Bill Rabinowitz - The Chase: How Ohio State Captured the First College Football Playoff

To Erin, My wife, the center of my life, my best friend

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Urban Meyer went to the 2013 BCS Championship Game full of pride. Against all odds, his first Ohio State team had gone undefeated that 2012 season. ESPN, for whom he had been a color analyst the year before, invited him back as a guest.

As with anything Meyer does, he went to Miami to watch Alabama play Notre Dame not merely as a spectator. He went to observe, to learn. What he saw was sobering. Though the Fighting Irish were the only undefeated team that year other than Ohio State, Alabama was the gold standard in college football. Meyer studied the Crimson Tide beginning with warmups and then throughout their 4214 rout of the Irish.

Meyer loved his 2012 team. He considered it the foundation of what he wanted to build at Ohio State. But as he watched Alabama, he realized how far his Buckeyes really were from being at that level. Theyre so much better than we are right now , Meyer told himself that night. Were not even close .

He needed something bold to convey that to his players. He needed a catchphrase. The Chase started with watching [Alabama] manhandle Notre Dame in the national championship game, he said. Weve got to get there. That night, Meyer sent a text to every player, coach, and staff member: The Chase is on. Soon after, a huge banner reading the chase was hung above Ohio States indoor practice field at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. It stayed for the next two years, a constant reminder of what the Buckeyes were pursuing.

The 2014 Buckeyes would complete their chase, but it would take a season unprecedented in college football history to do so.

Foreword by Kirk Herbstreit

Tears streamed down my face.

For the entire Ohio StateOregon national championship game, I was an objective and impartial professional, as my job as college football analyst for ESPN requires.

But before I was a broadcaster, I was a Buckeye. As the confetti fell after Ohio State won the first College Football Playoff championship, the magnitude of the Buckeyes improbable title hit me. I havent told a lot of people this, but when the championship was won and we were still on the air, I was overcome with emotion. In an instant, it was as if Id been transformed back to the 12-year-old kid in Dayton, Ohio, dreaming of such a moment for my beloved Buckeyes. I dont know if it was everything Id been through on a personal level after moving my family from Columbus to Nashville. But Id held myself back the entire game and maybe the last three or four years emotionally. Now it all came to the surface with those tears. I was just so proud of what they had accomplished and how they had accomplished it.

Its hard to imagine anyone being a bigger Buckeyes fan than I was as a kid. I grew up at a time when most Ohio State games werent televised. But WOSU, the public television station, would show the games on Saturday night and Sunday morning with Paul Warfield doing the call. Thats how I wanted to experience the game, so I did my best to shield myself from finding out how the Buckeyes did until I could watch the rebroadcast. If I was watching another game and they started to show scores of other games, Id look away.

I was fortunate to be a good enough quarterback prospect that Ohio State recruited me. When I came to campus for recruiting visits, a graduate assistant named Urban Meyer would often take me from place to place. Even then, you could tell he was destined for success. Just in the way he carried himself, Urban seemed to me to be more like an assistant coach than a GA. I dont know if even Urban knew what was in store for him back then. But his approach, his energy, and the intensity in his eyes made it obvious to me that hed be a very successful assistant coach and then one day a very successful head coach. We built a relationship then and reconnected in 1995 when I began my broadcasting career and he was an assistant coach at Colorado State. Weve stayed close as he moved on to Notre Dame before becoming a head coach at Bowling Green, Utah, Florida, and now Ohio State.

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When braxton miller reinjured his shoulder less than two weeks before the 2014 opener, Ohio States chances for a championship seemed doomed. Miller was the teams alpha leader, a two-time Big Ten Player of the Year. Who could possibly replace him? J.T. Barrett had never taken a college snap. Cardale Jones hadnt taken a meaningful one, and all anyone knew about him was that silly tweet hed sent out as a freshman. I know how tough it can be to be thrust into the quarterback job. I went to Art Schlichters debut in 1978, only to see him throw five interceptions against Penn State. Growing pains are almost an inevitable part of being an inexperienced quarterback. Barrett and the Buckeyes endured them in the loss to Virginia Tech, which proved to be a fork in the road. When the Buckeyes survived overtime at Penn State, you could sense something had changed. Ive been at every stadium in the country and Beaver Stadium is as loud and intimidating an atmosphere as Ive ever been to, and its probably the best student section in the country.

Then came the huge win at Michigan State and the win over Michigan, only to lose Barrett in the fourth quarter against That Team Up North. Ive been playing or covering college football and probably following it as closely as anybody has for the last 25 years. I know for a fact Ive never seen anything remotely close to what we witnessed at the quarterback position at Ohio State, and what it eventually led toand the pressure that was on Cardale Jones the last three games. But he jumped in against a good Wisconsin team and showed that the moment wasnt too big for him. Thats a credit to everything that Urban and offensive coordinator Tom Herman did in practice throughout his career to get Cardale ready for such a moment.

But then Jones had to play against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl when Nick Saban had three weeks to prepare. I worked the earlier semifinal at the Rose Bowl game on New Years Day between Oregon and Florida State. Immediately after that game, we rushed back to the hotel to watch the Ohio StateAlabama game with about 50 people from ESPN and their families. Taking my family to the Rose Bowl is a family tradition, and my four sons are probably even bigger fans of Ohio State than I am. When the Buckeyes fell behind 216, my boys were coming up to me with tears in their eyes. When Evan Spencer completed that magical touchdown pass to Michael Thomas, we were throwing things against the wall. We were going absolutely bonkers. My kids were jumping on the tables. The ESPN executives were just laughing and enjoying how excited everyone was. When Ohio State won that game, it was very, very special to me. It was one of the greatest nights of my life as a Buckeyes fan.

Then Ohio State dominated Oregon to win the national title. For the third game in a row, Cardale was in complete control. I was mesmerized by the way he played and represented himself and carried himself. Its easy with hindsight to say, Well, I knew those quarterbacks could do it. I have news for you. Thats probably the first time in college football history that that has happened and maybe the last time that a team can win the championship with its third quarterback.

Thats a big reason I had those tears running down my face after the Oregon game. I was just so proud of what they had accomplished and the way they had accomplished it. It was a storybook ending with Cardale Jones and the way he played in those three games. But it was more about the way the team represented itself. It was the epitome of no I in team. They didnt care who got the credit. They played with a chip on their shoulder, yet they didnt talk a lot of trash. It was exactly the way I would want Ohio State to carry itself. Its very easy for an Ohio State fan to say, Thats my Buckeyes, I knew they could do it. But with all the hurdles and distractions and things they had to overcome, what they achieved last year justdoesnthappen.