"Wait a minute, what are you talking about?": Urban Meyer takes a clear stance on pressure on Ohio State and Notre Dame
Much has been spoken recently about the pressure the Ohio State fanbase applies on its team. Several prominent college football figures, including ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit, a former Buckeye, believe that the fanbase of the Columbus school has become more aggressive with their expectations.
Urban Meyer, the last coach to win a national title at Ohio State, doesn't agree. According to Meyer, the expectation at Ohio State will always be to be the best in the nation.
On Monday's edition of his "The Triple Option" podcast, Meyer expressed his opinions (3:00 onwards):
"I kind of watched what happened the last few weeks, and if I didn't watch, I was obviously hearing about it through people text messaging me and going after the Ohio State fanbase, you know. The pressure, and then I saw, you know someone sent an article to me today where 'Do the players or the coach really need this?' win and get out, and I'm thinking: 'What are you talking about?'
"We expect you to be the very best in the country... The alpha dogs, they want to be at the place where anything less than perfection is not allowed"
The conversation between Meyer, Mark Ingram, and Rob Stone was in context of what awaits the Buckeyes at the upcoming national championship game against Notre Dame on January 20th.
The comments by Meyer seem to be an indirect way of addressing statements by Kirk Herbstreit who recently lambasted the Ohio State fanbase for the toxic environment around the program.
What did Kirk Herbstreit say of the Ohio State fanbase?
During the fourth quarter of Ohio State's 47-17 win over Tennessee in the first round of the College Football Playoff, Chris Fowler asked Kirk Herbstreit if this win would erase the earlier loss to Michigan in the minds of the fandom. Herbstreit went on a rant about the Buckeyes fans:
“I can’t speak on behalf of the lunatic fringe. I’m not sure how they operate. The lunatic fringe at Ohio State is as powerful as anywhere in the country.”
When asked how big he thought the Ohio State fringe was, he said:
“It used to be 8-10 (percent). I think it’s grown now to about 15-20, so I don’t know. I’m sure they’ll be happy tonight — be fired up about what the Ohio State team did. But God forbid they lose to Oregon. They may want to fire him again.”
This has since created huge debate, regarding whether this opinion by a former Ohio State quarterback is out of order or not. Kirk Herbstreit has stated he understands the outcry, but hasn't backed down from his statement.