Ohio State favored to win Big 10 again

Urban Meyer has built one powerful program at Ohio State as he enters season six with the Buckeyes, the favorite to win the Big 10 Conference. He’s already won a national championship there.

CHICAGO » The tailored, slate-gray suit, the scarlet and gray power tie, the blacked-out chronograph on his wrist if you didn’t know Urban Meyer was the football coach at Ohio State, your first guess would be a Fortune 500 CEO.

That’s hardly a coincidence.

After five seasons in Columbus, Meyer has the Buckeyes running as smoothly as any business enterprise in the land. He’s won a third national championship there (to go along with two from Florida), a conference title and two division titles, and Ohio State is favored to return to the top of the Big Ten heap and compete for another college football crown.

All that despite getting smoked 31-0 by Clemson in the playoffs last season, then watching five players depart in the first round (and a dozen total) in the NFL draft.

“It’s in the back of everyone’s mind, and whether I’ll use that during training camp or not is to be determined,” Meyer said about that season-ending loss during Monday’s session at the Big Ten media days. “But where we’re at as a team, I like where we’re at. So we’re just pushing forward.” Pushing forward? Like Kentucky basketball another well-oiled sports juggernaut Ohio State doesn’t rebuild, it simply reloads.

Last season, Meyer had three rookies in the defensive backfield, the same number he wound up losing to the pros. This time around, the quarterback competition will be limited to who’s backing up J.T. Barrett. But the coach will have to sort through seven candidates for starting right guard, leaving one rival supporter to grouse that any of the runnersup could start for nearly every other team in the conference.

Meyer’s demeanor reflects the stability he’s brought to the program, and his willingness, finally, to share some of the responsibilities of the job. That’s a far cry from the anxiety-ridden days that led to his wellpublicized burnout after taking Florida to the top of the sport.

That’s probably not a coincidence, either.

“He had a (first) grandchild,” center Bill Price said. “I mean, babies what do babies do to men? I tell him that all the time . ... (In pictures) he’s holding that child like he was holding the championship trophy, and it’s the cutest thing in the world.

“I give him a hard time about it all the time,” Price added. “He has become a little bit more, I guess, quote-unquote `mild.”’

Linebacker Chris Worley thinks the mellower version of Meyer was mostly for the offseason. He expects the glow to wear off as soon as Meyer steps onto the practice field later this week.

“When football comes,” Worley said, rolling his eyes, “it’s football time.”

Other developments from the first day of the Big Ten meetings:

Like Ohio State, the conference is also on solid footing, at least as measured by TV ratings and exposure. Commissioner Jim Delany essentially pioneered the move by college football leagues to build their own television networks and shows no signs of cutting back.

Delany announced the Big Ten Network will triple its primetime national TV exposure during football season and add more basketball games in the time slot, thanks to new deals with broadcast partners FOX, ABC/ ESPN and CBS.

“College football has never been healthier. It’s also never been more fragile,” Delany said, citing major issues ranging from players’ safety and lawsuits to more minor ones like scheduling conflicts on Friday night with high school football games.