Exhausted, emotional and excited, Urban Meyer couldn't speak on what had just happened right in front of his face.
“I lost my brain cells there,” Ohio State's head coach said in an answer to the first question of his postgame press conference following his team's thrilling 30-27 double overtime victory against archrival Michigan.
The reporter wondered about Meyer's decision to go for it on fourth down in the game's final quarter as well as the second overtime period against the Wolverines, both when he had the option to kick a field goal and tie the game. Meyer said he couldn't remember the first fourth down attempt—when Mike Weber ran over left tackle for 3 yards and moved the chains—but admitted his train of thought to go for it each time revolved around his former employer.
“The last one, it was not very far, and my AD at Florida [Jeremy Foley] actually used to always tell me, said: If you can't get that far you're not a championship team,” Meyer said. “We used to talk about that all the time, and I agree with him. So that actually crossed my mind—if you can't get that we're not a championship team anyway.”
The Buckeyes could get a chance to compete for a national championship depending on where they rank in Sunday's final College Football Playoff rankings. A firm pedal to the metal attitude from Meyer is a big reason why.
“If you can't get that we're not a championship team anyway.”– Urban Meyer on 4th-and-1 situations
Ohio State is 13-of-19 on fourth down attempts through 12 games this season, a 68.4 conversion rate that is 11th-best in the country and narrowly behind Iowa for the Big Ten lead. The Hawkeyes are 11-of-16 on fourth downs in 2016, or 68.8 percent.
The Buckeyes don't always go for it on fourth down, even if it is fourth and short, as Meyer sifts through the possibilities in his head about what could happen as a result if his offense fails to convert. With Ohio State owning an excellent defense, however, he has picked his spots pretty well this season.
“That's what we do,” quarterback J.T. Barrett said. “I mean, honestly, when it's fourth and short, I feel like we can go for it every time.”
Barrett's conversion on 4th-and-1 on The Game's second-to-last play will forever be discussed and scrutinized in the rivalry's lore. He kept the ball after a fake handoff to Curtis Samuel and lurched forward toward the 15-yard line, the line to gain. Called a first down on the field, the officials upheld the ruling after checking multiple angles of replays. Had it gone the other way, we'd be talking about Jim Harbaugh's first victory in The Game as a head coach.
Instead, Samuel took the ball on the next play around left end and scampered virtually untouched to the end zone to give the Buckeyes the win.
Meyer could have chosen to run Tyler Durbin onto the field a play earlier for a 33-yard, game-tying field goal. He didn't. Ohio State eventually won.
“I know it's a very good defense, a rugged defense, but I've got players like our J.T. Barrett,” Meyer said.
Michigan's defense is one of the best in the country and thwarted the Buckeyes for most of the afternoon. But it only stopped them once on a fourth down try, when Sam Hubbard couldn't hold is block and punter Cameron Johnston got tackled two yards short of the first down on a fake punt attempt deep in Ohio State territory.
Meyer said after the game that he called the fake punt but his reaction on the sideline said differently. Michigan led 10-7 in the third quarter at that point and the turnover on downs gave the ball back to its offense on Ohio State's 22-yard line. Five plays later, the Wolverines led 17-7 after Wilton Speight hit fullback Khalid Hill in the flat for a touchdown.
“On the last play, we ran a stretch to the left. It's a 20-man lead is the call, and Curtis scored,” Meyer said when asked about the Johnston's failed attempt to pick up a first down. “Any more questions about the fake punt?”
Obviously, he didn't want to talk about it because he didn't call for it and it nearly cost Ohio State the game. It was a read by Johnston and the Buckeyes didn't execute well enough to pick up a first down. Field position didn't give Meyer confidence to go for it—which is why he sent the punt team out in the first place.
On the other two fourth down tries, however, he chose to give his offense a chance to score a touchdown even when a field goal could have tied it. The game wasn't over if Weber didn't get first down yardage the first time. It would have been had Michigan been able to stop Barrett in the second overtime. The Wolverines even took a timeout to set their defense before the play.
That is the difference between Meyer and some other coaches. More often than not, he goes for the win in those type of situations even if it is the more risky play in terms of metrics like win probability.
“I know field position plays a part of it, but we're on their side of the 50, I'm really jacked about it. Like, let's go do that, because that's what we do,” Barrett said. “We are in those situations countless times before the season starts and spring ball. And then when it comes to the season that's what we do; we take risks and we have a great offensive line to go out and get those first downs.”
