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Urban Meyer reflects on Ohio State’s National Championship in inaugural College Football Playoff

Spenser Davis

By Spenser Davis

Published:

Hours before Ohio State takes on Alabama in the National Championship Game, former Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer sat down with the Big Ten Network to re-live a previous OSU title game.

“Adversity, as awful as it is at the time it happens, builds character. Itdoes one of two things,” Meyer told Joshua Perry, who was a linebacker on that Ohio State National Championship team in 2014. “It separates people or it brings people together.”

That Ohio State team faced a number of challenges on and off the field, including an early-season loss to Virginia Tech and a devastating injury to starting quarterback J.T. Barrett.

“It galvanized us. The tougher things got, the better we got,” Meyer said, recalling an injury to starting QB Braxton Miller. “I remember calling Shelly that night and saying, ‘get ready for a 7-5 season.’ Which doesn’t go well in Columbus, Ohio. Get ready, because I’m not sure we can handle this.”

“And then we got on a journey and just got better and better and better … Mike Thomas started to become Mike Thomas. Zeke became Zeke. Bosa became Bosa.”

Here’s the full segment with Meyer and Perry:

Ohio State will attempt to replicate that success vs. Alabama on 8 p.m. in the National Championship.

Spenser Davis

Spenser is the news manager at Saturday Road and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.