How 'The Spot' still affects Ohio State as Buckeyes prepare for Clemson in semifinal

Though Ohio State benefited from the key play, try as they might, most Buckeyes cannot forget it

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Urban Meyer won't watch the televisions lately in the sprawling Woody Hayes Center.

Not when "The Spot" comes on.

"... I see it coming, [I'll walk away]," Ohio State's coach said of perhaps college football's biggest play of 2016. "I'm scared the official's going to go like this ..."

Meyer then proceeded with an official's gesture that is unthinkable to contemplate now in these parts. He signaled Michigan ball.

Three weeks ago, Ohio State's entire season rode on The Spot. Quarterback J.T. Barrett converted a fourth-and-1 plunge that kept alive the winning drive to beat Michigan in double overtime.

But not before officials huddled, the spot of that plunge was reviewed, upheld and Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh epically bitched.

Ohio State's 30-27 double-overtime win has been playing on a loop for weeks here at the football facility. Mostly, it is meant to impress visiting recruits walking through the halls.

For the program's leader, the endless replays are reinforcement. They remind him his team really did win the game that catapulted the Buckeyes into the College Football Playoff.

It also reminded him how close they were to losing on The Spot.

"I'm a half-empty glass guy sometimes and I was like, 'Son of a bitch. Game's going to end right here,'" Meyer recalled. "Or, 'We got it.'"

Just don't ask him how on that fourth-down play.

"I won't watch it on TV ...," Meyer admitted. "I was down there but, still, you don't know. I know he [Barrett] hit a guy in air."

That guy was teammate A.J. Alexander, a tight end, who threw a key block on the play but also impeded his quarterback from further progress. After running into Alexander from behind, Barrett came to rest somewhere around the Ohio State 15.

Curtis Samuel sprinted 15 yards for the winning score on the next play.

"That spot didn't cross my mind at all," Samuel said. "From the looks of it, J.T. got across [for the first down] so, in my mind, I was just getting ready for the next play that was coming up.

"We figured we had the first down already."

J.T. Barrett's desperation plunge really was that close. Getty Images

It's just not as certain in a Maize and Blue state where the topic of The Spot still is a flash point.

"Did he make it? Did he not make it? I don't like that question to be honest with you," said Billy Price, Ohio State's All-American guard. "Our season doesn't come down to a spot.

"Obviously, since I'm on the winning side of it, the refs made the right call. Blah, blah, blah whatever. But your season should not come down to a spot. I don't like that question."

It's clear Meyer still revels in the tension of the moment. He proudly whipped out his phone this week to prove it. A friend had sent him a sideline shot of officials huddling during the review. A few feet away, Meyer is glancing at them sideways, looking concerned as if his season depended on it.

It did, of course.

"I'm going to keep this the rest of my life," he said of the photo.

"There's some things that will happen in that game I don't know if I'll ever experience again."

Michigan's Wilton Speight threw crippling interceptions, one for a pick-six. Ohio State ran a fake punt on its own 20 and was stopped, allowing Michigan a short field to go up 10.

Maybe the ultimate sin was the Wolverines blowing that 17-7 third-quarter lead.

Almost three weeks later, Barrett's first-down run seems to have become as accepted as Ohio State's place in the CFP despite not winning the Big Ten and losing to eventual champion Penn State.

For the first time in the CFP era (and the fourth time since 1998), a team that didn't win its conference is playing for the national championship.

The offensive line that sprung Barrett that day has two All-Americans (center Pat Elflein is the other) for the first time in 42 years. It also surrendered eight sacks to Michigan.

"At times were are inconsistent. At times we are consistent," Elflein said. "Sometimes we look like the best offensive line in the country. Sometimes we look the opposite of that."

Barrett has done just about everything a college quarterback can do. He has finished fifth in the Heisman voting, was a two-time Big Ten quarterback of the year and led Ohio State to the brink of a national championship in 2014. Cardale Jones took over from there after Barrett injured his ankle against Michigan.

"The goal was reached in that we have a national championship ring," Barrett said. "But I think playing in it was totally different."

He is prepared to find out how different later this month against Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl semifinal.

Meyer might not have been sure of any of it until eight days after The Spot. On the same Sunday his team finished No. 3 in the final CFP Rankings, he became a grandfather. Daughter Nicki -- married to Ohio State grad assistant Corey Dennis -- delivered a baby boy named Troy.

Meyer enjoyed both life-changing events from the fifth floor, labor and delivery at Riverside Hospital.

"In the hospital they had one of those little TVs," Meyer said. "The first one announced was Alabama ... They said No. 2 is Clemson. I said, 'Ssssshooot. Penn State had a helluva deal [winning the Big Ten].' Then the third one, I hear [us] and go, 'Yaahhh!'"

By then, it was OK to scream something else: The Spot had indeed left the Buckeyes in a nice spot.