Urban Meyer blasts Michigan QB issues post-national championship: 'How does that happen?'

In 2023, Michigan put together one of the dominant runs in recent years to snap its national championship drought. The Wolverines led the nation in scoring defense and total defense while using a ground-and-pound offense to bring home the trophy.

UM saw multiple key departures, though, with the biggest at quarterback as J.J. McCarthy went No. 10 overall in the NFL Draft. That position has been a big question mark throughout this year, which is why Urban Meyer wondered how Michigan failed to address that need at QB through the transfer portal over the offseason.

Meyer broke down Michigan’s situation after the national title ahead of this week’s rivalry game against Ohio State, pointing out the amount of players who left after last year. The timing of Jim Harbaugh’s departure for the NFL likely factored in to the struggles, but Meyer also wondered how the Wolverines weren’t ready for the amount of contributors leaving, as well.

“Jim Harbaugh left on the 24th of January. … Everybody was talking about Harbaugh leaving,” Meyer said on The Triple Option. “They had no idea who was going to become the new head coach. They’re going to lose 18 players to the draft – 18 starters. They had serious quarterback issues, and I was like, ‘How do you not fix that?’ Of the top 25 transfer portal quarterbacks, 23 of them were signed and done by the time the new head coach was named at the Wolverines. I’m going to talk about that on Big Noon this weekend because, how does that happen?

“How does a national champion – one of the best teams in the last 20 years. That was a hell of a team. … You know they’re gonna leave. They were all seniors. That was a senior team. You’re wondering, what happened? The more research I’ve done, I know exactly what happened. If I’m a transfer quarterback, why would I go there? If I’m a transfer receiver … who’s gonna throw it to me and who’s this coach? What’s going on here? I’m not throwing darts at anybody. I’m just trying to figure out how does a team go from one of the great teams of all-time [with] momentum on your side, obviously good academic school. All this stuff you can sell, and you’re left at the most important position where you’re just rolling guys through there? That’s just a little history of it.”

Urban Meyer makes pick for The Game

Ohio State is currently a 20.5-point favorite for The Game against Michigan on Saturday, according to FanDuel. The Buckeyes have lost three straight to the Wolverines for the first time since the 1990s, but they’re hoping to flip the script – and they have an opportunity to do so in a big way.

However, Urban Meyer doesn’t know if Ohio State can cover that spread. Although he thinks the Buckeyes will win handily, he predicted Michigan would cover.

“I look at that point spread, and that alarms me a little bit,” Meyer said. “The Buckeyes will win The Game. The Buckeyes are a much better football team. They have better players right now. But there’s also, there’s a little bit of fight in the Wolverines. They played their best game last week. I know it was against Northwestern, but they’ve settled on a quarterback. They look better. … I think Ohio State wins, but I don’t know if they cover. 21’s a lot of points. … So I’m gonna say Ohio State wins. I don’t think it’s gonna be that close, but I’m saying 18 points.”