Despite Title Win, Ohio State Still Chasing Alabama for King of College Football

COLUMBUS, Ohio — For all of the talk of "The Chase" being over for Ohio State following its College Football Playoff National Championship victory, it's worth noting that Rome wasn't built in a day.

And neither was Alabama.

Make no mistake about it, the Buckeyes' eighth national championship in program history has certainly been worth the celebration it's received in Columbus and all over the state of Ohio in the past two weeks. More importantly, it announced the indisputable arrival of a program that Urban Meyer has spent the past three seasons building into a national title contender.

“The chase is complete,” Meyer proclaimed following Ohio State's title-clinching win over Oregon on Jan. 12. “It’s done. It’s over."

But with all due respect to the three-time national champion head coach, "The Chase" is really just getting started. And if recruiting rankings are any indication—as they typically are—the Crimson Tide aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

With national signing day nearly a week away, Nick Saban's program is poised to sign an astonishing fifth straight No. 1-ranked recruiting class. Alabama currently has 26 prospects prepared to sign next Wednesday, including six 5-star and 16 4-star recruits.

The Buckeyes, meanwhile, currently lay claim to the country's seventh-ranked class. That would be Meyer's lowest-ranked haul since arriving in Columbus in 2012, having signed the nation's No. 3, No. 2 and No. 5 classes in each of the past three offseasons.

"Recruiting's pretty much done," Meyer said of his 2015 class on Saturday. "We're already into the next year."

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Ohio State, of course, has already proven to have closed the talent gap on the Crimson Tide, with a 42-35 win over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. But if the origin of Meyer's motivating mantra is to be believed, the Buckeyes are still yet to have truly caught the Crimson Tide.

It was two years ago that Meyer developed the idea of "The Chase," standing on the sideline of the 2013 BCS National Championship Game. It was there that Meyer watched Alabama beat Notre Dame by a score of 42-14, causing him to realize that despite finishing 2012 with a 12-0 record, his program still had work to do.

"I sat and watched it, and every one of these players and every support staff, everybody on the coaching staff, everybody associated with our program. I called our strength coach, I said, 'I'm going to send you a text right now and I want [it] in their heads immediately,'" Meyer recalled. "I saw a team [Alabama] that I thought—obviously, it was just dominant in the national championship game, and they looked better than we did, so somehow we had to get to that level. And that was 'The Chase.'"

In his pursuit of a national title, Meyer made no bones about setting his sights on Alabama, which captured its third in four years with its throttling of the Fighting Irish two years ago. Meyer and the Buckeyes went head-to-head with Alabama on the recruiting trail several times in the past two years, winning their fair share of battles, but only this past January were they able to truly measure themselves against the Crimson Tide.

Given the final score—and truth be told, the Buckeyes were more impressive than the final margin indicated—Ohio State is certainly on par with Alabama from a talent standpoint. Meyer didn't downplay what it meant for his team to topple the Crimson Tide after two years of chasing them.

"I've used Alabama," Meyer said of his motivational tactics. "Any time [we talk about] the top of the mountain, I've used them."

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But it's going to take more than one season—or one game, for that matter—for the Buckeyes to complete that chase.

Meyer could have used Florida State—the most recent reigning national champion—as motivation, or a program like Oregon, which had compiled three consecutive top-four finishes heading into the 2013 season. But he chose to target the Crimson Tide, due not only to their success, but their ability to sustain it.

If that's still the goal, then the Buckeyes aren't quite there—at least not yet. And Alabama isn't going anywhere anytime soon, despite Ohio State's Sugar Bowl victory.

Aside from its annual influx of 5-star talent, the Crimson Tide will enjoy some much-needed continuity next season in the form of returning offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin. Alabama will be replacing 12 starters in 2015—including stars Amari Cooper, T.J. Yeldon, Blake Sims and Landon Collins—but inserting new talent has never been an issue for Saban in what's been a seven-year run of national relevance.

Unless they meet up again in the playoffs—which is very possible—the Buckeyes aren't chasing the current Crimson Tide so much as they are their past accomplishments. And Ohio State has plenty on its side when it comes to a potential run at a repeat, including 14 returning starters in a Big Ten conference it still possesses a significant edge in.

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"I've got a bunch of really good players. I love our coaching staff," Meyer said the day following the national title game. "The word 'repeat,' we'll have that conversation—certainly not today. It's about enjoying it."

That's because having enjoyed this type of success before during his time at Florida, Meyer is well aware just how difficult it is to sustain. The Gators seemed poised to capture their third national title in four years in 2009, before Saban and Alabama prematurely ended Meyer's dynasty to start their own.

Given the makeup of their roster, the Buckeyes are as well positioned as anybody to create college football's next great run. But until they eclipse Alabama's recent accomplishments, the chase will continue.

Ben Axelrod is Bleacher Report's Ohio State Lead Writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BenAxelrod. Unless noted otherwise, all quotes obtained firsthand. All statistics courtesy of cfbstats.com, and recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.