A little late but Ohio State makes its case in Cotton Bowl win over USC
Meyer
Mark the Buckeyes 73-8 in six seasons under Coach Urban Meyer .  Mark   them  as probably the best team outside the big ol’ 2017 playoff  even if  they  did take that notorious 55-24 splat at Iowa.  Mark   them  12-2 for the season  and notice how  they ’ve collected two bowl wins — the 2015 Fiesta against Notre Dame and the 2017 Cotton against Southern California — as signs of an ability to combat the bummer of narrow playoff exclusion.
“A very healthy program ” Meyer called it.
That happened  of course  in ancient times  but the Trojans’ intermittent string had extended through Ohio State coaches Woody Hayes  Earle Bruce  John Cooper and Jim Tressel before  Meyer ’s bunch finally snuffed it out.
The elite coach and  his  sixth team did so in front of another swarm of Ohio State fans in an AT&T Stadium that did have empty upper sections but did welcome 67 510. They did it in a building of fond memories  site of their national championship of three Januarys ago. Along the way  they looked superior if not crushingly so  and even without their prized senior cornerback Denzel Ward  who followed the trickling recent-years fashion of skipping bowl games while eyeing the NFL draft. If these two conference champions who suffered obliterations this season — Ohio State at Iowa  and USC at Notre Dame — still felt mad at the selection committee choosing conference non-champion Alabama  then Ohio State channeled better its anger.
“We just had some  a lot of  not-very-many dry eyes in the locker room ” Meyer said.
By the semi-dreary end  when the last Darnold pass sailed wide of everything and plunked down  the night had sustained a Meyer era inarguably strong  even if Ohio State fans never have seemed the type to go around chanting  “We’re number five.”
Mark the Buckeyes 73-8 in six seasons under [TGT] .  Mark   them  as probably the best team outside the big ol’ 2017 playoff  even if  they  did take that notorious 55-24 splat at Iowa.  Mark   them  12-2 for the season  and notice how  they ’ve collected two bowl wins — the 2015 Fiesta against Notre Dame and the 2017 Cotton against Southern California — as signs of an ability to combat the bummer of narrow playoff exclusion.
“A very healthy program ” [TGT] called it.
That happened  of course  in ancient times  but the Trojans’ intermittent string had extended through Ohio State coaches Woody Hayes  Earle Bruce  John Cooper and Jim Tressel before  [TGT] ’s bunch finally snuffed it out.
The elite coach and  [TGT]  sixth team did so in front of another swarm of Ohio State fans in an AT&T Stadium that did have empty upper sections but did welcome 67 510. They did it in a building of fond memories  site of their national championship of three Januarys ago. Along the way  they looked superior if not crushingly so  and even without their prized senior cornerback Denzel Ward  who followed the trickling recent-years fashion of skipping bowl games while eyeing the NFL draft. If these two conference champions who suffered obliterations this season — Ohio State at Iowa  and USC at Notre Dame — still felt mad at the selection committee choosing conference non-champion Alabama  then Ohio State channeled better its anger.
“We just had some  a lot of  not-very-many dry eyes in the locker room ” [TGT] said.
By the semi-dreary end  when the last Darnold pass sailed wide of everything and plunked down  the night had sustained a [TGT] era inarguably strong  even if Ohio State fans never have seemed the type to go around chanting  “We’re number five.”