Among a myriad of idiosyncrasies that define Urban Meyer’s reign as the Ohio State football coach, a certain level of comfort in the glare of the spotlight comes into focus as it prepares for the biggest game of the year, a National Championship bout against Oregon.
To get there, Meyer became an intrepid captain navigating his team through choppy waters, including season-ending injuries to Braxton Miller and J.T. Barrett which mounted considerable challenges to overcome for a young team replacing a bevy of starters who led it to a 24-game winning streak last year.
Yet behind a backup’s backup in Cardale Jones, a third-stringer-turned-unlikely hero, Ohio State is on the cusp of college football’s zenith after toppling top-ranked Alabama, 42-35, in the Sugar Bowl last week.
Because of Meyer, who is 37-3 in his time Columbus, the Buckeyes say they have a newfound urgency about winning big-time games after a perception of being unable to do so dogged the program as recent as last year when it collapsed in the postseason against Michigan State and Clemson.
This year, however, has been different, starting with a gutsy road win against the Spartans in East Lansing in November that marked the beginning of Ohio State’s rise to now.
“He’s a huge motivator. He knows how to get the message across to the entire team. He gets everybody on board is what I’ve really noticed,” redshirt freshman linebacker Darron Lee said. “He can get an entire group of guys on board and if you’re not on board, you’re not going to play. Everybody comes here because they want to play so that’s good enough motivation as is.”
In the days before that contest, which, at the time, was billed as the biggest game in Meyer's tenure, the unusually-loose and smiley coach said, “this is why they’re trained, every second of everything we do in the program from offseason to summer conditioning to training camp, we’re training you for moments like this.”
Players and coaches talked of such a mentality in the week before its Sugar Bowl matchup against the Crimson Tide, winners of three of the last five national championships and a benchmark of college football excellence in the last decade under Nick Saban.
Like they were against Michigan State and Alabama, the Buckeyes will walk into AT&T Stadium near Dallas as underdogs to the second-ranked Ducks, but the moment, they say, doesn’t faze them much.
“All year, all we’re prepared to do is excel in tough situations,” Michael Bennett, a senior defensive lineman and captain, said this week.
“All winter, spring and summer all we do is prepare for the big lights. You don’t come to Ohio State to play a lower level team. You come to Ohio State to play for championships and win championships.”
For the Buckeyes, that moment is now.
