Ohio State football: 5 best seasons in Buckeyes history, ranked

Urban Meyer delivers a national title for Ohio State in2014.

When Meyer took over the Buckeyes, they were nicknamed “SloHio” State by members of the media. It was a well-deserved nickname. The Buckeyes could not run with teams from the Pac-12 or SEC before Meyer.

The most important thing Meyer did for Ohio State and the Big Ten was to bring speed and open the floodgates of competitive National recruiting. It wasn’t that Big Ten schools did not recruit outside of the Big Ten footprint; Michigan and Purdue both recruited Texas.

Meyer took it to another level. Two of the key players on the Buckeyes National Championship team in 2014 were from outside the Big Ten footprint. Ezekiel Elliot was from Missouri and wide receiver Michael Thomas was from California.

What was most impressive about this team how they won their championship. They won with third-string quarterback Cardale Jones. First, Braxton Miller is injured during training camp and then J.T. Barrett was injured in the season finale vs. Michigan.

After leap-frogging both Baylor and TCU, the Buckeyes offense was essentially “give it to Zeke and get out of the way.” Elliott had 476 rushing yards and six touchdowns in the two playoff games as the Buckeyes scored an impressive 84 points vs. Alabama and Oregon.