Throughout the offseason, BTN and FOX College Football have been having conversations on various topics as it relates to Big Ten football. And since former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer is a big part of the studio crews for both, he’s been featured in a lot of those discussions, and his take on things is always interesting.
On Friday, BTN’s Gerry DiNardo and Meyer got debated what success looks like for three of the historical best programs in the Big Ten’s East division, Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan. The topic? What defines success at those schools.
For Meyer, it was easy — win the Big Ten Championship.
“In my mind it’s very simple,” said Meyer. ” It’s did you win the (Big Ten) Championship? If not — and I hate to be so blunt — I just remember growing up in the Woody Hayes – Bo Schembechler era, you either won the championship or you really just had an okay year.”
DiNardo had a little different take on it and said for at least two of the programs, it’s now bigger than that.
“I look at it that it’s changed,” DiNardo said. ” I look at it that college football, for certain programs has become national championship or bust. I think that’s how you define Ohio State, you might define Penn State as a national championship or bust program — certainly a Big Ten Championship program.”
He then went on to provide an unattended slam to Michigan with a dose of reality.
“Michigan is the confusing one for me,” DiNardo continued. “I don’t see Michigan as being a national championship or bust program. I do think that they expect to win the East (division), they expect to go to Indianapolis, they expect to go to the Rose Bowl. But historically, Bo (Schembechler) set the tempo for Big Ten coaches goal should be to win the conference and go to the Rose Bowl. That mentality is different than what I perceive in Columbus and in State College.”
So, there was a bit of a disagreement between the two. Meyer went on to agree with what DiNardo was saying, but said it shouldn’t be that way because of the tradition of what Woody and Bo set.
You can watch the entire exchange here thanks to BTN sharing it via their Twitter profile.
"In my mind, it's very simple; it's did you win the (Big Ten) championship?"@CoachUrbanMeyer and @gerrydinardo talk measuring success at programs such as Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State. pic.twitter.com/yaDbER1Tg0
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) July 31, 2020