Thirteen is an unlucky number.
That's a common truth widely accepted by most people. And 13 years ago today, you were probably feeling pretty unlucky.
You were likely waking up with one of the worst football hangovers (and possibly, actual hangovers) of your life. You had spent the previous evening watching your Ohio State Buckeyes enter a national title game as heavy favorites, only to exit on the losing end of a disastrous 41-14 outcome.
For Ohio State fans of the modern era, it was one of the most (if not the most) brutal losses you've ever experienced – right up there with that 1998 defeat to Michigan State. The Buckeyes had dominated that entire year and were one win away from capping a storybook season while claiming their second national title in five years.
That loss changed Ohio State in a lot of ways. Then head coach Jim Tressel had to regain the momentum he and the program lost that night. He helped the Buckeyes return to the title stage the following year, only to fall short again to another SEC opponent.
Over the years, Ohio State experienced enormous setbacks and equally proportionate advancements. There were blowout losses to USC, then improbable Rose Bowl wins over Oregon. There were satisfying, getting-the-monkey-off-your-back wins over an SEC team in a bowl game, only to have that win vacated by the NCAA.
There was one legendary coach fired, and one legendary coach hired.
And that's when Ohio State's evolution ramped up.
Buckeye fans saw firsthand the difference between a Tressel-led program and one steered by Urban Meyer 13 years ago yesterday. But an equally jarring experience was feeling that difference more intimately, when Meyer first roamed Ohio State's sideline in the fall of 2012.
The Buckeyes' first game with Meyer at the helm was against Miami (OH). The first quarter had extreme Tressel vibes, with the RedHawks leading 3-0. But just over a minute into the second quarter, Braxton Miller connected with Devin Smith on a touchdown that launched a new era of Ohio State football.
The hurricane of scoring that ensued felt so alien. The Buckeyes poured 56 points on Miami that afternoon, just a year removed from beating a fellow MAC opponent (Toledo) 27-22.
It served as an official changing of the times at Ohio State. The Buckeyes eclipsed 50 points four times in that 2012 regular season, equalling the number of times Tressel-coached teams broke the half-century mark in his final five seasons combined.
Meyer's tenure started with a school-record 24-game win streak. After a speed bump at the end of his second year that saw the Buckeyes lose three of four games, Meyer's Buckeyes went on another tear to claim the first-ever College Football Playoff National Championship.
Like Tressel's time at Ohio State, there were bumps along the way under Meyer. There was the inexplicable loss to Michigan State in 2015, then the playoff disaster against Clemson a year later. Just saying the words "Iowa" and "Purdue" trigger nightmare flashbacks no one wants to revisit.
But Meyer propelled the program to a different level during his tenure and turned the keys over to a first-time head coach who proved more than capable of keeping Ohio State among college football's elite.
While the 2019 season ended with a devastating loss, Buckeye fans should know better than most that good things can come from it.
