Ohio State Buckeyes have become a monster that people can embrace

"The culture, I want to bottle it," Coach Urban Meyer said of his team. "It's really good."

To objective American hearts, Ohio State, like many football kingdoms through time, might have seemed cold, impersonal, opaque. Woody Hayes's frequent gracelessness might have overshadowed his admirable curiosity, his intellect and his fondness for academia. Jim Tressel's Buckeyes of the early 2000s might have felt clenched and nongregarious. Maybe it's hard, anyway, to embrace unanimous No. 1 teams and other mastodons.

Well, from East Lansing last November to New Orleans and Dallas-Fort Worth last January to Columbus in March to Blacksburg on Monday night, this champion has told its story in long, thoughtful answers. Its locker room has specialized in gentlemen. Its way forward has loaded up with appeal.

It had a quarterback. Come August 2014, that quarterback, Braxton Miller, went down, injured. Come 2015, Miller returned to find two other quarterbacks ahead of him. Semi-forgotten, he accepted a hybrid-receiver role, and Monday night, he scored dazzling touchdowns of 54 (catch) and 53 (run) yards.

"I can't say enough how much I respect him being able to humble himself and switch positions," offensive tackle Taylor Decker said of Miller. Volunteered Meyer, "I would like to say this: that I love Braxton Miller." Said receiver Michael Thomas, "I just loved to see him happy and see him smiling again."

Then it had two quarterbacks. Both soared in the 2014 championship season. They engaged in a protracted position battle that Meyer kept extolling for its civility. Maybe that's just coach-speak, but the sheen of the team suggests it's not. Asked his feeling about emerging as the starter, here's what Cardale Jones said Monday night about the purported runner-up, J.T. Barrett: "I don't think the battle is over. You know, you have two great guys with experience, and can lead the team in their own way. We put ourselves in a unique situation as a team, with me and J.T., just because of our talent and because how our team, you know, rolls when each of us has been used."

He soon added, "I'm not even sure who will start Saturday, so . . ."

That would be Saturday against Hawaii, and the man who just started couldn't have said anything more respectful of the man who just didn't.

The Buckeyes seem rich in sage players who seem beyond their years describing their collective story — defensive tackle Michael Bennett and receiver Evan Spencer were two from last season — so in the hallway beneath Lane Stadium, senior linebacker Joshua Perry offered his seasoned view. He began: "I think that everybody genuinely likes being around each other. There's not, like, anybody on the team that you could really pick out that would say, 'I don't like being around this guy,' or, 'I'm not really friends with this guy,' and I think that is so huge translating onto the field, because when you have your locker room taken care of and guys that care about each other, it makes it easier on the field.

"The other thing is the fact that our leaders buy into the culture and everything that Coach Meyer and Coach 'Mick' say" — the latter a reference to strength and conditioning coach Mickey Marotti — "and we sell that to everybody else on the team, and they buy into it. And it's really funny how that happens, because a few years ago we didn't see that, but now that we're seeing it, we can see how it's helping us play on the field, too."

In their program's 14th consecutive win, and in their 12th game of the last 14 with 42 or more points, they basically had an injury-deposed former quarterback (Miller) wow the audience with an otherworldly spin move, then emote in the locker room to the team over his winding plight. Plenty of teams have brotherhood; this team has . . . talent and obvious brotherhood. Said Perry of Miller, "You really appreciate and respect the realness of the moment."

Then they bring in that rare 250-pound quarterback who can make throws that exceed good for absurdly good, who can lead a champion through a three-game postseason in the only three starts of his career to that point, and who can crack up a room. "Definitely one of the toughest environments I've ever played in," Jones said of Virginia Tech, before pausing and adding, "I only played four games, but . . ."

They also have a running back many slotted atop those September Heisman lists, but who had just 11 carries Monday night amid all the options (and the crowd of defenders in the box). Ezekiel Elliott beamed like a star with his large smile when he said, "You know, it's great being on a team this good." When someone asked the odd question of what Elliott thought the suspended defensive end Joey Bosa might be doing back in Columbus, Elliott came forth with an unexpected answer.

"He actually is watching my puppy. I got a new puppy."

They're really something, these Buckeyes. Just when you note their bevy of appeal, they go and add a puppy.