The coach, who served a suspension earlier this season, had already announced his retirement, but he coached his team to a win over Washington in his final game.
PASADENA, Calif. — A colleague once advised Urban Meyer to find a moment amid each game to savor. At Ohio State, the regimented coach customarily would remove his headset between the third and fourth quarters to soak in the university marching band blasting the vintage rock tune “Hang On Sloopy.”
The better the Buckeyes were playing, the longer he would listen.
On Tuesday, as Meyer’s dominant squad built what appeared to be an irreversible lead over Washington in the 105th Rose Bowl, the coach was able to take in every last note.
“This has been on the bucket list,” Meyer said of winning his first Rose Bowl. “I love all the other bowls, but being a Big Ten guy from Ohio and watching the Rose Bowl in the ’70s with Archie Griffin, it’s everything everybody says it was.”
In what Meyer maintains was a football coaching farewell that came as a result of his own health concerns, the No. 6 Buckeyes withstood a late rally by No. 9 Washington to prevail, 28-23, and make a mild case that omitting them from the College Football Playoff in lieu of Oklahoma (slow out of the starting blocks against Alabama) and Notre Dame (glued to the blocks against Clemson) was an oversight.
As for Meyer, himself, he departs with a somewhat complicated legacy, with great achievements on the field tarnished to a degree by things that occurred away from it.
He won three national titles — one with Ohio State and two with the University of Florida — and his winning percentage of .853 is unmatched among active coaches. Yet the school suspended him three games this season, concluding he mishandled the issue of an assistant coach accused of domestic abuse.
