Urban Meyer labels Penn State game 'Super Bowl' for Ohio State

Urban Meyer knows what he would do if he was still coaching Ohio State Saturday at Penn State.

“I would make this thing simple stupid for that offensive line and get the ball to your best players,” said Meyer, a three-time national champion head coach, this week on “The Tim May Show.” “The skill level at Ohio State is still arguably the best they’ve ever had.

“And I’d run the quarterback. I’d run him a lot. I made a comment, I’d run him 15 to 20 times in this game. He’s the great equalizer. The running quarterback equates numbers for you instantaneously, and it actually forces the team to stop doing a lot of that nonsense — when you start seeing all the chaotic defense, run your quarterback because you’re going to gain a blocker.”

Meyer added: “I understand the concern about not wanting to get guys hurt, but this is it now. This is the Super Bowl. This is the, obviously [there’s] the one at the end of the season, but this is the game.”

“The one at the end of the season” Meyer alluded to is naturally an annual date with Michigan on Thanksgiving weekend. That matchup will be in the spotlight like it always is but especially because current Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day has lost three straight games to the Wolverines.

It won’t be a top-three matchup like it was each of the last two seasons, however.

That said, Ohio State will play its second top-four matchup in its last three games Saturday at Penn State. Beaver Stadium will host the No. 4 Buckeyes (6-1, 3-1 Big Ten) and No. 3 Nittany Lions (7-0, 4-0).

It’s a homecoming for Ohio State quarterback Will Howard, who grew up just a few hours away from State College in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, wanting to play for Penn State. Now he gets a chance to show the Nittany Lions what they missed out on — to Meyer’s point, Howard’s legs could be the X-factor for the Buckeyes.

After all, Howard, who rushed for 19 touchdowns in four years at Kansas State, has found the end zone on the ground five times already this season while netting 91 rushing yards. He’ll be quarterbacking behind Ohio State’s third different offensive line combination in as many games.

A lot is on the line for not only Howard and Day but a Buckeyes team that needs a win to stay alive in the Big Ten title race. Ohio State hasn’t won the Big Ten since 2020. Considering top-ranked Oregon is still undefeated, along with No. 13 Indiana and Penn State, a loss to the Nittany Lions would practically eliminate the Buckeyes from conference championship contention.

It would also make Ohio State’s path to the College Football Playoff more difficult.

Lettermen Row’s Tim May asked Meyer if he looked forward to coaching in high-stakes games like Saturday’s head-to-head between Ohio State and Penn State.

“When I was a younger gunslinger, wild coach and all that, I did,” Meyer said. “But when I talk to Bob Stoops (longtime Oklahoma head coach) and other friends of mine, as you get older, it’s almost like it’s agonizing. Because at Ohio State, it’s one of the three, four or five programs — and I said this on “Big Noon” — there’s actually a rule, there’s not, but you can’t lose. And winning becomes a relief.

“I’ll never forget, we had a couple close ones. That one at Maryland [in 2018, a 52-51 overtime win]. I mean, it’s like the game’s over, and you’re despondent because if that kid catches that ball, we lose. And Shelly said it to me one time, she said, I knew our lives would be much different if we would have lost that game. That’s why everybody’s so emotional about it.”

Meyer continued, referencing Ohio State’s narrow, 21-17 win over Nebraska last week: “And so you can say, ‘Nebraska, this, Nebraska that,’ you won, so move on. You won. It would be a much different day if Nebraska would have scored. So of course you look forward to them, but the reality is, once you get a little older, it grabs you a little bit.”

There’s no doubt Day, Meyer’s replacement, is facing the pressure this week. It’s a prove-it game for both him and Penn State head coach James Franklin.

Meyer believes Day can’t hold back punches, especially in the quarterback run game. He sees Saturday as the Buckeyes’ Super Bowl.