COLUMBUS, Ohio — In his numerous media availabilities leading up to his team's biggest game of the season, Urban Meyer has been careful not to feed the media's self-proposed storylines.
"We only have one rival," the Ohio State head coach has insisted. Yes, the color green is allowed—although not preferred—inside of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center this week. The Buckeyes' one and only rival is Michigan, and nobody else.
But if you really wanted to know how Meyer feels about Ohio State's upcoming opponent, this wasn't the week to ask. The 13-year head coach is too calculated to provide bulletin-board material for any team that the Buckeyes are about to face, especially as the national media locks in on a rare high-profile Big Ten battle.
Nevertheless, that hasn't stopped Meyer from providing a peak into his true feelings about the team that will be across the field from Ohio State on Saturday.
Two days after the Buckeyes were stifled by Virginia Tech's 46 Bear defense in their defeat at the hands of the Hokies on Sept. 6, Meyer was asked if he thought other teams would attempt to run the same scheme. Skimming through Ohio State's schedule in his mind, the Buckeyes head coach stumbled upon one who potentially could.
"I don't know if people have the personnel," Meyer said of opponents' ability to run the Cover zero scheme. "I know one of them does. The team that won the Big Ten last year does."
Michigan State
That's who Meyer was referring to, Ohio State's upcoming opponent who he would rather refer to by its accomplishments as opposed to its actual name. It's not all that different from his preference to refer to Michigan as "our rival" or more popularly, "That Team Up North."
In fact, in his two press conferences in between last weekend's win over Illinois and this weekend's upcoming contest, Meyer has mentioned the Spartans by name just once, despite being asked about Michigan State a combined 15 times. Maybe that's a coincidence, but anybody who's studied Meyer's career—or speech patterns—knows that those don't happen often.
But while Meyer has attempted to downplay the Spartans' official status as an Ohio State rival, he didn't downplay the importance of this weekend's game.
"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 a Big Ten championship," Meyer said of Michigan State, again not mentioning the Spartans by name. "Does that make them a rival? It makes them in the way of something that we all want, and that's a Big Ten championship."
That was also the case a year ago, when the 12-0 Buckeyes headed to Indianapolis for the conference title game with a trip to Pasadena and the BCS National Championship Game on the line. All that was standing in their way was a perceived overmatched Michigan State squad, riding an eight-game winning streak but facing a 5.5-point spread.
But from the moment the ball kicked off inside of Lucas Oil Stadium, you would have never been able to guess which team had more on the line. Marching up and down the field at will while containing running back Carlos Hyde, the Spartans jumped out to a 17-0 lead, threatening to slam the door shut on the Buckeyes' national title chances.
Ohio State battled back, reeling off 24 straight points, but when all was said and done, it was MSU hoisting the Stagg Championship Trophy after a 34-24 Spartans victory.
For obvious reasons, the loss hit the Buckeyes hard, as their winter travel plans rerouted for Miami and an eventual loss to Clemson in the Orange Bowl.
“I’ll tell you what I’m not going to lie to you, I cried for, like, two days. It was tough and the whole team it seemed like after we took that loss it just took the whole soul out of the team. It was hard for everybody to get back and just kind of work hard," wide receiver Devin Smith said. "That game, us losing to Michigan State last year, kind of really messed the whole season up and really took a toll on all of us.”
While the Buckeyes struggled to bounce back following their Big Ten championship loss, Michigan State maintained momentum, picking up another signature win over Stanford in its subsequent trip to the Rose Bowl. The Spartans entered the 2014 season ranked in the top eight of both major preseason polls, and despite a Sept. 6 loss to Oregon, they currently sit in eighth in the College Football Playoff rankings.
"They're the king of the hill right now because they won the championship," Meyer said. "And you have to dethrone them."
Ohio State, meanwhile, has also bounced back from a loss in the second week of the season, reeling off six consecutive wins heading into Saturday's trip to East Lansing. Michigan State may not be a rival—at least not publicly to Meyer and his team—but this is The Game that the Buckeyes have been waiting for ever since last season came to its disappointing end.
“This is huge, and we checked this on our calendar just because of what happened last year," Smith said. "For it to be this way with both teams with one loss—man, it’s really huge.”
Ben Axelrod is Bleacher Report's Ohio State Lead Writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BenAxelrod. Unless noted otherwise, all quotes obtained firsthand. All statistics courtesy of cfbstats.com and recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.
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