The Ohio State Buckeyes and Urban Meyer were sent into turmoil this past weekend after getting trounced by Purdue. This came only two days after Paul Finebaum reported that he sensed Meyer’s time in Columbus was coming to an end. Ladies and Gentleman, it is coming to an end.
Purdue gave Ohio State an absolute THRASHING on Saturday night. It wasn’t one of those upsets by a field goal or a last second Hail Mary… it was a complete and utter asskicking. There wasn’t a single moment that the Buckeyes led the game at Nutcracker Stadium. They only managed to rush the ball for 76 yards, which is a record low under Meyer’s reign. Markus Bailey capped the night off with a 41 yard interception return as Haskins watched his Heisman dreams slip right from his fingertips. The final score?
That’s right. The Boilermakers beat down the #2 team in the country by 29 points in what could only be described as a massacre. However, this is not a play by play rundown of the game. This is all about Urban Meyer folks, and he’s not here to stay.
“The Signs Are There”
Last week on ESPN’s morning show, Get Up, Finebaum went into explaining how everything is pointing towards another Meyer departure. He began relating it to his exit at The University of Florida, how Meyer went down on the sidelines against Indiana and how he’s complained about his intense headaches. Finebaum went on, “This is observational. I’m watching him. Don’t forget the month of August, one of his worst months ever. I still feel like it’s a bad marriage. We’re hearing him talk about his health. Most coaches don’t talk about their health unless it’s a very serious situation.”
Everyone, especially Gator fans, remember Meyer leaving Florida in a whirlwind of different reasonings. Heart problems, marital issues, spending more time with his family, you name it. However, Urban never let it be a secret that he still had love for Ohio State football. This was even after the Gators mollywhopped them in the national championship in 2006. The OSU head coaching job was one that Meyer always proclaimed was his, “dream job.” As soon as he saw the wheels begin to fall off in Columbus under Jim Tressel, he pounced on the first opportunity to take his seat. But could this really be Urban’s last year at Ohio State?
Media Scrutiny
In a quick twitter breakdown, 247 Sports put out an article this weekend of how Meyer was, “Crucified by the media.” And crucified he was. Unless you live under a rock then you know about the scandal that sidelined Urban Meyer for the first three games of the season. Hell, even my grandma knew about it and she’s a 93 year old gator fan. I’m usually not on the same side as Finebaum, but man did he hit the nail on the head here:
Now, coming back to Saturday night’s game massacre in West Lafayette. If you’re an Ohio State fan, I bet that game looked eerily familiar. For you non-OSU fans, here’s what the unranked Iowa Hawkeyes did to the Buckeyes last season:
This is now the second season in a row that the Buckeyes have allowed an unranked team to house them by at least three touchdowns. Nick Saban has gone 80 straight games without even LOSING to an unranked opponent… much less get beat down by an average of 30 points. With all of the weapons and talent they possess, this is simply inexcusable. In both of these contests, it seemed that the entire coaching staff of Ohio State was in a complete haze.
There was no answer on offense, defense, or special teams as they continued to get beat down and beat down again. Two years in a row… something isn’t right. Going back to the scandal to begin the year, Urban claimed that he did not remember many crucial aspects of the domestic violence claims. Dare I ask, could both of these issues be a total memory problem? Are these so called headaches putting Meyer’s mind in a pretzel?
Happy Trails, Urban.
Let’s take a look at a brief timeline of Meyer’s exit at Florida.
- December 26, 2009: Urban Meyer declares he had a sideline scare against Alabama following the SEC Championship game. He then goes on to explain he wants to spend more time with his family and temporarily resigns.
- December 8, 2010: After coming back from a short leave, Urban coaches the Gators to an unranked 8-5 season. Meyer decides to leave for good citing the same two reasons, health and family.
- November 8, 2011: Urban Meyer is named the Ohio State head coach after Jim Tressel is fired.
After he earned his two titles, Meyer let the program crumble underneath him when he realized Nick Saban had become his big brother. Urban liar folks. The infamous liar that left Florida’s program in complete disarray to get his dream job. It appears that he only needed eleven short months to spend time with his family and get his health under control. Meanwhile, Urban served as a color commentator and analyst for ESPN. Seems like everything was completely in check if he was able to bounce back so quickly.
Ohio State is looking at being on the outside looking in for the second year in a row of the college football playoff. Not to mention how the Buckeyes got annihilated by Clemson 31-0 in the 2016 Semifinals. The concoction is here again Buckeye fans.
Two years in a row of getting embarrassed by non-ranked conference opponents + two years in a row of not being a top four program + suspicious health concerns + a national domestic violence scandal can only equate to one thing… Urban Meyer is leaving real soon. There is no denying the success but there is also no denying the inexcusably tainted history.
Happy Trails, Urban Liar.
