Ohio State football is right around the corner, with the Buckeyes opening the season August 30th at home against the top-ranked Texas Longhorns. The Buckeyes will be looking for a repeat of last season’s National Championship Semifinal, when they beat the Longhorns, 28-14.

Cbus Sports recently had the chance to catch up with Casey Magyar, who was a kicker on the team for the past two seasons. Magyar, a Dublin Coffman grad, detailed his journey to becoming a Buckeye and gave us a behind-the-scenes look at how the team stuck with each other through adversity en route to a championship.

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CBUSsports: You grew up in Columbus. Would it be fair to say you were an Ohio State fan growing up? It had to be surreal to put on the scarlet and grey for the first time after transferring from Kent State, right?

CASEY: Funny enough, growing up I wasn’t the biggest Ohio State football fan since I was mostly a soccer player/fan as a kid. Actually I was a pretty big fan of OSU wrestling more so than football growing up. But the impact and brand that Ohio State has both in central Ohio and across the country obviously made it surreal being able to put on the scarlet and grey. I had so much fun being able to tell all my family members who are huge Ohio State fans that I would be transferring there to play football. 

CBUSsports: Tell me a little bit more about that; you spent a couple of seasons at Kent State before making the decision to transfer. What led to that decision?

CASEY: I’d say it was pretty mutual for me to leave Kent. I tore my labrum in my hip during fall camp which lead to me not contributing as much as I would’ve liked.  Leaving Kent and going to Ohio State was definitely a better fit for me both academically and being back in Columbus was amazing. 

CBUSsports: So you make the decision to come to Ohio State and year one for you is probably not what you or the team were hoping for, with the big emphasis on the loss to That Team Up North. Then it happens this past season for a second time, but this time at home. What was the mood in those days after what was a fourth straight loss to the Wolverines?

CASEY: That was definitely a low point in the season. We spent our entire year building up to that game so it really sucks when it doesn’t go the way you want it to. I think on the bright side we all knew it was a larger playoff field this year so even with a loss to TTUN, we had a chance to go to the postseason playoffs and get another shot at chasing a second goal of ours which was winning the National Championship. 

CBUSsports: How long did it take the team to really move past it? A day? A week? And speaking of The Game — do you think that it carries less weight now with the expanded playoff field? 

CASEY: First off, The Game will never carry less weight. I think that’s something that was and always has been a huge part of the program. 

After the loss this year, I don’t remember the exact timeline but we had a lot of introspection as a team, position groups, and individuals but we knew the playoffs were right around the corner and we knew we had to be at our best in around two weeks. 

CBUSsports: It’s refreshing to hear that the team and the players don’t feel the game will carry less weight — a lot of talking heads in the media think it means less now. 

So the playoffs are right around the corner and then the team finds out it’s a home game against Tennessee with a match-up against the Oregon Ducks looming. Walk us through those couple of games and how that corner was turned.

CASEY: The Tennessee game was electric. The fans did a great job coming out and just creating an amazing environment to play in. I’m obviously an Ohio guy so I loved getting to play in the cold and we got a chance to show the world that we were legit. 

Then a rematch with Oregon in the Rose Bowl was so much fun. The Rose Bowl was such a beautiful stadium and being able to get a revenge game like that meant a lot. 

CBUSsports: Was the revenge factor a big part of the rematch with Oregon?

CASEY: I wouldn’t say it was a big factor, but it was definitely a factor. I think they were just an obstacle trying to stand in front of us and stop us from reaching our goal of winning a National Championship. I don’t think it mattered who you put on the field that day, it was a business trip to go out there and kick some ass.

CBUSsports: It felt as though there was a little extra in that game for sure. You get to Texas and that felt like it was the toughest game of the run. Did you get that same vibe? Was fatigue starting to set in?

CASEY: I don’t think fatigue was setting in too much, obviously playing that many extra games this year compared to previous years and having a back-to-back road game was less than ideal but the whole support staff did an amazing job and kept everyone feeling pretty good. 

I definitely felt like Texas was one of the harder teams we were going to play. Each team presents their own challenges and every team we play has some great playmakers, but I feel like Texas just matched up with us really well and put up a great fight. The atmosphere was incredible and our fans did a great job traveling for that game even though it was basically a home game for those guys.

CBUSsports: It speaks to the strength and conditioning of a team when they can play a record amount of games and still keep that energy level.

You get past Texas… and then it’s Notre Dame. Walk me through what that was like. An unprecedented game, the chance to fully extract the demons of the TTUN loss. That had to be a surreal feeling leading up to the game. 

CASEY: The lead up was phenomenal, the team felt so prepared and we were all laser focused. I know myself and the rest of the senior class really wanted to end on a win and create history in the new playoff era. 

CBUSsports: And then winning that game. What did it mean for the team, but also what did it mean for you?

CASEY: For me it meant the world. It was great to go out on a win because not a lot of people can say they ended their career that way. 

I think for the team it vindicated a lot also because it showed the world what we already knew in that we were the best team in the country. 

CBUSsports: Any predictions for this year? There’s a pretty big game coming up August 30th, and it may not be the only time these two teams meet this season. Can this team go back-to-back?

CASEY: I have the fullest faith in all my guys. Bucks by a million no matter what.