COLUMBUS, Ohio — With his 24-hour celebration rule very much in effect following Ohio State's 28-3 win over Illinois on Saturday, Urban Meyer headed to the house of a family friend in search of some much-needed rest and relaxation.
But even there, the Buckeyes head coach couldn't escape the reality of what's waiting around the corner for his team as it prepares for a potential three-game stretch that will define the 2015 season for the defending national champions.
"I was over at my friend's after the game...get home after Illinois and he turns on the channel, and I think it was [former Buckeye defensive lineman] Matt Finkes," Meyer said, referencing the local Buckeye Football Fever postgame show on WSYX 6 in Columbus. "And he said, 'Yeah, we've just got to get on a roll here.' My friend looked at me and said, 'Get on a roll here?' So it just tells you—I guess we've got to get on a roll."
To some, what Ohio State is already in the midst of would be considered just that, with a 10-0 record and No. 3 ranking in the College Football Playoff standings being just a part of what is currently a 23-game winning streak that includes last season's national title run. But the reality is that with what's ahead on the Buckeyes schedule—and the lackluster lineup of opponents they've faced to this point—their 2015 campaign might as well just be getting started.
That starts this Saturday, when Ohio State will welcome Michigan State (No. 9 AP) to Columbus for a rematch of the game that determined the Big Ten champion in 2013 and Big Ten East Division winner a season ago. It will continue the following week with a Nov. 28 date with Michigan, which could ultimately serve as a play-in game for this season's Big Ten title game.
Should the Buckeyes advance successfully in the next two weeks, they could very well find themselves facing an undefeated Iowa team playing for its own playoff life in Indianapolis. That would mark three consecutive games against ranked opponents heading into a potential playoff appearance after not facing one in the first 10 weeks of the season.
"You see it just how we see it," Ohio State guard Pat Elflein said of Ohio State's upcoming stretch, which he said he noticed as soon as the Buckeyes schedule was first released. "It's do or die time, make it or break it. These last few games, if we want we're training for, we've got to show up."
The position Ohio State finds itself in at the moment isn't dissimilar from the one it was in heading into its showdown with the Spartans a year ago.
After losing its second game of the season to Virginia Tech, last year's Buckeyes flew under the radar when it came to the College Football Playoff, thanks in large part to a schedule that saw Ohio State fail to face a ranked opponent through the first eight weeks of the season. Ranked 14th in the second CFP rankings of the year, the Buckeyes headed to East Lansing for a matchup with eighth-ranked Michigan State, with the opportunity to finally make a statement for their playoff candidacy on the line.
And boy, did they ever.
Beating the Spartans on their own turf by a score of 49-37 behind 386 total yards and five touchdowns from quarterback J.T. Barrett, Ohio State leapfrogged six spots in the playoff rankings in just one week. That proved to be the starting point for the Buckeyes' run to the postseason—and eventually, the national championship—which included wins over No. 25 Minnesota and eventually No. 13 Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game on the eve of the College Football Playoff.
"We just watched the film yesterday of last year's [Michigan State] game and we were playing at a very high level," Elflein said. "Yeah, that was a turning point where the offense was clicking on all cylinders last year."
Meyer didn't disagree.
"That was our best game offensively, by far," Meyer said. "We're not there right now. We've got to get there fast, when you start playing teams like this and a talented team like this."
This season, the stakes are different for Ohio State in that sitting at third in the CFP rankings, it presumably controls its own postseason destiny. The Buckeyes win and they're in, something that they weren't so sure of in the first edition of the playoff format a year ago.
But much like its status heading into last season's game against the Spartans, this year's Ohio State squad remains unproven in the eyes of many, given the uninspiring slate it's faced to this point.
"I don't think we've necessarily been pushed to the limit, or really, really been tested," said Buckeyes left tackle Taylor Decker. "This is the biggest game we've played this far yet this season."
That will remain the case for at least one whole week, until Ohio State heads to Ann Arbor for its regular-season finale and annual rivalry matchup with Michigan. If the Buckeyes take care of business against the Wolverines (No. 14 AP), they'll likely find themselves in line for a Big Ten Championship Game tilt against currently undefeated Iowa (No. 5 CFP, No. 6 AP), which would serve as a defacto play-in game for the College Football Playoff.
After two months of facing underwhelming opponents, Ohio State knows that what it will truly be judged on in 2015 is still in front of it. But Meyer doesn't need any reminders—he's well-aware of what's on the line in the coming weeks.
"Is this going to be good enough, period?" Meyer said of trying to evaluate his team in advance of its upcoming stretch. "Michigan State, that's the top of our conference. And obviously the next two games we have are big, big-time games, and that's human nature to say we see what's coming."
Are the Buckeyes good enough? With who they've played thus far this season, it's impossible to tell.
But with what's ahead on Ohio State's schedule, we'll know the answer soon enough.
Ben Axelrod is Bleacher Report's Big Ten lead writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BenAxelrod. Unless noted otherwise, all quotes were obtained firsthand. All statistics courtesy of CFBStats.com. Recruiting rankings courtesy of 247Sports.
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