By Garry Smits (Jacksonville.com) -- Urban Meyer has coached some fine college quarterbacks and two of them are currently starting for playoff-bound NFL teams. He’s already comparing Ohio State freshman Braxton Miller to the likes of Alex Smith, Chris Leak and Tim Tebow, quarterbacks who led Meyer’s teams at Utah and Florida to BCS bowl victories and in the case of Leak and Tebow, two national championships. “I’m putting a lot of pressure on [Miller] already but he’s special,” Meyer ... Read More

By: Bruce Hooley (FoxSportsOhio.com) -- A former colleague of Jim Tressel once told a story about the disgraced coaching icon before he grew into the sweater-vested poster boy for much of what’s wrong with big-time college football. Seems Tressel repeatedly called the same play from the booth snap after snap until finally questioned about his repetitive strategy by the head coach down on the sideline. “I’ll stop doing it when it stops working,” Tressel supposedly said. Old habits apparently die hard, ... Read More

By: Pat McManamon (FOXSportsOhio.com) -- A wise man once explained that while poverty is an injustice, the NCAA is simply inexplicable. It wasn’t Confucius who said it, but it was Confucian in its simple logic. Because the NCAA makes a habit of baffling, incoherent, near-absurd rulings, and it makes them with all the pomposity of a British know-it-all traipsing through Australia in the penal colony days. It’s even easy to imagine NCAA suits making the decisions with the same Derby ... Read More

From: TheLedger.com -- GAINESVILLE | Other than the much-anticipated (and debated) SEC rematch in college football's national championship game in New Orleans, the Gator Bowl has perhaps the most intriguing story line of the bowl season. Ohio State vs. Florida. Coach Urban Meyer's future team against his former team in a rematch of the 2006 BCS Championship Game. Because of the Meyer factor, this game will generate a great deal of national attention between now and the Jan. 2 game ... Read More

By: Roger Groves (Forbes.com) -- Your name is Urban Meyer. You are only 47 years old and already more successful as a big-time college coach than 99% of college coaches will ever be. You have won two national championships at Florida, twice as many as most coaches. You have one of the best records over a decade of coaching, with 104 wins (because of you), 23 losses (because of the players). You have never lost on the ... Read More

By: Martha Copp (BleacherReport.com) -- On Monday, Ohio State football head coach Urban Meyer gave his first press conference as the leader of the Buckeyes. Meyer, coming out of a short-lived retirement, was known for taking his Florida Gators to two national championships while he was coaching. Meyer’s lengthy press conference revealed his goal for the Ohio State football program, as well as what will become of Luke Fickell. 1. Success Starts with the Coaching Staff Urban Meyer’s first order of business is ... Read More

By: Andy Staples (CNN.com) -- He looked a little older. He sounded a little less brash. The questions were slightly different, because his reputation had changed. He wore a black suit and a red tie instead of a black suit and an orange tie. Other than that, there wasn't much difference between the press conference Monday in Columbus to introduce Urban Meyer as Ohio State's coach and the press conference in Gainesville on Dec. 7, 2004, to introduce ... Read More

From: Cleveland.com -- CLEVELAND, OH -- The Ohio State Buckeyes finished the 2011 regular season with a 6-6 record, the team's worst showing since 1999, when they went 6-6 with coach John Cooper and did not play in a bowl game. Ohio State is bowl-eligible this season. Rumors swirl that Saturday's 40-34 loss at Michigan -- or a potential bowl game appearance -- was, or would be, the final game for Luke Fickell as the Buckeyes' head coach. Fickell was ... Read More

From: SportingNews.com -- As the Urban Meyer story grinds on, Ohio State awaits the possible announcement of a coaching change. And despite Meyer's protests about whether he is on his way to Columbus, media observers are weighing in on how things have unfolded. Notable among them is Tim Brando of CBS Sports, who posted this on Twitter: "The handling of the Ohio St. hiring of Urban Meyer (which is happening) is as poorly handled as any I've ever witnessed. We're not that dumb." The ... Read More

By: Thomas Hanlon (BleacherReport.com) --Today, the Ohio State Buckeyes' six-game winning streak against the rival Michigan Wolverines came to an end with a 40-34 loss in the Big House. This loss dropped the Buckeyes to a record of 6-6, the six wins being enough to make them eligible for a bowl game if they were to choose to accept a bid to one. And in my honest opinion, they should turn down any bowl bid that they receive. They ... Read More