Buckeye Thoughts, Urban Raised a Cane

I’m no football expert or sports writer. I’m just a fan. Though I like to think I try to take a reasonable approach compared to some of my fanatical Buckeye brethren. Last Saturday I attended the Oregon v Ohio State game and the Bucks got beat at home for the first time since Baker Mayfield planted the flag in 2017. My son and I were at that game, too. We stayed until the end of both. We have witnessed so many Buckeye victories that it’s only fair we taste the pain of defeat on the rare occasion it happens. Good for Oregon. That has got to be the biggest non-conference win in their program’s history. On my side, it wasn’t that disappointing. Sure the 2021 Buckeyes are good. We are always good. But there were too many question marks coming into this season for me to invest emotionally that this was our year. That would have been 2019. Or 1998.  But I digress. 

I’m not going to get into the nuts and bolts of the D-coordinator or the realities of starting a 19 year old QB. As I was watching the Ducks push “us” around a week after the Gophers were dragging silver bullets for 3 yards after most plays I thought, “I think we are missing Urban Meyer.”

Remember that guy? The most successful coach in OSU history. One of the greatest college coaches of all time? Yes, he left the program two years ago and Ryan Day stepped in and has done an amazing job. Still, you don’t subtract a force of nature like Urban Mayer and lose nothing in the process. 

I mean, if losing Meyer meant our program would improve, it would seem that Urban was never necessary in the first place.  It’s true that Coach Day has brought the OSU offense into the modern age and we have morphed from Urban’s beloved power read/run offense under JT Barrett to a more diverse NFL style that is harder to defend. Especially when you have talent like OSU regularly recruits.

But Urban was never a true X’s and O’s guy. His thing was toughness. A certain mentality suited to dominate the college game. A psychopath who terrified his teams into winning. Speak to any former player and they will tell you nobody was more intimidating than Coach Mayer. 24/7. 365 days of the year. He literally bullied our players into being too scared to lose. Too scared to let him down. Urban HATES losing. It literally makes his head explode. 

With all that in mind and remembering I am not a sports writer but more of a rock n roller,  for no reason at all I thought of this old Bruce Springsteen song and replaced one word.

“Urban worked his whole life for nothing but the pain

Now he walks these empty rooms looking for something to blame

But you inherit the sins, you inherit the flames

Urban raised a cain”

Random I know. But what can I say, this song honestly crossed my mind while watching the Bucks suffer the wrath of the quack attack. Much like The Boss’ father scared him, I can imagine Urban stalking the halls of the Woody Hayes Center staring daggers through every player who was unlucky enough to cross his path. Slapping protein drinks out of D-lineman’s hands, fake-punching wide receivers to make them flinch and stuffing placekickers into lockers.  Save the X’s and O’s for the bean counters. Urban willed his team to victory through unrelenting mental and physical torture. But it made his teams tough. And it worked. Ask Nick Saban.

The Ryan Day honeymoon is officially over. That’s okay. Trestle won on the back of Cooper's program. Urban won with Tressel players and Day won with the riches Urban left for him. Coach Day has had a good run and I have full confidence he is the right person for the job. Once again, I am a huge fan of Ryan Day but the jury is out and Buckeye fans are not grounded in reality. They expect to win every game by 50 except for Alabama which they just expect to win. Can Ryan Day fill the hole left by Urban Meyer leaving?  It’s time to grab some shovels and move some dirt. 

Colin Gawel plays music solo and in the band Watershed. (Who once opened for the Dead Schembechlers!) He wrote this at Colin’s Coffee. He once appeared in an SI story about his love of Ohio State. Brent Baver is his favorite Buckeye sports writer.