Ohio State hopes dramatic win over Michigan is enough to boost its CFP hopes

— -- COLUMBUS, Ohio -- After Ohio State scored on the first possession of overtime against Michigan, Urban Meyer left his team huddle to tend to another task.

Meyer furiously pumped both his arms up in the air to each quadrant of Ohio Stadium, urging for more noise. Then he pointed to the student section in the end zone for another boost.

That's the kind of day it was for Meyer and the No. 2 Buckeyes. They had to search for every possible edge to pull out a 30-27, double-overtime win over a team that had pushed them around most of the afternoon.

When the game finally ended on? Curtis Samuel's?15-yard touchdown run, Meyer fell face down onto the turf. Later, in his news conference, Meyer claimed he couldn't remember many of the plays before Samuel's touchdown run.

On the 10-year anniversary of the "Game of the Century" between these two rivals -- a 42-39 victory by then-No. 1 Ohio State over then-No. 2 Michigan -- we were treated to a worthy successor. It had a little bit of everything: controversial calls, a sideline meltdown by Jim Harbaugh, questionable coaching decisions and a comeback for the ages.

"I can't wait to see that game when I'm like 35," Buckeyes defensive end Jalyn Holmes said. "I can tell my kids I played in that game, and it made the rivalry back to what it used to be."

Ohio State trailed 17-7 midway through the third quarter and was lucky to be that close, given how little its offense had produced. Michigan looked ready to clear up the Big Ten's College Football Playoff picture before its collapse complicated the selection committee's deliberations.

The Buckeyes are 11-1 with victories over top 10 teams Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Michigan. But a road loss to Penn State proved fatal to Ohio State's Big Ten title chances, as the No. 7 Nittany Lions beat Michigan State on Saturday to clinch the East Division. Penn State will play No. 6 Wisconsin in the league championship game next week in Indianapolis, with the winner staking a claim to a playoff bid.

Ohio State, meanwhile, will have to hope it has done enough to become the first non-champion to make the playoff field.

Meyer said "I don't know" three times when asked whether his team deserved a playoff bid. Several of his players made their case for it.

"I think we've proven ourselves with our strength of schedule and how we played," defensive end Sam Hubbard said. "It doesn't really matter if we go to the Big Ten championship game. What we've done speaks for itself."

"How can you keep us out, with our wins on the road against top-tier teams?" senior center Pat Elflein asked.

"I think we're one of the four best teams," quarterback J.T. Barrett said. "It's up to the committee now."

Ohio State owns an impeccable r?sum?. But the committee will have to really consider whether Meyer's team still passes the eyeball test.

Consider that the Buckeyes squeaked past a 3-9 Michigan State team 17-16 last week. And for much of the game against Michigan, the Buckeyes again looked shaky offensively.

Their only score in the first 43 minutes came on a gifted pick-six by safety Malik Hooker. Normally reliable kicker Tyler Durbin missed two field goal attempts, including a 21-yard gimme. The team's Achilles heel, its lack of a downfield passing game, surfaced again. At the end of three quarters, Barrett had only 57 passing yards and 153 total yards.

Meyer was so desperate to generate offense early in the second half that he called for a fake punt from his own 19-yard line. That didn't work either.

"We just faced so much adversity," Hubbard said. "But our mindset never changed. We just kept swinging, kept fighting."

The defense carried the load, forcing three Michigan turnovers and holding the Wolverines scoreless from the 6:37 mark of the third quarter to the end of regulation. Ohio State finally got its offense moving by returning to its bread and butter: a heavy dose of Barrett runs.

Barrett's 41-yard draw play in the fourth quarter provided the much sought-after spark. He ran for a touchdown on the Buckeyes' second play of overtime. On fourth-and-1 in the second overtime, he plowed ahead for a first down -- barely. The spot was reviewed by replay officials before being upheld, and Samuel scored the game winner one snap later.

"When I got hit, I wasn't 100 percent certain, to be honest with you," Barrett said. "I fell on top of people, so I didn't know exactly what it was going to be."

Harbaugh was convinced the Wolverines had forced the stop that would have ended the game, and that's one of many calls he blasted in his postgame news conference. Harbaugh could have just as easily pointed the blame internally.

His tantrum after an offsides call led to a costly penalty on an Ohio State scoring drive (and left him with a broken headset). As someone steeped in the history of this rivalry, Harbaugh should know that committing three turnovers on the road is no way to emerge with bragging rights.

If Michigan takes better care of the ball, the Wolverines probably win the game and the division crown. Instead, they lost to the Buckeyes for the 12th time in their past 13 meetings. A few Ohio State redshirt seniors such as Elflein earned their fifth pair of gold pants, the trinket players receive for beating the Wolverines.

"That's amazing," said Elflein, who has given the charms to his mom and sister. "My family wears them proudly. To beat the team up north five times, what a great career."

Few recent games in this series have had as much at stake and contained as much drama. Meyer seemed to realize that at the end of the game.

He normally joins his team in front of the student section to sing "Carmen, Ohio," but he couldn't get closer than the 20-yard line because of the mob of fans who had rushed the field.

Meyer instead hung around, with one arm draped around his son, Nathan, and soaked up the experience. He watched the scoreboard highlights of the game and stood through two more songs, "All I Do Is Win" and "Sweet Caroline," before finally heading to the locker room.

He knew this win was special, regardless of where it leads next for Ohio State.

"That is one of the classic games of this rivalry that will forever be," Meyer said. "I'm not saying it's the greatest, because that's disrespectful for the other players that have played in it. But that's an instant classic between two great teams."