Despite Ohio State’s post-season ban, the Buckeyes played the season like a team with a National Championship on the line. Every week Urban Meyer had his guys ready to play, and every week, his players came away with a victory.
Very rarely does a team play up to their full potential when they have, seemingly, nothing to play for. There was no Big Ten or National Championship waiting for the Buckeyes at the end of the season, but they strapped up every week and gave it their all.
Give Urban Meyer credit for transforming last year’s 6-7 Buckeyes into a 12-0 team his first season in Columbus. That’s a nice way for Coach Meyer to establish job security. The 2012 OSU squad is the sixth team in Buckeye history to end a season with a perfect record.
And, believe it or not, Ohio State still has an opportunity to end the season with an Associated Press National Championship if Notre Dame were to loose before the season is over. How, you ask? Ohio State’s post-season ban prevents them from participating in a bowl, which takes them out of BCS Championship contention. However, their ban does not prevent them from being ranked no.1 in other polls, such as the Associated Press poll. So, should Ohio State be the only team in a major conference to end the season undefeated, there is a possibility they could be no.1 in the final 2012-13 poll. But I wouldn’t expect anybody to vote for a team under probation.
All of that “what if” talk aside, this season obviously gives Meyer a huge base on which to grow his Ohio State program for years to come. Congratulations to the Buckeyes on a successful season.