An Urban Meyer quote from 2006 was used to troll the former Ohio State Buckeyes head coach ahead of their College Football Playoff National Championship Game encounter with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Urban Meyer Quote Resurfaces Ahead of Title Game, Trolled By Michigan Fans
Michigan Wolverine fans have had the upper hand over the Ohio State fan base in recent years. Four straight Wolverine victories in ‘The Game’ rivalry have led to increased jeers towards the school down south.
While the Buckeyes will suit up for the College Football Playoff National Championship Game on Monday night, one Michigan social media account couldn’t hold back from posting one more troll before the game.
It contained a quote from former Ohio State head coach Meyer from nearly 20 years ago, saying, “If you don’t win your conference, you shouldn’t be playing for the National Championship.”
This is a direct jab at the Buckeyes 2024 campaign. While they’re the current favorite to win the national championship, the season looked bleak just a month and a half ago. Ohio State went into The Game against Michigan with a 10-1 record, with a win pitting them against the Oregon Ducks in the Big Ten championship Game.
Favored by 19.5, the Buckeyes looked nothing like huge favorites. They were defeated 13-10, knocking them out of the Big Ten title race and clouding the vision of their national championship hopes.
The Buckeyes were forced to stand pat on conference championship weekend. With a 10-2 record, including key wins over the Penn State Nittany Lions and Indiana Hoosiers, they were still expected to be in the Playoff — but what seed? They’d taken complete control out of their own hands and placed it into the CFP Selection Committee.
FOLLOW ALONG: Track Every Transfer Portal Entrant in our CFN Transfer Portal Tracker now!
They were given the eighth seed and granted a home playoff game against the Tennessee Volunteers. The rest is history. Having blown by the Volunteers, Ducks, and Texas Longhorns by an average margin of 19.7, the Buckeyes took back control of their own destiny and have placed themselves in the national championship game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Ohio State is a 9.5-point favorite, the second-largest championship favorite in CFP history. To think that they’d be in this position as the end-of-game brawl against the Wolverines took place would be crazy. They’d dropped the final game of the regular season and lost the opportunity to earn a first-round bye with a conference title.
But in the new 12-team format of the CFP, it didn’t matter.
It brings to mind two questions that some analysts have debated as the Buckeyes’ historic run has taken place: should the most deserving team win the national championship or the best?
In the history of college football, oftentimes it’s been the most deserving. In 2023, the Georgia Bulldogs spent the entire season ranked #1. They entered the SEC Championship Game facing the #8 Alabama Crimson Tide and lost 27-24.
The loss vaulted the Crimson Tide into the playoff and dropped the Bulldogs to #6. A Georgia 63-3 Orange Bowl victory ensued, raising questions of whether the best team in the country — much-less a top-four team — had been left out of the playoff.
One year later, the 12-team playoff has allowed the top 12 teams (in the committee’s eyes, once again up for interpretation) to duke it out across four rounds to find the two best teams.
Seeding flaws aside, a larger playoff, in theory, has a better chance of producing the two best teams in the end. In each round, the lesser teams are weeded out.
Meyer’s comment points towards the sentiment of the most deserving, which, when he said it in 2006, was what the college football postseason looked like with the antiquated BCS system. He can be mocked, clowned, trolled—whatever the word.
But in 2025, with the 12-team CFP format, Ohio State has risen to the top over the past month—and it doesn’t matter that they didn’t win their conference. They have a chance to win something much bigger come Monday night.
College Football Network has you covered with the latest from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, and every Group of Five conference and FBS Independent program.
