Ohio State fell just short of a College Football Playoff Berth last season.
On Sunday, Dec. 3 of last year, Buckeye fans anxiously awaited the College Football Playoff Committee's selection.
Ohio State was coming off a presumed resume-boosting 27-21 win over undefeated and No. 4 ranked Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game and there was hope that it would be enough to vault the Buckeyes into the final playoff spot over Alabama.
It was not. Ohio State was No. 5 – just one spot shy of a second-straight College Football Playoff berth – and instead drew a Cotton Bowl matchup with USC, which the Buckeyes won 24-7 to cap off the worst regular season since Urban Meyer's arrival in Columbus.
That might not seem right, but it's almost undeniably true – though it says more about Meyer's almost unrealistic success in Columbus than it does Ohio State's 2017 failures.
The 2017 season was the first time in Meyer's Ohio State coaching career that the Buckeyes lost two regular season games. Those losses – by 15 to Oklahoma and by 31 to unranked Iowa – were both the most lopsided regular season losses Meyer's seen as the team's head coach.
It was as bad as it's been in Columbus since Meyer took the helm, yet it was still a season many programs would dream of.
A Down year at Ohio State still makes you a playoff contender.
The Buckeyes had two wins against top-15 teams, finished in first place in the Big Ten East and would go on to win the Big Ten title, put itself in College Football Playoff contention, and earned a Cotton Bowl berth to play blue-blooded USC.
It's hard to call that a failure, but when you compare it to Meyer's previous seasons at Ohio State, it doesn't measure up.
In Meyer's first five seasons, the Buckeyes had two undefeated regular seasons and three one-loss seasons for an absurd 57-3 record – a 0.95 win percentage.
And those losses, with the exception of a 14-point home loss to unranked Virginia Tech, weren't bad ones. Ohio State lost on a last-second field goal to No. 9 Michigan State and on a blocked field goal against No. 7 Penn State, losing by three points on both occasions.
When you compare it to the standard Meyer set during his first five seasons, 2017 was a down year. But a down year at Ohio State still makes you a playoff contender.
Meyer has brought unprecedented success to Columbus, and the craziest thing is he seems to be sustaining it. Year after year, despite large roster turnover following every season, the Buckeyes are one of the nation's top teams and are favorite for both the Big Ten and national titles.
And that doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Ohio State just signed its two best recruiting classes of all time in consecutive seasons and returns a roster featuring an arsenal of future NFL players.
Given talent alone, the Buckeyes seem to be on the verge of their best teams ever, but after what Meyer's already been able to accomplish, there's almost no room for improvement. Anything short of an undefeated regular season is getting closer and closer to a disappointment.
Fair or not, the standard is ridiculously high in Columbus. But that's what happens when your worst season in six years very nearly puts you in the College Football Playoff.
