Urban Meyer, clad in an Ohio State long sleeve shirt and black slacks, strolled to his podium of the team room at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
He's done the same thing no short of 20 times throughout the 2015 football season, but Sunday was different. Moments earlier, he'd learned the football team he coaches fell to No. 7 in the College Football Playoff rankings and is set to face the No. 8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish New Year's Day in the Fiesta Bowl.
"Two legendary programs. Two programs I'm very familiar with and have great respect for the Fighting Irish. And a great bowl game," Meyer said. "I've personally been there, I know Ohio State has a great tradition there too. I'm very excited and do our best to play well."
The last time Meyer visited Glendale, Arizona, as a head coach, he and the Florida Gators wasted Jim Tressel's Buckeyes, 41-14, to win the 2006 BCS National Championship. Following the 2008 season, Tressel and the Buckeyes fell to Texas, 24-21, in the Fiesta Bowl, the most recent time Ohio State played at University of Phoenix Stadium.
Meyer and Ohio State had a shot at a trip to the Rose Bowl Sunday, if they finished higher than Big Ten runner-up Iowa in the rankings. The Hawkeyes finished fifth, punching their ticket to Pasadena to face No. 6 Stanford.
"I've just never been to the Rose," Meyer said. "But no, there is no disappointment. You start talking about that level of football, that level of bowl game and that level of an opponent you're going to play, you just get locked on and put laser lights on to where you're going."
Meyer won't say it and nor will his players, but it is hardly a secret: An aura of dissatisfaction and wondering what could have been from this season is palpable at Ohio State.
The Buckeyes needed chaos on Conference Championship Saturday to be in the conversation as the nation's fourth-best team in the eyes of the College Football Playoff committee. That chance was small, sure, but absolutely nothing came to fruition to aid them.
Clemson beat North Carolina. Florida wilted at the hands of Alabama, and Stanford put it to USC. The Buckeyes, sitting idle with no conference — or even division — crown to their name, slowly slipped down the national pecking order as the clock moved closer to midnight Saturday.
"I didn't watch," Meyer said. "I was up and walking around, watch a couple minutes here and there. Hard to watch."
Michigan State's epic 22-play, 82-yard touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter against the Hawkeyes assured the latter wouldn't fall behind Meyer's Buckeyes come Sunday. The game went down to the wire and wasn't decided until L.J. Scott's arm reached the ball across the goal line with 27 seconds remaining to put the Spartans ahead for good.
Then reality hit: Meyer's team is third-best in the conference in the eyes of the committee, all due to a last-second 17-14 loss to the eventual Big Ten champions.
“It's hard for me to enjoy football because I start getting notebooks out and start thinking about this and that. At some point you gotta enjoy a moment with your family and it's just ... you second-guess and overanalyze everything. It's difficult.”– Urban Meyer
"It's hard for me to enjoy football because I start getting notebooks out and start thinking about this and that," Meyer said. "At some point you gotta enjoy a moment with your family and it's just ... you second-guess and overanalyze everything. It's difficult."
Meyer and his staff are sure to second-guess what happened that rainy and blustery afternoon at Ohio Stadium Nov. 21, when Mark Dantonio led the Spartans — without starting quarterback Connor Cook — into Columbus and left with a victory. The play calling left something to be desired all game, and not even a dominant 42-13 drubbing of archrival Michigan the following week could give arguably the country's most talented team a shot to repeat as national champions.
"I think they do an excellent job," Meyer said of the 12-person Playoff committee, which selected the top-4 teams after Clemson, Alabama, Michigan State and Oklahoma all won their respective conferences with one or no losses.
Without a lick of chaos, the Buckeyes had no chance.
So Meyer pursed his lips and answered questions about his team, which he thinks includes a Heisman Trophy finalist in Ezekiel Elliott and the best defensive player he's ever coached in Joey Bosa. He looked down when a reporter asked him to put into words what the season to date and a win New Year's Day would mean to him and his team. In his response, he spoke of the 2015 senior class, which could win its 50th game as Buckeyes if Ohio State bests Notre Dame. That would be a program record.
"That takes your breath away a little bit," Meyer said. "That's the biggest thing, as we prepare for this final journey together, these kids have done a lot. Players have done a lot. I just love hanging out with them and you get one more swing."
Meyer said there isn't any disappointment with where Ohio State was placed — a New Year's Six bowl requires a certain level of focus and intensity, regardless which one it is — but it was evident what being left out felt like.
It hurt, just like it did in 2013 after Ohio State fell short against Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship Game and had to settle for the Orange Bowl.
"This is an exceptional group that came up a few seconds short in a game against a very good team, obviously," Meyer said. "Finish what you start — and what are we 11-1? We've gotta find a way to get our 12th win."
