Eleven Warriors

I think the feeling will fully set in after we woop scUM's ass.

hes the best coach in college football.... yes im lookin at you saban!! seriously though hes won everywhere and he'll win here. when he gets all of his guys in,  plus brax as a senior i think he will be ready for nicholas of the saban's. bama's talent on the offensive line is unreal its goin to take urbs a couple of yrs b4 hes ready for bama.

if i had to chose  a coach and the choices was jt and urb, i would not hesitate one millisecond in choosing urban. however, jt did a very good job of coaching.

i tilte in three tries, versus 2 titles in two tries?

I loved what Tressel brought as much off the field as on. However as soon as the scandal broke I expected Urban to be our coach.  I have defended the team on here when everyone was getting all worked up about our poor early season performances. I believe we have a great and intense coaching staff and I never had a doubt that we will step up when needed. Bad games will happen, but if we can't have Tress then Meyer was the ONLY other guy I would've easily accepted!  That said my wife hates him. Lol. 

true meyer isnt god, but jt and his offense bored the heck out of me. there were times i had to quit watching when the buckeyes went on offense, i could pick the play 75% of the time before they ran it, couldnt wait to see the defense get back on the field. however jt got positive results most of the time. but still, urban or jt? if i had to pick one, it is urban. i am not butt hurt just because urbans' gators pounded our buckeyes, i think some buckeye fans are still butt hurt yet today, and thats their right to feel that way.

different situations. Tressel came in on the coat tails of Cooper who couldn't beat UM to save his live. We were all ready for a change and tired of not winning against UM let alone a NC. Tressel endeared us with his speech knowing full well "win against UM and you are a made man". At that time he didn't even need to win a NC for us to like him.

Urban comes in behind the record previously stated by Alex and the first bit of turmoil this University had seen in a long time. Throw in his previous resume and high, high expectations are in play. Urban won't be endeared as easily. It may take more than an UM win to get the fans on board. NC or bust has been the motto over the past decade!

in truth, he has already won me over! I don't care about wins and titles. The guy came in during some dark times and has already brought this team back to near contention. I truly believe he continues to have his second year success and wins a NC in 2013. Quite possibly in undefeated fashion too!

Is this season, and/or Urban's perception for the year, dependent on beating Michigan?  What if they lose?  Does the fanbase turn on him?

win or lose to aacc this year, will not turn me against urban. there is a bigger prize involved eventually when he gets "his" players in place. i am on the urban train, all buckled in.

I don't think the fan base will turn on him no, but say they go and lose 5 games to end the year or something people won't be riding so high on the guy either.  This team is still not where he wants it, but I have a feeling by November, kinks will be worked out and this will be a very good team. We wont need to worry about "if" we lose to Michigan!!!!

One bad buckeye, they may not turn on him but let's say we're 10-1 or 11-0 going into the game, a loss isn't going to be easy to take at all imo

@HAIL - It really depends on the loss.  If UM comes in and dominates  us flat-out for sixty minutes, then you're going to see some of the fanbase really start to turn (this is what happened to Cooper--never preparing adequately and bringing awesome teams to the slaughterhouse against largely inferior UM squads).  If we come out swinging in the first half, and then proceed to blow a big lead in the second half, you're going to see the same thing: albeit a bit more diminished than in the former scenario.  Now, if we wind up falling just short of an epic comeback, that will look a lot better for Urban and his boys, same as if we wind up losing a very close game.  It may be more heartbreaking, but I don't think we crucify the coach as much as we would if we get destroyed.

Granted, closer games lend themselves to heavier scrutiny, so there's the chance that a coaching blunder will look exceptionally bad, but Urban's proven to be an excellent game manager (especially with Fick's performance still relatively fresh on our minds) so I think that execution will be primarily seen as the culprit here.

Bottom line: this team's 3-2 right now with Fick at the helm, I think that as the season wears on fans will begin to notice this more and more.

hail - that's a good question. I think due to the build-up and a lot of the 12-0 talk, some in the fanbase believe it's a forgone conclusion that OSU will beat UM. Honestly, my expectations are lower. I do think many will be disappointed if OSU does not beat UM this year. Really though, we are upset any year that we don't beat UM, and I hope fans won't turn on Meyer if we lose, but I think some could. I know the perception of Cooper was greatly hurt by not being able to beat UM, whereas much of the Tressel legacy in Columbus was a result of him dominating the series.

@Tenn, I think there are an irrational bunch of fans who 1)think Ohio State should always go undefeated though it's only happened 8 times in history and 4 where a tie wasn't involved and 2) Think wow Urban Meyer, we're never going to lose!!!!! With those 2 groups in mind, any  loss Ohio State has will lead a vocal minority to question the hiring, whether Meyer is still the same coach he once was, etc etc etc.

I think as a whole though, a loss to Michigan this season doesn't result in a large percentage of the fan base turning on Meyer.  The problem is, that minority will be loud, as they always are.  Similar to the ones who kept saying Tressel should be fired literally minutes after a Rose Bowl berth was clinched. 

There is no coach in college football that I would prefer over Urban F. Meyer. It's hard not to be sold just looking at his accomplishments. Meyer was my "guy" well before the announcement of his hiring was made. People hate (envy) Urban just like they hate (envy) The Ohio State University. How many times have you heard "Urban Meyer is a cheater"? How about "tOSU are a bunch of cheaters"? "Meyer is shady"? "tOSU is shady"? They can say what they want, but the bottom line is that Meyer, and Ohio State, win. Meyer is a winner. It's a match made in hater heaven. So let the hate train roll, and have no doubt that our guy, Urban Meyer, will give them something to bitch about.

LOL,  btalbert, you're one of the few posters that I tend to agree w/ a majority of the time.   So often, that irrational perspective you mention,  has me just closing the browser...  thx for the breath of common sense.

I am 100% behind Meyer no matter what happens with The Game.  He doesn't completely have what he needs to run his system yet.  With that said, I believe we are better than scUM and should win this year.  He is recruiting the best talent in the country and sparking interest around the program from elite players.  The casual fan can't see that yet. When those kids choose the S&G and he puts his product on the field in the coming years, the fans will see it.  He is doing very well with what he has.  He will get every ounce of effort out of this team.  I promise you he reminds them every day that each game is their bowl game and they are making a statement to the country.  The past couple of seasons I was growing tired of Tresselball and was hoping for someone that would come in and want to run up the score and embarrass teams.  Remember what Urban did to UGA the year after the dawgs beat them and danced around on the field?  He beat them 49-10 the next year.  I like the intensity and emotion you get from Urban which isn't something you saw with JT.  JT did a lot of great things for the program, but it's time for people to move on and support OUR COACH that we have now.  

i hope i dont get down graded for this, but alex, i want you to look at something

109-23 urbans record

229-79 tressel (never coached in sec)

7-1 bowl game record-urban

5-4 bowl game record-tressel

1 champ in 3 tries including 2 stompings- tress

2 championships in 2 tries

ufm was 14-1 against sec rivals, i think he'll do fine against mich

urbz was 65-15 at fla and dominated the sec

urbz crushed what i considered the best osu team osu ever put on the field

Meyer is modern, aggressive, maybe a little smarmy.  These are not qualities that endear one to the Midwestern sensibilities.  I get what the original poster is saying.  Everyone commenting here is a pretty hardcore football fan and so these are qualities they like, but i agree that overall there is a little bit of an unease about Meyer,  a little bit of a wait and see attitude.  Even certain posts on other topics have brushed on this.  Urban's motivational techniques, his special guys, his "family", the leadership council.  These are not mainstream comfortable ideas for a lot of people.

Let's just troll a little harder HEIR........

Heir, I won't downgrade you but that is a horrible comment. First of all, won a NC! That means he isn't a choker. Maybe some of the players were chokers but Tressel proved himself plenty!

Cheated his entire career? Prove it! You can't.

Agree about Urban though. Urban was tailor made for this program. Hail asked if we turn on him if they lose to UM. no. but it will leave much to be desired for most. Again, Tressel (heir's good friend) had quite the stellar record against UM. That is why he was loved so much when he took over for Cooper. Meyer will be tasked to at least equal that success and a bit more. It is a lot to ask for anyone because that game is not easy for either side despite the strength of the opponent. To do what Tressel did was amazing. He did have some help with RichRod and a lacking B1G and yes during the Pryor era he failed to perform a simple task and was caught cheating. Still a tough standard to hold up to and yet many feel Urban will exceed it.

I believe Meyer will do great things. If he just equals the good things Tressel did here, I think that would be plenty. OSU solidifies his hall of fame career, it won't define it!

Edit: changed my mind!

Heir I don't totally disagree with everything you said.  Truth is Tressel is probably somewhere between what you believe and what those who think the man could never do wrong and always had altruistic motives.  I appreciate his time here and the era.  It's over now though and we're on to hopefully the next great era.  The Big 10 is still bad, and doesn't look like it will significantly improve in the next few years so Meyer will likely dominate the conference too. 

Anyway, I loved the last decade minus the end, and it looks like the next decade is going to be awesome too.