Ohio State’s Meyer not after popularity

Urban Meyer has quickly returned No. 12 Ohio State to prominence in the Big Ten, but he has rubbed some of his fellow coaches the wrong way.

Back in February, there were complaints about his aggressive recruiting tactics. Last week, Michigan State complained that the Buckeyes had sent “incomplete” game video before their game on Saturday.

Spartans defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi told the Detroit Free Press that Ohio State had deleted pre-snap motions and shifts before plays on video of its first four games. Narduzzi indicated that the Spartans (3-2, 0-1 Big Ten) complained to the league, though Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis said he and Gene Smith, his counterpart in Columbus, had settled the issue.

Meyer wasn’t in the mood to revisit the matter during the league’s weekly coach’s teleconference. “I’ve moved on,” Meyer said, and Spartans coach Mark Dantonio didn’t want to talk about it, either.

The Spartans, a preseason favorite to represent the Leaders division in the Big Ten title game, instead lost their second home game in three tries when the Buckeyes (5-0, 1-0) slipped past them, 17-16.

“What happened on the game field on Saturday translated into winning or losing, and that’s where I’m going to leave that,” Dantonio said.

Meyer has another complaint, though. He said Monday that he believed Ohio State has sent a tape to the Big Ten that appears to show a Michigan State player gouging at the eyes of Buckeyes defensive lineman Johnathan Hankins.

The short clip appears to show the Spartans’ Jack Allen or a teammate trying to thrust a gloved hand inside Hankins’ facemask. At the same time, Hankins is trying to get his fingers inside Allen’s facemask.

Dantonio said that he hadn’t heard from the Big Ten regarding the play or the clip.

Stanford

There will be no quarterback change at Stanford this week. Second-year coach David Shaw stood behind his redshirt junior Josh Nunes, delivering an unprompted and unscripted message at the beginning of his weekly news conference that his struggling quarterback will start for the No. 18 Cardinal (3-1, 1-1 Pac-12) against Arizona (3-2, 0-2) on Saturday.

Florida

Florida’s matchup with LSU this weekend is perhaps Will Muschamp’s biggest game as a coach. But Muschamp tried to downplay the significance of the game and said the Gators won’t do much different despite an off week to prepare. “It counts as one game. It doesn’t count any more than that,” he said. “I know everybody thinks that all of a sudden we’re going to change everything for one game, but we’re not.”

Elsewhere

Ohio State and TCU will play a home-and-home series in 201819. TCU said that Ohio State will make its first trip to Fort Worth on Sept. 15, 2018, with the twogame set shifting to Columbus, Ohio, on Sept. 21, 2019.