Nearing the end of the Big Ten Championship Game, as time ticked off the clock in the fourth quarter, Urban Meyer found co-defensive coordinator Luke Fickell and gave him a bear hug.
In a 59-0 demolition of Wisconsin, the moment was a small token of day that players and coaches say was Ohio State’s best defensive performance in three seasons.
“Best effort we had since we've been here,” Meyer said. “This was a complete, thorough effort.”
For the Buckeyes, it was a breakthrough so emphatic that moved the the typically unemotional and stone-faced Meyer to physically and publicly embrace the man who became everybody’s favorite whipping boy a year ago.
“It’s amazing when adversity hits and people have to come together and guys grow and guys really sacrifice for one another and I think you really saw that,” Fickell said. “I think we’ve seen that throughout this year, but I think we saw that a little bit more even in the last few weeks.”
Because for Ohio State's new-look, overhauled defense, this moment was a long time coming as the it neutered the Badgers and their powerful run offense.
It held Melvin Gordon, a Heisman Trophy candidate who’s regarded as one of the best backs in the country, to 2.9 yards a carry. And the Buckeyes stifled Wisconsin — who entered the contest averaging at least 300 yards a game — to an unexpectedly measly 71 yards on 37 carries.
“It’s still crazy to me. I think if you told us this week that we would shut them out, 59-0, I wouldn’t have believed you,” senior defensive tackle Michael Bennett said.
“But seeing the guys before the game and just how hyped up everybody was and how everyone bought into what we were saying, maybe thought they’d get seven points. A shutout’s a big deal against this offense.”
For a defense that unraveled against Michigan State en route to an ugly postseason collapse last year, this was redemption. And perhaps there is no greater beneficiary than Fickell, whose name became evoked frustration and angst last season.
Heck, Meyer’s been among the biggest critics of his assistant's unit for the last two years.
“He’s a guy I have a lot of respect for, he’s a guy that we have hard conversations,” Meyer said.
“He was in a very interesting situation here before I got here and he had no reason to be as loyal as he has been to me. We were abysmal in pass defense a year ago, So we blew it all completely up.”
The Buckeyes also brought in co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Chris Ash to help rebuild something out of the wreckage. Which means, for Ohio State’s defense to take leap forward, Fickell had to take a small step back.
After 13 games, something's working.
“Everybody was waiting for the silver bullets to come back,” Meyer said. “Including the head coach.”
He got what he asked for Saturday night.
