SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Those who have witnessed firsthand Urban Meyer's deftness at preparing a college football team for a postseason bowl game compare his methods to molding clay, navigating a new road or grandma's Italian cooking.
It is both an art and a science, and Meyer, just 52, has proved his mastery in his stops at Utah, Florida and now Ohio State.
He's 10-2 in postseason play, a ledger that includes BCS National Championship Games (2-0), a College Football Playoff semifinal (1-0) and the inaugural CFP National Championship Game (1-0). He has won a bowl game (2010 Sugar Bowl) after health issues pushed him to the brink of resignation and won another (2011 Outback Bowl) weeks after announcing he was resigning from Florida.
Meyer's postseason winning percentage (.833) ranks second behind Utah's Kyle Whittingham (10-1), who succeeded him at Utah. He can further cement his status as arguably college football's premier postseason coach Saturday by guiding No. 3 Ohio State past No. 2 Clemson in the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl (7 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN App).
"Urban's just got a great ability to have meticulous detail and a knack for preparation, just getting the most out of players and coaches," said Boston College coach Steve Addazio, an assistant for Meyer at Florida when the Gators went 5-1 in postseason games with two national championship game victories. "It's working the clay and molding it. That approach to the bowl season, it's one of the many things that makes him different and elite."
Meyer's bowl approach is aligned and adaptable, firm and fun, and built around balance and variety. He understands he can't approach the layoff between the end of the regular season and a bowl game, which ranges from three to five weeks, like he does for a normal game. He also knows that even the most proven template for postseason success must be tweaked for each team. And he knows he needs help from trusted staff members to get the team to peak.
Ohio State's postseason prep is broken into three phases: one for development and fundamentals, where younger players take most of the reps, and two game weeks, one in Columbus, and the other at the bowl site. Meyer consults with Mickey Marotti, who has led the strength and conditioning program for each of Meyer's teams since 2005, to map out when to push and when to pull back.
"We've been doing it for so long, so when we sense something, it's almost like we both are on the same wavelength," Marotti said. "His standpoint might be from a scheming and coaching standpoint -- 'We've gotta get this, this, this, this in practice.' And then my standpoint might be from a performance, fatigue, freshness standpoint.
"But I also understand, get your practice in."
Ohio State follows a proven postseason template, but the playoff presented new challenges for Meyer and his staff. Marotti compared it to driving on an interstate in unfamiliar territory and constantly looking around. As Ohio State chases its second CFP national title in three years, there's a different feeling.
"You've been there," Marotti said.
As Meyer prepared for his first bowl game as a head coach, the 2003 Liberty Bowl with Utah, he focused on freshness and fun. Practices were crisp and efficient. If there was an event players would enjoy, the Utes would attend. Coaches would have their families with them in Memphis.
"He goes, 'I've been on staffs in different places where you make bowl games so miserable for the players, coaches, everyone, trying to figure out a way to run power for the 19th time,'" said Rutgers defensive backs coach Bill Busch, who held the same post at Utah in 2003. "His deal was to have good energy and a good vibe and have the team in the right frame of mind. He made that very, very clear."
Meyer even let players return home and fly to the game on their own. "I thought, 'This is going to be a s---show,'" Busch said. "I had never been part of that, and I'd been to a ton of bowl games. And it went off flawlessly."
Utah beat Southern Miss 17-0. The following year, Utah thumped Pitt 35-7 in the Fiesta Bowl to finish No. 4 nationally. Meyer guided Florida to an Outback Bowl win in his first season and then stunned Ohio State in the BCS national title game the following year.
It didn't take long for Meyer to establish how the Gators would prepare for bowls. But he wasn't rigid, understanding what each team needed and that December had moving parts, from recruiting to assistants pursuing other jobs to underclassmen weighing their NFL options.
"I equate it to my grandmother cooking," Addazio said. "She was a great Italian cook. It's like, 'what's the recipe?' Well, it's a pinch of this and a dash of that. There's 90,000 things going on this time of year, but it's the ability to keep everybody aligned, everybody focused, and find the right ingredients, which means how much offense, how much defense, too much, too little.
"What fits into all that is, he's a tremendous taskmaster."
Meyer's intensity is a helpful baseline entering the postseason. He can ease up in December practices because he grinds so hard from August through November. Ohio State defensive coordinator Luke Fickell, who will move on to Cincinnati after the playoff, calls it "extreme ownership." It doesn't change after the regular season, no matter what is attached to the bowl or what lies ahead for players and coaches.
Last year, Ohio State arrived at the Fiesta Bowl as a non-playoff team, despite having what many considered the nation's most talented roster, one that would produce 12 NFL draft picks the following spring. Many considered Notre Dame to be the more motivated team; Ohio State never trailed in a 44-28 win.
"Everybody wanted to be in the playoff, thought we had the talent to be in the playoff. It just didn't work out," said Chris Ash, Ohio State's defensive coordinator for last year's Fiesta Bowl before leaving to become head coach at Rutgers. "Coach Meyer did a great job of keeping guys engaged, keeping them focused. It wasn't just that moment. It's what he does with the program throughout the course of the year.
"Everyone's got different agendas when the season's over, going different directions, but they're focused on the moment."
In an odd way, this year should be easier for Meyer. He has a young, ahead-of-schedule team entering a game with the highest of stakes. Ohio State didn't underachieve like Florida in 2007, when it lost to Michigan in the Capital One Bowl. Meyer's other postseason defeat, to Clemson in the 2014 Orange Bowl, came after a wave of illness, injury and off-field issues plagued the Buckeyes.
The Clemson team Ohio State faces Saturday has more experience, more star power and arguably more urgency as its transcendent quarterback, Deshaun Watson, likely plays his final game.
But the Buckeyes have Urban Meyer, the ultimate postseason equalizer.
"He's done it, he's been successful," Buckeyes co-defensive coordinator Greg Schiano said, "and I think everybody in the organization gains confidence from that, knowing that the leader knows exactly what he wants to do."