Saturday Blitz
Fansided

Ohio State Head Coach Urban Meyer Would Reach Nick Saban’s Level With Another National Championship

By Caleb Calhoun

facebooktwitterreddit

There was once a time, long ago before Nick Saban turned Alabama back into a powerhouse, when Urban Meyer was the face of college football. He was the elite coach who stood on a completely different level from every other coach.

In 2008, behind Tim Tebow at quarterback and a Charlie Strong-led defense, Meyer’s Florida Gators beat No. 1 Alabama in the SEC Championship game, which was Saban’s second team there. Then, they won the national championship against Oklahoma, and Meyer and Florida had their second national title in three years.

They were all on top of the world.

As 2009 rolled around, Florida was the clear-cut No. 1 team looking for their first undefeated season in school history and to potentially become the best college football team in school history. Tebow was a senior, the defense was still loaded, and Florida was the hated villain of the world.

But after going 12-0, this time in the SEC Championship game they fell apart against Alabama, who won the national title that year. That was the end of Urban Meyer dominance and the rise of Nick Saban dominance.

We found out later about the pressure Meyer was under that year due to the expectations, resigning after the SEC Championship loss but coming back the next day. The team stumbled to a mediocre 8-5 record in 2010, and Meyer, who was clearly burnt out, resigned.

After taking 2011 off, Meyer watched Alabama picked up a second national title under Saban. And although he returned to coaching in 2012, taking over Ohio State and leading them to an undefeated season, his program was on probation. So he watched Saban win a third national championship in four years and his fourth in his career. That was it.

Meyer had to join the rest of the coaches and not be in Saban’s class.

But two years later, with the national championship score four to two, Meyer was able to change all of that with Ohio State’s win over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl last week. All of a sudden, Meyer is 2-2 vs. Saban.

And if he wins a third national championship against Oregon, despite having one less than Saban, it is still impossible to say he isn’t on Saban’s level.

Consider that despite one less national championship, Meyer has two undefeated seasons, one at Utah and one at Ohio State. Saban only has one. He also never got the break of getting to play for a national championship despite not winning his conference the way Saban did in 2011.

More from Alabama Crimson Tide

And while Saban is a remarkable 177-59-1 as a head coach, Meyer is a darn good 141-26. That’s a better win percentage than Saban.

Saban has six conference titles while Meyer has five. But he has one more in six more full years of coaching than Meyer.

If you take everything into account, Meyer could make a case for being the better coach with another national championship. And if he beats the Oregon Ducks, think about the future of Ohio State. They know they’ll have a great quarterback next year, Ohio State is recruiting with the big boys, and Meyer’s got the perfect personnel to run his offensive system.

So let’s go to the final factor in comparing head coaches: coaching tree.

Saban obviously has Jimbo Fisher at Florida State, Jim McElwain at Florida after succeeding at Colorado State, and Mark Dantonio at Michigan State. But he also has failures in Will Muschamp, Mike Haywood, Bobby Williams, and Derek Dooley.

Meanwhile, although Meyer’s coaching tree doesn’t include a national title outside of a him, he has got many more successful branches than Saban. Dan Mullen appears to be doing a pretty good job at Mississippi State, Charlie Strong could still succeed big at Texas, Steve Addazio is winning at Boston College, Gary Andersen will likely succeed at Oregon State, Doc Holliday is winning at Marshall, and Kyle Whittingham is winning at Utah.

That is a lot of places, so the coaching tree argument goes out the window as well. Simply put, Meyer is not far behind Saban, and with a win, he puts himself in the same class as Saban.

And you can make an argument at that point that he is better.

More from Saturday Blitz

Home/Alabama Crimson Tide