Ohio State Will Forever Think What Could Have Been for 2015 Season

GLENDALE, Ariz. — For Ohio State, it wasn't just the opening offensive drive that told the story of its 44-28 knockout of Notre Dame in Friday's Fiesta Bowl, but rather the Buckeyes' first four plays.

Eight-yard pass to Michael Thomas.

Ezekiel Elliott's seven-yard rush.

Nine-yard pass to Braxton Miller, followed by the quarterback-turned-wideout's 27-yard rush.

Covering 80 yards in nine plays and three minutes and one second, Ohio State struck first, jumping out to a 7-0 lead after Elliott's two-yard touchdown.

Exhibition game? This was more like an NFL combine preview, with the Buckeyes showcasing their pro-ready potential from kickoff until the clock struck zeros. As soon as Ohio State began slicing through the Fighting Irish defense like a knife through butter, there wasn't any question as to who the better team inside University of Phoenix Stadium was on New Year's Day.

But for as sweet as the Buckeyes' victory was, it also left the Scarlet and Gray faithful with a bitter question on their minds as the 2015 season officially came to a close: Was there a better college football team than Ohio State this season?

With the national title game still to be played and the Buckeyes' season officially over, we'll never know.

Rick Scuteri/Associated Press

If the intent of the College Football Playoff selection committee was to pick the sport's four best teams, then truth be told, the Buckeyes probably belonged in a semifinal matchup. Returning a combined 15 starters from last season's national title team, Ohio State possessed no shortage of NFL talent in 2015, which will be evident come this spring's draft when the names of Buckeyes will be called both early and often.

Ohio State's resume looked the part, too—an 11-1 regular-season record with its lone loss coming by three points to a championship contender. The only problem is, the Buckeyes' defeat—a 17-14 home loss at the hands of Michigan State—essentially ended Ohio State's hopes for a conference championship, which has served as a prerequisite for the playoff committee in its first two years of existence.

"I've let go of that," OSU head coach Urban Meyer insisted on Friday. "We just won the Fiesta Bowl."

After making the necessary adjustment of moving offensive coordinator Ed Warinner to the coaches' box for their regular-season finale against Michigan, the Buckeyes jumped to sixth in the playoff rankings following a 42-13 beatdown of the Wolverines.

But it was too little, too late.

Without a conference championship game to make one last case, Ohio State was a lame duck as defending champion, as evidenced by the Buckeyes' slide to No. 7 in the final playoff rankings.

Ohio State sure didn't look like the country's seventh-best team on Friday, though, as it marched up and down the field at will against a fellow former playoff contender in eighth-ranked Notre Dame. All of the issues that plagued the Buckeyes all season appeared to have been solved against the Fighting Irish, with Warinner's presence in the press box allowing the Ohio State offense to play to its potential for a second straight game.

"When you lose a game, you're going to take a harder look in the mirror than you would coming off a win," said Buckeyes left tackle Taylor Decker. "We wanted to respond."

Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press

Quarterback J.T. Barrett looked sharp, completing 19 of his 31 attempts for 211 yards, one touchdown and one interception, adding 96 yards on the ground in an MVP effort. This wasn't the same player who pressed while splitting time with Cardale Jones earlier in the year. Instead, he was in full command of the offense, which should bode well for the Buckeyes heading into 2016 and his junior campaign.

"I've been in the offense for three years," Barrett said. "I think I can hopefully carry the load."

Elliott got the carries he deserved, totaling 149 yards and four touchdowns on his 27 attempts. There wasn't any complaining from the Ohio State star running back afterward like there was following the Buckeyes' loss to the Spartans, which saw Elliott carry the ball just 12 times for 33 yards.

Defensively, Ohio State survived the loss of three starting defensive linemen, including star defensive end Joey Bosa, who was ejected in the first quarter for targeting. It wasn't the Buckeyes defense's finest performance of the season, but Ohio State never truly seemed threatened while facing the second-highest-ranked offense it's seen all season.

This is what the Buckeyes were supposed to be in 2015—an explosive offense that felt right at home inside an NFL stadium with a talent-laden defense capable of making timely plays—like Tyquan Lewis and Sam Hubbard's back-to-back fourth-quarter sacks that thwarted a late Fighting Irish comeback attempt.

Ohio State looked not only like a team capable of beating anyone, but also a team that perhaps no one could beat—something we'll never know as Clemson and Alabama prepare to play in the CFP National Championship Game.

"We kinda made a statement that we are a really, really good football team," Decker said. "Just because we didn't make the playoff doesn't mean this season was a failure. This season was a huge success.

"We feel that we were one of the best teams in the country."

Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images

But what if Meyer had stuck with Barrett as his quarterback sooner in the season?

What if the Buckeyes had handed the ball to Elliott more often against Michigan State?

What if Warinner had moved to the coaches' box before Ohio State's showdown with the Spartans?

Would the Buckeyes had beaten Michigan State and made the College Football Playoff?

"I'm not going to say," Decker said when asked about the "what ifs" of the Michigan State game. "There's just so much variable to that."

And Decker's right. The reality is we'll never know what would've happened had one or more of those adjustments been made.

But Friday's showing won't stop us from looking back and always wondering what could've been with Ohio State in 2015. 

Ben Axelrod is Bleacher Report's Big Ten lead writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BenAxelrod. Unless noted otherwise, all quotes were obtained firsthand. All statistics courtesy of cfbstats.com. Recruiting rankings courtesy of 247Sports.