers | No. 1 | High Point Solutions StadiumPiscataway, NJ | ABC | W 49–7 | 53,111 |
| November 7 | 8:00 p.m. | Minnesota | No. 3 | Ohio StadiumColumbus, OH | ABC | W 28–14 | 108,075 |
| November 14 | 12:00 p.m. | at Illinois | No. 3 | Memorial StadiumChampaign, IL (Illibuck Trophy) | ABC | W 28–3 | 51,515 |
| November 21 | 3:30 p.m. | No. 9 Michigan State | No. 3 | Ohio StadiumColumbus, OH (College GameDay) | ABC | L 14–17 | 108,975‡ |
| November 28 | 12:00 p.m. | at No. 10 Michigan | No. 8 | Michigan StadiumAnn Arbor, MI (The Game) | ABC | W 42–13 | 111,829 |
| January 1, 2016 | 1:00 p.m. | vs. No. 8 Notre Dame* | No. 7 | University of Phoenix StadiumGlendale, AZ (Fiesta Bowl) | ESPN | W 44–28 | 71,123 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from AP Poll and CFP Rankings (after November 3) released prior to gameAll times are in Eastern time ||||||||
* ‡ New Ohio Stadium attendance record

## Personnel

Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer was his fourth year as the Buckeye's head coach during the 2015 season. In his previous three seasons with Ohio State, he led the Buckeyes to an overall record of 38 wins and 3 losses (38–3) and the 2014 national championship. On December 16, 2014, offensive coordinator Tom Herman accepted the head coaching position at Houston. On January 11, 2015, Ohio State announced the hiring of former Nebraska coach Tim Beck to replace Herman as co-offensive coordinator. On February 2, 2015, Stan Drayton accepted the running backs coach position with the Chicago Bears, and was replaced by former Notre Dame coach Tony Alford.

### Coaching staff

| Name | Position | Seasons at Ohio State | Alma mater |
| Urban Meyer | Head coach | 4th | Cincinnati (1986) |
| Luke Fickell | Co-Defensive coordinator/linebackers | 14th | Ohio State (1997) |
| Chris Ash | Co-defensive coordinator/safeties | 2nd | Drake (1995) |
| Larry Johnson | Assistant head coach/defensive line | 2nd | Elizabeth City State (1973) |
| Kerry Coombs | Special teams coordinator/cornerbacks | 4th | Dayton (1983) |
| Tim Beck | Co-Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks | 1st | Central Florida (1988) |
| Ed Warinner | Co-offensive coordinator/offensive line | 4th | Mount Union (1984) |
| Tony Alford | Assistant head coach/running backs | 1st | Colorado State (1992) |
| Zach Smith | Wide receivers | 4th | Florida (2007) |
| Tim Hinton | Tight ends, fullbacks | 4th | Wilmington (1982) |
| Quinn Tempel | Offensive graduate assistant | 1st | Ohio State (2013) |
| Mickey Marotti | Assistant athletic director for football sports performance | 4th | West Liberty (1987) |
| Reference: ||||

### Depth chart

Defense :
* FS
* 11 Vonn Bell
* 1 Erick Smith
| WLB | MLB | SLB |
| 37 Joshua Perry | 5 Raekwon McMillan | 43 Darron Lee |
| 33 Dante Booker | 55 Cam Williams | 35 Chris Worley |
* SS
* 23 Tyvis Powell
* 24 Malik Hooker
* CB
* 13 Eli Apple
* 3 Damon Webb
| DE | DT | DT | DE |
| 97 Joey Bosa | 92 Adolphus Washington | 90 Tommy Schutt | 59 Tyquan Lewis |
| 6 Sam Hubbard | 77 Michael Hill | 51 Joel Hale | 10 Jalyn Holmes |
* CB
* 19 Gareon Conley
* 2 Marshon Lattimore
Offense :
* WR
* 3 Michael Thomas
* 84 Corey Smith
* H-Back
* 1 Braxton Miller
* 4 Curtis Samuel
| LT | LG | C | RG | RT |
| 68 Taylor Decker | 54 Billy Price | 50 Jacoby Boren | 65 Pat Elflein | 57 Chase Farris |
| 74 Jamarco Jones | 78 Demetris Knox | 79 Brady Taylor | 75 Evan Lisle | 59 Isaiah Prince |
* TE
* 81 Nick Vannett
* 85 Marcus Baugh
* WR
* 17 Jalin Marshall
* 2 Dontre Wilson
* QB
* 16 J. T. Barrett
* 12 Cardale Jones
* Special teams
* RB
* 15 Ezekiel Elliott
* 4 Bri'onten Dunn

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking ( ) = First-place votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Final |
| AP | 1 (61) | 1 (61) | 1 (61) | 1 (59) | 1 (42) | 1 (45) | 1 (38) | 1 (27) | 1 (28) | 1 (39) | 2 (26) | 3 (23) | 8 | 6 | 7 | 4 |
| Coaches | 1 (62) | 1 (62) | 1 (63) | 1 (62) | 1 (61) | 1 (61) | 1 (50) | 1 (47) | 1 (48) | 1 (49) | 1 (34) | 2 (32) | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| CFP | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | 3 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 7 | Not released |

## Game summaries
### Virginia Tech

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • #1 Ohio State | 14 | 0 | 14 | 14 | 42 |
| Virginia Tech | 0 | 17 | 0 | 7 | 24 |

### Hawaii

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Hawaii | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| • #1 Ohio State | 7 | 7 | 3 | 21 | 38 |

### Northern Illinois

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Northern Illinois | 7 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 13 |
| • #1 Ohio State | 3 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 20 |

### Western Michigan

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Western Michigan | 0 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 12 |
| • #1 Ohio State | 7 | 17 | 7 | 7 | 38 |

### Indiana

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • #1 Ohio State | 0 | 6 | 14 | 14 | 34 |
| Indiana | 3 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 27 |

### Maryland

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Maryland | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 28 |
| • #1 Ohio State | 7 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 49 |

### Penn State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Penn State | 3 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 10 |
| • #1 Ohio State | 0 | 21 | 0 | 17 | 38 |
"Dark Night at the Shoe" – Ohio State wears all-black uniforms for the first time in school history.

### Rutgers

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • #1 Ohio State | 7 | 14 | 21 | 7 | 49 |
| Rutgers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |

### Minnesota

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Minnesota | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 14 |
| • #1 Ohio State | 0 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 28 |

### Illinois

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • #2 Ohio State | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 28 |
| Illinois | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |

### Michigan State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • #9 Michigan State | 0 | 7 | 0 | 10 | 17 |
| #2 Ohio State | 0 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 14 |

### Michigan

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • #8 Ohio State | 7 | 7 | 14 | 14 | 42 |
| #12 Michigan | 0 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 13 |

### Notre Dame–Fiesta Bowl

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| #8 Notre Dame | 0 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 28 |
| • #7 Ohio State | 14 | 14 | 7 | 9 | 44 |

## 2016 NFL Draft

The Buckeyes had 12 players (5 in the first round) in the 2016 NFL draft.
| Round | Pick Number | NFL Team | Player | Position |
| 1 | 3 | San Diego Chargers | Joey Bosa | DE |
| 1 | 4 | Dallas Cowboys | Ezekiel Elliott | RB |
| 1 | 10 | New York Giants | Eli Apple | CB |
| 1 | 16 | Detroit Lions | Taylor Decker | OT |
| 1 | 20 | New York Jets | Darron Lee | OLB |
| 2 | 47 | New Orleans Saints | Michael Thomas | WR |
| 2 | 61 | New Orleans Saints | Vonn Bell | S |
| 3 | 80 | Buffalo Bills | Adolphus Washington | DT |
| 3 | 85 | Houston Texans | Braxton Miller | WR |
| 3 | 94 | Seattle Seahawks | Nick Vannett | TE |
| 4 | 102 | San Diego Chargers | Joshua Perry | OLB |
| 4 | 139 | Buffalo Bills | Cardale Jones | QB |
In addition, 3 players were signed as undrafted free agents
| Position | Player | NFL Team |
| OL | Chase Farris | Detroit Lions |
| WR | Jalin Marshall | New York Jets |
| S | Tyvis Powell | Seattle Seahawks |
* Sources: