Urban Meyer won't bring it up on his own accord, looking to move on and zero in on preparing his young 2016 Ohio State team to again compete for the Big Ten Championship. But the Buckeyes missed a major opportunity in 2015.
"This is an exceptional group that came up a few seconds short in a game against a very good team, obviously," Meyer said in December, a few days after he learned Ohio State missed the College Football Playoff — mainly because of its stunning 17-14 loss to Michigan State on Senior Day.
Alabama roasted the Spartans in the Cotton Bowl 38-0, while Meyer and the Buckeyes rebounded and beat Notre Dame 44-28 in the Fiesta. The Crimson Tide eventually beat Clemson for the national championship, but Ohio State was the one that shelled out 12 picks in the 2016 NFL Draft — all coming in the first four rounds.
"Some of these units were decimated by the guys who left," Meyer said in March following Ohio State's first day of spring practice. An almost unheard of 44 players own freshmen eligibility on the 2016 roster, a direct result of all that talent and essentially having the same team as the one that won the 2014 national championship.
"That's my fault, for not pushing them," Meyer said of all the young guys. "But it was hard since we had such depth last year."
That depth is gone, replaced with inexperience and resulting in depth issues on the offensive and defensive line. The Buckeyes face an uphill climb with only six returning starters and a handful of seniors. In his final year at Florida, Meyer and the Gators faced a similar situation.
Nine players from Meyer's 2009 Florida squad became draft picks the following spring. Six guys — Joe Haden, Maurkice Pouncey, Tim Tebow, Jermaine Cunningham, Carlos Dunlap and Brandon Spikes — came off the board in the first two rounds. Not all of those guys left early, but some did. In all, 22 players from that team eventually became draft picks.
The pressure mounted in 2009 and eventually Meyer hit a breaking point after the Gators fell to Alabama 32-13 in the SEC Championship Game. Chest pains resulted in a trip to the hospital and the stress from trying to achieve a perfect season became too much. Meyer stepped down after the Gators throttled Cincinnati 51-24 in the Sugar Bowl.
"I blame Tim. Because our whole message was, 'Florida has never been undefeated,'" Meyer said. "Anything less than that and we're a failure. That was the mentality that we both had and worked so hard to get that undefeated year. Talk about work, in that conference, go undefeated. That's not a message. I don't even talk about things like that."
Meyer chose to return in 2010 but the Gators slipped to 8-5, easily his worst season in terms of winning percentage (he won eight of 11 games at Bowling Green in 2001). That — and his continued health scares that stemmed from obsession and the need to be the best — forced another retirement and brief hiatus from the coaching profession.
It is highly unlikely such a dip comes to fruition this fall at Ohio State, even though the Buckeyes essentially flipped their roster because of the departures.
Meyer is home in Ohio, appears to be able to let things go and turn off the switch and has a stellar coaching staff in place. The Buckeyes secured another top-5 recruiting class in February but there is something to be said about all those players that left gaping holes when they went to the NFL.
"It's what we do. You recruit that way," Meyer said in January. "I've been in scenarios where you don't have a lot of conversations about the NFL because you don't have those kind of caliber players. This was over the top."
Meyer might feel some of the same feelings he felt following Florida's 12-1 season in 2009 when it fell just short of repeating as national champions. He won't admit it, though, and certainly doesn't show it now at Ohio State. He called this offseason the most important in his coaching career, with his new-look roster needing to be developed in order to try and reach the ridiculous expectations that come after posting a 50-4 record in four seasons as precedent.
Still, it is going to be a challenge with a tough schedule on tap that includes trips to Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Penn State and a rematch with Michigan State.
"We've got a lot of work to do," Meyer said. "I would say we're very average right now and then we're going to find out this next week if we cross that edge and I'm going to watch that like a — that's going to determine if we're going to be any good or not. This week will determine if we'll be any good."
