We all know how much of a fierce competitor Ohio State Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer is. So it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that it must be eating at him that his team lost to Michigan State in the Big Ten championship game last season.
The two teams will square off again Saturday night and despite the poor reputation of the Big Ten conference as a whole, this game is BIG. In fact, so big that ESPN’s College GameDay will be in East Lansing for the 8 p.m. Saturday night showdown at Spartan Stadium.
The battle between Ohio State (7-1, 4-0 Big Ten) and Michigan State (7-1, 4-0 Big Ten) will most likely decide the winner of the East Division and is sure to have College Football Playoff implications considering that the Spartans are still in the mix.
But despite this being the biggest game of the year for both teams, Meyer does not believe that Michigan State is a rivalry game. According to Meyer, their only rival in the Big Ten is Michigan… not Michigan State.
Photo source: Twitter
“We have one rival here,” said Meyer, referring to Michigan.
But Meyer does believe that Michigan State is a big-time opponent.
“What’s happened in this situation is you have an excellent team, after watching them on film, they’re a great team, and they stand in the way of the Big Ten championship,” said Meyer about the Spartans. “They stood in the way last year and we failed.”
Fail is exactly what Ohio State did in the Big Ten championship game losing 34-24 to the Spartans. Michigan State’s victory knocked the Buckeyes out of a chance of appearing in the national championship game.
One would think that would be enough to consider them a rival. But not so according to Meyer
“And so does that make them a rival? It makes them in the way of something that we all want, and that’s Big Ten championship,” Meyer said. “I think it happened a little bit with Wisconsin. I remember our first year it was big because they went to three straight Rose Bowls.
“I think this is a credit to their (Michigan State) university, their coaching staff and most importantly their players.”
Knowing Urban Meyer, there must be some sort of psychological game brewing here. He’s attempting to play mind games. Or is he?
“To say this is a rivalry game, that would diminish the rivalry (Michigan) that’s been here for 100 years,” Meyer said. “This is a great game because it’s two teams battling for first place.”