Why Urban Meyer is bullish on Michigan football in 2023
Death, taxes, and Urban Meyer disrespecting Michigan football. Three things you can count on without question. However, in his appearance on The Herd with Colin Cowherd on Wednesday, Meyer bucked the trend and shared that he has the utmost respect for Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh and the team he’s built.
That said, he’s expecting big things for the Wolverines in 2023.
“Well, I know his teams very well. And they’re tough,” Meyer said. “He grew up in a tough family, played for a tough coach. And you watch — the reason they beat Ohio State the last two years is they won a line of scrimmage. That game, for the history of that game, whoever wins the line of scrimmage wins.
“So you remember about three years ago, his job was on the line? I think they redid his contract. They were really struggling. And he’s done a great job. He’s got a really good football team. He’s got a quarterback coming back, one of the few teams with a returning quarterback.
“So when I think of a Jim Harbaugh team, I think you better line up and run the football and stop the run because that’s coming at you.”
In 2022, Meyer predicted that Penn State would stop the Wolverine run game while also noting that Ohio State would have a similar advantage. Neither worked out as the former Buckeye head coach envisioned.
Instead, Michigan pounded the Nittany Lions and OSU, the second-straight win over each for the maize and blue. The talk of the latter the past two seasons has been about how Ohio State has lost its edge. It’s too finesse, doesn’t have the physicality to match up with that Jim Harbaugh has built in Ann Arbor.
Meyer acknowledges there are problems in that regard with the Buckeyes, but he’s reticent to note that it will ultimately cause problems for his former team.
“It kind of happened to me at Florida,” Meyer said. “We started recruiting speed and I always made a comment we wanted to be the fastest team in America. And then you get good news and bad news; the good news: you have the most talented players in the country. Bad news: they got to touch the ball. So you have to get that ball in her hands.
“I’m not saying Ohio State’s less physical, but I’m saying you have a group and you are correct (that the team is less physical). Brian Hartline has recruited — and I did this a long time — I’ve never seen the level of the quarterbacks and receivers that are recruited to Ohio State right now. Everyone’s a first-round draft (pick), everyone’s a five-star, but you have to get the ball in their hands. And the good thing is they’re loaded a tailback this year, too. But I will not say that turns into a finesse game. But it turns into a game that you got to be creative, whether it be handed to them, throw it to them, throw screens to them, they have got to — your job as a head coach, just to get the best players the ball.”
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