When Urban Meyer returned to Columbus from the Fiesta Bowl, he sped home to get away from football for a bit and be with his family.
Late into the evening, his iPhone vibrated, its screen showing a text from a friend and former Ohio State player congratulating him on beating Notre Dame, 44-28, earlier that day to cap the 2015 season and open the 2016 calendar in victory.
Then, there was a few words below those positive notes.
"Then something about people who are being critical or something," Meyer said Thursday. "I read it again and I said, 50-4, I wrote back to him, 'Critical of what?'"
It's an interesting topic. Ohio State, who entered the season as the first-ever unanimous No. 1 ranked college football team in history, fell short of the towering expectations that came along with winning a title too soon. Meyer said last spring he had planned for 2015 to be "the year" the Buckeyes made a run at the title, with so much talent experiencing their third or fourth seasons in his program.
Things changed, though, and a berth in the College Football Playoff came in 2014. It ended with Meyer, Ezekiel Elliott, Joey Bosa and others raising the national championship trophy over their heads in triumph. It was assumed that'd happen again this year with many of the same faces around for another go.
"I make this comment all the time: I learned as much football, as much about life as I ever have from the 2014 Ohio State Buckeyes," Meyer said. "I might have matched that this year."
Why did Meyer say that? Because his team dropped an ugly game in its home finale against Michigan State, 17-14, falling on a last-second field goal in horrid weather conditions. The loss helped extinguish Ohio State's wishes of even getting back to the Big Ten Championship Game, instead left with a consolation prize in the Fiesta Bowl — a glorified exhibition game.
“You saw, all you gotta do is watch the way we played in that Fiesta Bowl. That team was playing was if it was the Fiesta Bowl against Notre Dame. And that's all I care about.”– Urban Meyer on the 2015 Buckeyes
"The world is changed. When you go into a season as ranked as high as you are and having the expectations you have, you gotta learn to manage that and learn to handle that," defensive coordinator Luke Fickell said Thursday. "For those guys, I think it’s a learning experience. I know for us coaches, it's a learning experience. It's not going to change."
The Buckeyes throttled rival Michigan, 42-13, the week after losing to the Spartans and then beat Notre Dame despite losing three key starters on defense. The final victory marked a remarkable 50-4 run over four years, a win tally that's only been duplicated once in history, by Boise State (Alabama can match it with a win in the national title game Monday).
In Meyer's eyes, that's all that matters. Not that a second straight berth in the College Football Playoff never come to fruition.
"I will not be critical of our team and what they did," Meyer said. "If you're asking me personally, I am absolutely ecstatic for the way they remained professional. Because I've seen the other end of that. I'm sure you have too. Because you cover this sport enough and you know the social media now, the human element involved, the uncles, the third uncles, 'don't play, don't do that.'"
Meyer was upbeat about what his 2016 team could become, which outside of quarterback J.T. Barrett and middle linebacker Raekwon McMillan, lacks the big names that were present on this season's squad. Nine players left early, and as many as 14 could get drafted this spring, a result of an über-successful senior class.
There are a ton of questions about next season. Just like there were two years ago.
"It's a hunger. It's going to be back to like I said the 2014, a hungry, nasty, mean team. I hope," Meyer said. "That's something that, the one thing is we have very good leadership. Pat Elflein is a captain. J.T. Barrett is a captain. Raekwon McMillan is a captain.
"It's going to be an energy-filled offseason."
Meyer and his staff is putting the final touches on another stellar recruiting class, with signing day less than a month out. Due to that and the outstanding success the head coach has endured since taking over in Columbus, he and his staff knows a rabid fanbase won't temper its assumptions for greatness as long as football is played on Saturday afternoons in the fall.
"Because of the expectations, because you didn't ultimately reach your final destination and goal in mind," Fickell said. "That's what's on your mind initially. But I promise you in another six months, another year, they'll look back and realize how much fun they really had."
That's why when Meyer receives a message, phone call or comment from someone outside the program about 2015 being a failure, he'll look past it and be at peace with what the group accomplished and how it finished the season.
"You saw, all you gotta do is watch the way we played in that Fiesta Bowl," Meyer said. "That team was playing was if it was the Fiesta Bowl against Notre Dame. And that's all I care about."
