Kirk Herbstreit shoots down narrative some have on Ohio State as they get ready to play Texas in the Cotton Bowl

Many players returned to Columbus to be in the exact spot that the Ohio State Buckeyes are in, which is still standing with a chance to win the National Championship.

After steamrolling through Tennessee and Oregon, the Buckeyes now face the Texas Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl on Friday. Texas is a team that matches up the best with Ohio State out of the remaining teams left in the College Football Playoff.

Ohio State has the most talented roster in the sport and it is one they paid at least $20 million to put together in all. However, the narrative that they bought their roster is not all the way right. ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit recently shot down the same narrative.

“This narrative, that Ohio State bought their roster, I don’t think sits well with the team because, every time I’m around them, there’s a little bit of an angst with that,” Herbstreit said on the “Andy & Ari On3” podcast recently.

Ohio State was very aggressive in the transfer portal last go around by adding the top overall player safety Caleb Downs, as well as a top running back Quinshon Judkins. Alabama transfer Seth McLaughlin was an All-American for the Buckeyes this season before he was hurt as well.

“I went back and I did a bunch of research and I said, they aren’t [a roster that was bought] … I mean, other than Caleb Downs … defensively? I mean, you look at these guys; JTT, Tyleik Williams, Ty Hamilton, Jack Sawyer, Jordan Hancock, Cody Simon, Sonny Styles, Lathan Ransom, Denzel Burke. All those guys, have not only been on the roster for four or five years. They almost all have started for the last three years. There’s been a lot of really good moments for that class of players. There’ve been a lot of tough moments.”

The majority of Ohio State’s roster was either in place already or opted to return back to school for a chance to chase a National Championship. Of course, the NIL in today’s sport helped that happen as well.

Three straight losses to Michigan before this season and not having won the big game fueled many players to return to Columbus. The fourth straight loss to Michigan this season may end up being what the Buckeyes needed to reach their ultimate goal of winning it all.

Let’s face it, everyone is buying their roster in some way in college football now if you are competing. That is just how it goes and that isn’t changing. It is either a get-with-it or a get-left-behind thing. If the Buckeyes can beat Texas on Friday, they’ll play for it all against Notre Dame or Penn State.