Ohio State has swagger with Urban Meyer
Ohio State was in the headlines for the wrong reasons last summer following the scandal involving their Heisman candidate quarterback Terrelle Pryor and the subsequent cover-up by head coach Jim Tressel.
Following the resignation of Tressel and the decision Pryor made to enter the NFL’s supplemental draft, Luke Fickell was hired as the interim head coach of the Buckeyes that finished the season with a 6-7 record.
That record is not good enough for a team and fan base that thinks they should be in the national championship picture on a yearly basis.
As a result, Fickell is out as head coach and Urban Meyer is hired as coach of the Buckeyes.
The former graduate assistant of the Buckeyes returns to the gridiron after a one-year stint working as a broadcaster for ESPN following his sudden retirement from the University of Florida where he won two national championships.
A year away from the game has stoked the flames within Meyer as he is taking on the task of bringing back the Buckeyes to national prominence.
Meyer will have a dual threat quarterback to incorporate into this spread offense with Braxton Miller who Meyer is already comparing to his former quarterbacks Tim Tebow and Alex Smith.
Miller was pressed into duty as a true freshman in 2011, and as one may surmise had his share of ups and downs.
Miller led the team in passing and rushing, including three 100-yard games, but only has one game with more than 132 yards through the air and his team struggled mightily on the road with a 1-5 record.
The four game losing streak the Buckeyes ended their season with, including a 24-17 loss to Meyer’s former team in the taxslaver.com Gator Bowl left a bitter taste in the mouths of the entire Ohio State community.
However, now that Meyer is patrolling the sidelines and bringing his tireless efforts to the recruiting world, The Ohio State University should be optimistic of returning to the level where Tressel had them during his reign as coach.
Do not look for a rapid ascension to the top of the Big 10 standings in year one, although the Buckeyes do enter the 2012 season ranked #18 in the AP Top 25 poll.
A BCS berth may be too optimistic this season, but good things are in store for the team that plays in the Horseshoe, and with a little bit of luck a 10-win season is not out of the realm of possibilities.
After all that is just par for the course for Meyer who has averaged 10.4 wins during his 10- year coaching career.
