They had 10 chances to figure out what wasn't working.
A quiet anxiety lurked behind the perfect record those Saturdays produced. None of them mimicked the dominating splendor of the three-game run that concluded 2014. They knew it, too - the Buckeyes shuffled their quarterbacks repeatedly, changed up blocking assignments and game management philosophies to try and rediscover the magic that rocked Wisconsin, Alabama and Oregon as they puttered against the likes of Hawai'i, directional schools, Indiana and Maryland.
Ohio State survived too many of those 10 games on talent alone. The gap should have been much wider. That pointed to the coaches, who threw coaching at the problem.
Ten games served as a prelude to the game before The Game. That showdown finally arrived.
it's nearly impossible to wake up from a November nightmare.
Seven days later, after weeks of tweaking, altering and shuffling - Ohio State made one final change to its strategy: Tim Beck and Ed Warinner coached the offense together from the press box in an attempt to tighten up communication.
The Buckeyes promptly piled up 369 rushing yards against a Michigan defense which had only been allowing 100. One week after mustering just five first downs they racked up 25 while rushing for five touchdowns, doubling the total the Wolverines had allowed on the season.
Urban Meyer gave Jim Harbaugh the worst beating any Michigan coach has ever taken in his first home game against the Buckeyes. However, the celebration was tinged with regret due to the path they had taken to reach that moment.
Ohio State lost a game - one it had to win - in order to solve a puzzle of its own making.
Beck and Warinner coaching together in Ann Arbor (ABC)
The epilogue following those Michigan and Notre Dame triumphs suggested it was positioning Beck and Warinner together above the field that served as the solution to Ohio State's lingering malaise.
Its tempo, scoring and penchant for ripping off big plays finally returned, albeit too late to defend the CFP championship. This was the Buckeye team nobody without a death wish wanted to face; the one we hoped to see gelling into form no later than early October. Something finally clicked. Sending Warinner upstairs was the key to unlocking Ohio State's potential was a comforting and convenient conclusion.
But that's not the entire story. It can't be.
Tebow's promise. Florida's Carmen Ohio
Meyer owns just two regular season losses in Columbus. The other one was Virginia Tech, after which the 2014 Buckeyes ripped off 13 straight wins en route to the national title.
Six seasons earlier Meyer's Gators dropped a September home game to 22-point underdog Ole Miss, a mediocre squad that had fallen to Vanderbilt the previous week and would lose to South Carolina seven days later. Following that game QB Tim Tebow addressed Florida fans with an impromptu speech that has since been immortalized and affixed to the Heavener Football Complex, which is basically the Gators' WHAC.
Tebow spoke. Florida wouldn't lose again for 23 games. The Gators fell to 12th in the country but then rattled off 10 straight wins, clobbered Florida State in their rivalry game by 29 and returned to the BCS Title Game.
Meyer's second national championship was the 10th victory in that streak which began during a season in which he had to replace Doc Holliday, Stan Drayton and Greg Mattison from his coaching staff after they departed for other jobs. Ohio State's run following its loss to the Hokies lasted 23 games. The 2014 national title came right in the middle of it as well. The Buckeyes replaced two coordinators in the run-up and during that streak.
In all of that chaos, an enormous amount of energy was generated.
Florida didn't have to send any coaches upstairs to foster better communication after it choked to the Rebels. It didn't make wholesale changes to its philosophy, shuffle players between positions or alter its game plans.
What Florida experienced was the exact same thing the Buckeyes did upon letting Michigan State off the hook with the most tepid, scared-of-the-weather game plan Ohio Stadium has witnessed in years.
It finally got honest with itself. And then it got really pissed off.
When Meyer first arrived he granted his previous employer ESPN access to the program's fall camp. This production was packaged as a series called Training Days, which included a memorable speech following his tradition of having Mickey Marotti present him with his team.
It's haunting to rewatch this from 2012 with how 2015 transpired:
And last one, most importantly - I've gotten to coach a few of them: I want an angry team. I want a pissed off football team. I want a team that has a little chip on their shoulder. Maybe something's been taken from you. Maybe something hasn't. Are you a team that's gonna go get it? You're the Ohio State Buckeyes. You're an angry football team. You've got an angry staff.
Ironically that's the same fuel that powers Michigan State football in perpetuity.
It's the juice that pushed a 2014 Ohio State team that had little tenure and even less business participating in the College Football Playoff to three separate celebratory stages to end that season. Those Buckeyes figured out who they were shortly after losing the Virginia Tech and they discovered their edge after escaping State College with J.T. Barrett playing on one leg.
The Buckeyes did not find their edge last season until Ezekiel Elliott used the postgame press conference to put his coaches on blast for their performance against the Spartans. You could argue he should have aired those grievances without microphones in his face. You should argue that ripping the vanity off of an underperforming team and hurting some feelings shouldn't have waited until a clean path back into the playoff was rendered unpassable.
the importance of the BUCKEYES suddenly rediscovering the value of being genuinely pissed off was probably understated.
Ohio State lost its edge in 2015, which - hey, look at that - just happens to be the program's motto for the 2016 campaign. That 2008 Florida team found its edge in a September loss. Nick Saban has made finding one's edge following an early season loss into an art form. He has done it just about every year when his teams have been in national title contention.
Once they found it, the one-loss Buckeyes simply ran out of runway. Their co-offensive coordinators sitting in the coaching box together may have been a fruitful strategic move, but the importance of the entire team suddenly rediscovering the value of being genuinely pissed off was probably understated. You're allowed to lapse in September. Unfortunately it's nearly impossible to wake up from a November nightmare.
Joel Hale's pregame peptalk in Ann Arbor would have served the Buckeyes well for most of last season's malaise. This is what the edge sounds like:
The 2016 Buckeyes will have plenty of early and midseason opportunities to solve their own puzzle in a far less forgiving schedule than the 2015 edition faced. They'll have two coordinators, sitting together above the field and seeing the same thing from Day One.
The fog of war should not be quite as dense as it was that rainy November afternoon. But make no mistake, the 2015 Buckeyes didn't solve their puzzle. The puzzle solved them, and it cost the most talented team in the country a title shot.
Their slate ends in identical fashion to last season, with the two most formidable challengers in the division ahead of a potential trip to Indianapolis and back into the playoff. But Ohio State's fortunes are not going to hinge on where its coaches are situated during the game.
They're going to come down to being the most prepared. And being mad as hell, before it's too late.
