For me, the story of the 2014-2015 Ohio State Buckeyes — correction, your 2015 National Champion Ohio State Buckeyes — actually begins in 2007.
Most Ohio State fans know where I’m going with this (if you don’t just bear with me), but looking back, it really is shocking just how similar Monday night’s title game was to what we witnessed that night. The one big difference of course was that back in 2007, it was Ohio State who was the comfortable favorite, fueled by a Heisman Trophy winner quarterback. Just like it was Oregon last night.
Both nights, the game seemed to be pre-determined, the final score a formality and coronation. And in both games we were totally, unquestionably, 200 percent wrong. Few saw either victory coming, at least not in the fashion it came. How could we?
So why did we whiff so egregiously on both games? The answer of course is ‘Urban Meyer.’ And as I reflect back on Monday night’s championship game — a dominating 42-20 victory that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score indicated — I can’t help but go back to that night, fast forward to the present and think to myself, ‘Freakin’ Urban Meyer did it again.’
This time we weren’t nearly as fooled coming in, if only because we’ve learned not to question the Urban Legend (are the kids still calling him that, by the way?). Still, I can’t help but think the same thing today that I did the day after Florida beat Ohio State back in 2007: For Ohio State, it isn’t just that they beat Oregon. But how they looked doing it. From the beginning to the end, the Buckeyes simply overwhelmed a team that most of us thought to be the most physically freaky in all of college football.
On offense, Ohio State’s line mashed Oregon’s defensive front, opening all sorts of holes for Ezekiel Elliott. When Elliott was in the open field, he blew past everyone, and when there was contact, he was the one initiating it, usually on a helpless defensive back. On the other side of the ball, the defense was fast enough to track down Marcus Mariota in the open field, on the rare occasions that he did see open day-light. And when Ohio State defenders did make contact with Oregon ball-carriers, well, as my high school coach used to say, ‘Football isn’t a contact sport. It’s a collision sport.’ And it seemed like the Buckeyes were on the right end of a lot of collisions Monday night.
Simply put, Ohio State dominated Oregon Monday night in every way one football team can dominate another. Just like Meyer’s Gators’ did in 2007, the Buckeyes were not simply content on beating the Ducks, but instead insistent on embarrassing them. Crap, think about it this way: Oregon’s only real touchdown “drive” came on the opening possession of the game, when yes, they made it to the end zone, but only after they recovered one fumble, and had another overturned. So basically, the Ducks had to dodge two bullets, to score one touchdown. They wouldn’t be nearly as lucky the rest of the night.
No one series better exemplified Ohio State’s sheer force of will than late in the third quarter, after Oregon had cut the Buckeyes lead to 21-20. Watching on TV the game wasn’t nearly as close as the score indicated, but make no mistake, it was indeed a one-point game, and Ohio State needed an answer.
They got one, in the most emphatic way possible. On a crucial third down, Cardale Jones — yes, the quarterback — lowered his shoulder, delivering a boom that literally knocked over an Ohio State defensive lineman (remember what I said about this being a ‘collision sport.’), and picked up the yardage needed for a first down. Later, Ezekiel Elliot capped the drive, by running right past Oregon’s defense, then over a defensive back for the score.
Understand that Ohio State had been in control up to that point, but they hadn’t put their stamp on the game. That Elliott run was that stamp, the moment when we all realized ‘This is overrrrrrrr.’
I also thought that series was a nice metaphor for Ohio State’s entire season. Since mid-September, Ohio State has been playing with this raw anger to them, exemplified in that one play from Elliott. Since a loss to Virginia Tech, the Buckeyes played mad, out to seek-and-destroy every opponent in their path. From basically the middle of September on, that’s basically what Ohio State did, culminating of course with Monday night’s win.
That’s also what makes Monday night’s performance so incredible: Not just that Ohio State won, and not just how they did it, but the sheer fact that they were even in the title game to begin with. As someone who watched this team from the beginning of the year, the simple truth is that this team just wasn’t all that good in September, at least not a title contender. Against Virginia Tech, Ohio State’s offensive line couldn’t block much of anything, J.T. Barrett still a major work in progress. Their defense gave up nearly twice as many points to the Hokies as they did to the Ducks that night.
It’s also why I sent out the tweet below:
To the credit of the Big Ten, at least they waited until September to completely eliminate themselves from playoff contention
— Aaron Torres (@Aaron_Torres) September 7, 2014
Ohio State fans can mock me if they want now (and they should), but I stand by what I said that night. The Buckeyes already had one loss, and it seemed unlikely that they’d get through the season without another one or two along the way. Simply put, nobody could’ve seen this coming. Not a run to the title game. Not in September anyway.
But while I totally whiffed on that tweet, at least give me credit for this: I paid close attention from there on out, and was maybe the first person outside the state of Ohio to jump on the bandwagon going forward. After watching them curb-stomp…. maybe the better term might be ‘Urb Stomp’… Maryland and Rutgers in back-to-back weeks I called them ‘college football’s most underrated team.’ After they beat Michigan State, I said they were college football’s next major super-power, a team destined to compete for titles for years to come. A week later, I took it one step further, arguing that they were already one of the four best teams in college football, writing that they unquestionably had a better resume than Mississippi State, the team that most agreed was the fourth best in college football to that point.
Most people scoffed at the notion, but for those of us paying close attention, we could see the seeds being planted. Urban Meyer had already done the hard part in recruiting his butt off and getting good players into his program. Now he and his staff were — and please excuse my language — coaching the shit out of them, too.
Apparently though, no one was paying attention at the time. That’s because while I was on the street corner with my air horn, telling anyone who would listen that Ohio State was legit, the pushback I continued to get from Twitter and everywhere else was all the same. ‘How could a Big Ten team possibly be any good? There were five, six, seven SEC teams that would beat them on a neutral field. Pay attention Torres! You don’t what the hell you’re talking about!’
Yeah, about that. Because while Ohio State may not have had the short-term track record of Alabama or Florida State (even if they were close), make no mistake about it, they had the talent to compete with anybody.
Sure, Ohio State’s in the Big Ten….but does anyone actually follow recruiting besides me (don’t answer that). If you did, you’d know that Joey Bosa was offered a scholarship by Nick Saban at 15-years-old. Vonn Bell picked the Buckeyes over Tennessee and Georgia. Jalin Marshall had offers from UCLA and Tennessee….to play quarterback. Raekwon McMillan was the most coveted linebacker in high school football last year.
Make fun of Ohio State’s conference affiliation if you want. Laugh at the loss to Virginia Tech, as the Hokies crumbled later in the season. Nitpick Ohio State for being too young, too inexperienced, too green in big games and big moments, go ahead. But for the love of God, please don’t tell me that they’re not talented.
Well, you know what they say about talent: It usually wins out (unless Ron Zook is your coach).
And really, that might be the most underreported part of Ohio State’s run to the title this year, is just how good this team improved over the course of the season. Understand it’s one thing to bring in really good players, and it’s another to have them ready to go in games against Wisconsin, Alabama and Oregon, but what was so cool about this team specifically was watching everything that happened with them in between September and Monday night. Forget these last couple wins in December and January, and realize that all the success they’ve had over the last few months is a direct correlation to the hard work they put in, in September, October and November.
So really, if we’re going to pin this title on one thing, it really should be the development of this team over the last few months under Urban Meyer and his staff. Understand, it’s one thing to bring in a bunch of highly-rated recruits, but quite another to get all of them to not only succeed, but fully maximize their potential. And that’s exactly what Ohio State’s staff did. They took a bunch of uber-talented players, got them to play over their heads for the last few months, extracted every ounce of football talent out of them they possibly could. And well, you saw the results on Monday
Remember, this is a team that played three different quarterbacks this year (technically two, but you get the point), one who’s offensive line and running backs combined to barely break 100 yards rushing against Virginia Tech, while giving up 35 points. Fast-forward to Monday, and Ezekiel Elliott single-handedly went for nearly 250 yards, while the defense gave up a meager 20 points to Oregon.
Talk about progress! Are you freakin’ kidding me!?!
And what’s maybe the most spectacular part, is just how much talent Ohio State has coming back. Urban Meyer doesn’t have to worry about the NFL Draft because, umm, have you seen their roster??? Most of their best players aren’t even draft eligible!!?!?!??!?!?!
Are you kidding me! I can’t stop using exclamation points!!!!!!!
Joey Bosa is back. Ezekiel Elliott is back. Jalin Marshall is back. Raekwon McMillan, Vonn Bell, Eli Apple, Cam Burrows, back, back, back, back. Just like at quarterback, Meyer’s biggest problem next year, might be finding a way to keep all his stars — at every position — happy!
Of course that’s a great problem to have, and also leads us to this reality: The best is yet to come for Ohio State. They really are college football’s next super-power.
It’s been a long road since 2007 for both Ohio State and Urban Meyer.
But they have arrived.
And they’re not going anywhere.
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