Urban Meyer explains what Michigan, Ohio State rivalry game means to him

Few people have lived and breathed Ohio State football quite like Urban Meyer, an Ohio native who would go on to coach the Buckeyes to a national championship. And while he has as much hatred for arch rival Michigan as the next Buckeye, he’s also got a begrudging respect for the other side.

That careful balance between outright vitriol and an understanding that your most-hated opponent might, in fact, be a worthy foil to your program, is the core of what makes the rivalry great to Meyer. He explained his feelings on The Game on the latest episode of “Urban’s Take with Tim May.”

“And I tell people this all the time: Hatred is a big part of our rivalry, but not disrespect. And that’s the one thing that, Woody Hayes was that way, Bo Schembechler. You talk about a hatred, they’re good friends. But that game, really not just for that 24 hours or that 60 minutes of football, but the dislike is so strong but the respect has always been there. And I learned that in the 70s. Those guys were out of their mind. I remember Woody Hayes like having police and kicking people [out], they thought they were spying on their practices and it was crazy watching that documentary. But then the one thing that never, in my mind should ever be crossed, and that’s the line of respect,” Meyer said.

Meyer shared that he also recently rewatched the HBO documentary on the Ohio State-Michigan feud while joined by some friends. They were puzzled as to why he, of all people, would spend his time rewatching tellings of stories he already knows.

“You know, I rewatched the documentary last night, had some people over. And I think they were looking at me kind of like, ‘Why are we watching this?’ And I was like, ‘Why are we not watching this? I’m going to test you here in a minute, so make sure you understand it.’ And all those great players, all those great stories, the snow bowl, I mean it goes on and on and on. It means the world and as I said many times this week, this is not a big game, don’t say that. This is not a big week. This is a way of life. In the great state of Ohio, this is a way of life,” Meyer said.

That way of life began decades ago, when Meyer was growing up in northeast Ohio. As far as he was concerned, the world was put on pause when the Buckeyes and Wolverines kicked off each November.

“Even when I wasn’t involved, growing up in Ohio, it meant everything. It’s just like, you’re brainwashed at such a young age, especially where I grew up, northeast Ohio, that’s a Buckeye haven. The world shuts down when this game reaches. And a guy named Schembechler was hired in ’69 and this was after the Buckeyes won a national championship,” Meyer said, referencing Michigan hiring Bo Schembechler, once an Ohio State assistant, to be its head coach.

And with Schembechler and his mentor, Hayes, at the respective helms, the Wolverines and Buckeyes carried out what came to be known as the “Ten-Year War” between the two teams.

And perhaps no game encapsulates what this rivalry can mean than the 1973 matchup. Both teams entered undefeated, Ohio State ranked No. 1 and Michigan No. 4. The winner would win the Big Ten and go to the Rose Bowl, while the other would miss out. They played to a 10-10 tie.

With a representative needed for the Rose Bowl, Big Ten athletic directors voted and picked the Buckeyes to go to Pasadena. Schembechler was infamously irate at the decision at the time.

It’s a year that Meyer has never forgotten.

“And they beat us in ’69 and then we came back and put it on them in ’70. And that’s when the Wolverines and Buckeyes, 10-10 tie and they sent Ohio State, that sent Schembechler into a tizzy. Then it became — and I think that epitomizes this rivalry. And this is why this is so different,” Meyer said.