Upon a thorough and brutal beatdown of Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game, Ohio State’s locker room melted down into a memorable scene that’ll live on in internet immortality through videos, pictures, tweets and Snaphat stories.
After all, if there is a pinnacle of the Urban Meyer era, this was surely it.
For now, at least.
It was met with a wild, hearty and fitting celebration that echoed through the bowels of Lucas Oil Stadium Saturday night and early Sunday morning.
And after a season of highs and lows, the Buckeyes are heading to the College Football Playoff where they’ll play Alabama in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.
So here’s how they got here.
August 18: Braxton Miller suffers season-ending injury 12 days before season opener
It was the realization of every Ohio State fan's worst nightmare.
After being curiously limited throwing the ball for weeks during the the team's preseason training camp in August, questions/concern swirled over the health of Braxton Miller's throwing shoulder, which was surgically-repaired in February.
12 days before the season opener against Navy, the star quarterback re-injured it.
For the Buckeyes, it was a major blow to a campaign dressed in championship aspirations. After all, Miller — the back-to-back Big Ten Player of the Year and program centerpiece — was critical to those hopes and dreams.
"It shatters your heart," head coach Urban Meyer said a day after losing Miller for the year. "But you have to move on and get the next guy ready."
At the time, that next guy was a relatively unknown somebody named J.T. Barrett.
Sept. 6: Unranked and underdog Virginia Tech stuns Ohio State at home
Without Miller, Ohio State flatlined against unranked Virginia Tech in Columbus, 35-21.
In his second-career start, Barrett threw three interceptions and was sacked seven times. Virginia Tech's defense and specially-tailored game plan to shut Ohio State down held the Buckeyes to 327 yards.
The loss, Meyer's worst in three seasons, is a comprehensive defeat that exposes a young team amidst growing pains.
“A little bit surprised. I thought our skilled guys would perform better. I thought we'd protect a little better. A little bit disappointed. I don't know, coaches don't get surprised, get disappointed," Meyer said after the game.
"And obviously we just gotta work a little harder, and I still have confidence. We have enough skill on this football team to get by people. It didn't look like it, but we have to get by people or you're going to see what you saw today you'll see every week."
And at the time, the loss sent Meyer's crew plummeting in the national rankings and court of public opinion.
But after the game, player and coaches maintained a careful sense of optimism that, at the time, seemed unwarranted considering what had just happened on the field 30 minutes earlier.
“It’s a long season, anything can happen. There’s a lot of games to be played across America and we just gotta wait and see," junior linebacker Joshua Perry said after the game.
"We gotta go out there and play Buckeye football and if we do that, we’ll put ourselves in a situation where something — we don’t know what it is yet — but we’re hoping … We’re gonna go to work every day. Ohio State’s Ohio State. We’re a highly ranked team all the time, we get good guys so we just gotta put in the work. We got to go on about our business as professionals and if we do that, we can be really successful.”
Sept. 12: Noah Spence suspended indefinitely after failing another drug test
Considering what had happened to the Buckeyes a week earlier, the return of talented junior defensive end Noah Spence was supposed to lift the team's broken spirits on the heels of an embarrassing loss without its star quarterback.
But Spence, due to play for the first time against Kent State after a separate three-game suspension, never makes it back to the field.
Ohio State suspends him indefinitely after failing his second drug test in less than a year. It's another blow for a squad looking for some sort of positive news.
Oct. 4: Ohio State smashes Maryland on the road; J.T. Barrett officially bursts onto the scene
In what was expected to be a close (or at least competitive) game, Ohio State routs Maryland, 52-24, in College Park.
While beating the Terrapins isn't exactly resume-worthy, the win showcases a significantly improved team that's slowly but surely coming into its own.
That effort is correlated with the growth of Barrett, who combined for 338 yards and four touchdowns.
It's the first time where the redshirt freshman seemed completely in command of himself and an offense that rolled up 533 yards on the Terrapins.
"A lot of confidence in our quarterback right now and our skill positions," Meyer said after the game. "There’s a lot of opportunities to make plays because they’re confident. We weren’t that way in the first game, didn’t show it in practice enough. Now they’re starting to practice that way."
And it's just the beginning of an offensive surge.
Oct. 25: Ohio State escapes Penn State in double overtime in Happy Valley
After racing out to a 17-point lead against Penn State at night in State College, the Buckeyes survive a double-overtime thriller against a gritty Nittany Lions team and deafening White Out.
Barrett, who suffered an MCL sprain just before the end of the first half, had statistically one of his worst games as a starter but atoned for it with two gutsy touchdown runs on in the extra periods.
"I'll probably never forget that look when I saw our offense taking the field against that White Out in the student section," Meyer said.
The win, regardless of its ugliness, becomes a sort of rallying point for an Ohio State on a mission to crack back into the national conversation.
There is a celebration at a crossroads for a group that had to show some grit to escape Beaver Stadium with those ambitions intact.
"That was a great character win. You’re not supposed to win in that situation,” cornerbacks coach Kerry Coombs said. “You get caught from behind in an environment like that and then go behind in overtime going into their student section. You are not supposed to win that game.”
But the Buckeyes keep rolling with a massive bout against Michigan State looming in two weeks.
Nov. 8: Ohio State unseats Michigan State and vaults back into national conversation
In a game billed as redemption, revenge and the biggest Big Ten bout of the year, Ohio State upset then eighth-ranked Michigan State, 49-37, on a cold and damp night in East Lansing.
The Buckeyes amassed 568 yards on one of the nation's best defenses and Barrett became a legitimate Heisman Trophy contender after combining for 386 yards and five touchdowns.
The postgame scene was pandemonium as players and coaches poured onto the field for what was at the time the biggest win of the Urban Meyer era in Columbus.
“This is one for the ages,” Meyer said.
It's also one that reaffirmed a culture and way at life in Columbus.
“I just think we earned back our confidence,” offensive line coach Ed Warinner said. “I think we just earned back the belief our players have, a belief in our program, belief in how we do things at Ohio State, how Coach Meyer runs his program ... And we just got our confidence back that we can win a big game.”
After the game, it becomes clear the Buckeyes believe they can make a push for a spot in the playoff.
"A young team grew up tonight," Meyer said.
And then some, really.
Nov. 15: Ohio State beats Minnesota in frigid Minneapolis, Urban Meyer subtly starts to campaign
After moving six spots up from No. 14 to No. 8 in the College Football Playoff rankings thanks to the monumental win against the Spartans, Ohio State overcame brutally-cold conditions in Minneapolis to slip by No. 25 Minnesota.
Asked if he felt like the Buckeyes missed out on style points, Meyer issued a challenge to the rest of the nation.
“I’d like to see anybody in the country come up here and do this, come up here in November ... I challenge any team in the country that wants to go ahead and schedule this one in November against a very good team,” he said. “Have at it."
Of course, it also one of the first times we saw Meyer begin to campaign for Ohio State in its hunt for a playoff spot.
Nov. 29: Ohio State overpowers Michigan, but loses J.T Barrett in the process
Before pulling away from arch rival Michigan once and for all, J.T. Barrett broke his ankle in the fourth quarter of the team's 42-28 win against the Wolverines.
The loss of Barrett, who blossomed into one of the nation's finest players and a bona fide Heisman Trophy contender, casted familiar clouds over an 11-1 regular season and looming Big Ten title bout with Wisconsin.
Like it did when Miller went down three months earlier, the Buckeyes turn to backup Cardale Jones to replace Barrett and what he meant to a team that rallied around him all season long.
“We have a lot of confidence in the guy that's going to be doing it … He's been here I think for 120 years," Meyer said. "He's been here for a while."
But still, doubt remained over whether Jones could deliver in his first-career start on such a massive stage with so many implications.
Dec. 6: Ohio State crushes Wisconsin, wins first Big Ten Championship under Urban Meyer
At Lucas Oil Stadium, the place where Ohio State's championship dreams fell apart a year ago, the Buckeyes dismantle Wisconsin, 59-0, without Barrett.
Behind Cardale Jones, who threw for 257 yards and three touchdown passes against the nation's second-best defense (at least statistically), Ohio State won its first Big Ten title under Meyer.
And since the triumph was so impressive, it becomes clear Meyer and Co. expect to hear their name called as one of four teams to make the playoff the following afternoon.
"I don't know how you don't put us in the top four, honestly,” senior tight end Jeff Heuerman said. “I've kept my mouth shut about that for a pretty long time. I'm done with that. We’re definitely one of the top four teams in the country.”
And after this whipping of the Badgers, it looked that way.
Dec. 7: Ohio State receives fourth and final playoff berth.
In a season that saw it lose two starting quarterbacks and suffer an embarrassing loss in Week Two, Ohio State earned the fourth and final spot in the first-ever College Football Playoff.
It will play Alabama in the Sugar Bowl Jan. 1.
As the Buckeyes bludgeoned the Wisconsin, their fans chanted "WE-WANT-BA-MA! WE WANT-BA-MA! WE-WANT-BA-MA!'
Of course, they got their wish.
