COLUMBUS, Ohio — C.J. Stroud’s time at Ohio State stands as one of the sport’s most compelling contradictions: a quarterback with extraordinary skill and record-setting numbers, yet a legacy that feels unresolved.
A recent Buckeye Talk podcast bracket debate laid bare a tough reality — Stroud’s winless record against Michigan (0-2) has dramatically shaped how fans remember him, overshadowing his on-field brilliance.
“C.J. Stroud is really the biggest casualty of Ohio State’s recent struggles against Michigan,” co-host Stephen Means said, reflecting on why Stroud lost a head-to-head fan vote to Ted Ginn Jr., even though his stats rank among the program’s best.
The sentiment underscores a deeper truth about greatness in college football — particularly at Ohio State. Stats and spectacle matter, but at the end of the day, your legacy is defined by how you perform in The Game.
Stefan Krajisnik didn’t mince words: “His resume looks completely different if they win just one of those games.”
What makes C.J. Stroud’s story especially bittersweet is just how narrowly he missed rewriting his legacy. Co-host Stephen Means offered a compelling alternate reality: “If they don’t lose to Michigan those two years, I think he might be a top-four seed.” He went further, suggesting that with wins in those rivalry games, Stroud could have captured a Heisman Trophy and possibly a national championship — placing him in rarefied air alongside legends like Joe Burrow and Cam Newton, who won both in the same season.
That conversation reinforced a recurring theme of Stroud’s time at Ohio State: his greatness consistently undermined by factors outside his control. Means recalled a moment emblematic of Stroud’s misfortune — a touchdown run against Michigan in 2021 wiped out by a holding call. “That’s the C.J. Stroud era in a nutshell,” he said. “He did everything we asked, but it didn’t matter — whether it was a penalty or someone getting hurt.”
“There was always something unrelated to C.J. that ended up hurting C.J., even though he showed us, time and time again, that he could deliver,” Means added.
What’s striking is that none of the hosts questioned Stroud’s ability or production — far from it. They praised his excellence while grappling with how two losses to Michigan managed to completely reshape how he’s remembered in Columbus.
Stroud’s career forces a broader question: How should we evaluate quarterbacks at programs like Ohio State? Is it right that a player’s talent and output can be eclipsed by a couple of rivalry losses? Or is that pressure — that singular emphasis on The Game — exactly what defines the Buckeye quarterback legacy?
While Stroud’s continued success in the NFL may eventually cast his college career in a different light, the Buckeye Talk discussion made one thing clear: for now, his Ohio State legacy is shaped just as much by what could have been as by what actually was.
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