Joshua Perry laid it out pretty simply after he experienced just the fourth loss in his Ohio State football career Saturday afternoon: The Buckeyes have no choice but to regroup with only one game left on their regular season slate, especially with it being against Michigan.
"We don't have any other response," the senior linebacker and team captain said. "If we don't, then we're just a phony team."
The Buckeyes hardly looked the part Saturday at Ohio Stadium in an ugly 17-14 defeat at the hands of Michigan State, who spoiled Senior Day for Perry and 17 others. The Buckeye offense never got anything going against the Spartans, and questionable play calling was openly questioned by star running back Ezekiel Elliott.
"It hurts a lot. Just because of how we lost," Elliott said. "I feel like we just weren't put into the right opportunity to win this game."
Horrible weather didn't help things, but Mark Dantonio's club had an excellent game plan it executed to perfection. Even without starting quarterback Connor Cook, the Spartans were the best team on the field Saturday.
And now, it leaves the Buckeyes at a crossroads in the 2015 season.
The Game always a higher magnitude for Ohio State due to its history. Jim Harbaugh now roams the Michigan sideline, and put the Wolverines in a position to make the Big Ten Championship Game in his first season.
Meyer's club still could make it to Indianapolis with a win and some help, but for a program that experienced nothing but winning for 23 straight game, Saturday's loss hurt and could result in a downward spiral.
"You can bow your head and turn the other way or are you going to lift your head up. We didn’t play well and we have to get better and I think that’s where we’re at as a team: We’re going to pick our heads up and the fact is we got outplayed tonight," quarterback J.T. Barrett said. "The next step is we’ve got to find out why that happened and make the changes in order to get better."
Ohio State's chances to achieve the goals it set out to reach at the beginning of the year took a major hit, but remain attainable, though the odds are slim.
With how Elliott, the team's best player, ripped Meyer and the staff's production, though, the wealth of talent that could leave early for the NFL with him could check out down the stretch.
The running back said that won't happen, however.
"We represent everyone in Ohio. We're going to come out and we're going to play a hell of a ball game. I'm telling you," Elliott said. "We're going to look like a different team, a new team."
Meyer hasn't lost in his first three tries against Michigan since becoming the head man in Columbus. The Wolverines will have home field advantage for Saturday's noon kickoff, but the Buckeyes have plenty to work on in order to leave Ann Arbor victorious.
"I did challenge the leaders, challenged our coaches that, once again, to run out of the tunnel first when you're — what you said, 23 or 30 or whatever is the win streak — it doesn't take a whole lot of courage to do that," Meyer said. "It takes a lot of courage to show up Sunday ready to go beat a good team up north."
Elliott is one of those team leaders, and said he spoke to his teammates after the loss. Will it make a difference between an inspired effort against the team's arch-rival or another flat performance?
It remains to be seen.
"We're hungry. I'm personally not going to let anyone slack off, back down, this game means the world to us and everyone in Ohio," Elliott said. "I'm actually pretty excited to see how this team really rebounds from this loss and I'm just ready to forget about this and get moving."
