Urban Meyer genuinely laughed when he saw the words in front of him. He was in a meeting with Gene Smith, then Ohio State’s athletic director, reviewing the job objectives for the Buckeyes’ head coaching gig he was about to take, and there it was, right on the paper: “win every game.” Meyer, a man who had already snagged two national championships at Florida, couldn’t believe it. He told the reporter he never had winning spelled out so explicitly in his career, even though he felt Florida had the same expectations. “I looked at [Smith] and kind of laughed,” Meyer recalled, “And I said, ‘That’s pretty bold.’” He still remembers thinking, “Wow, this is actually on a piece of paper.”
Winning Every Game Is A Wild Dream, Not A Reality
Think about that for a second. In an era where NIL deals, the transfer portal, and the College Football Playoff pressure are absolutely relentless, Meyer himself admitted that winning every single game is “almost impossible to do.” But, like any competitor, he added, “it’s certainly what you strive to do.” That explicit directive, right there on paper, tells you everything you need to know about the insane pressure these guys operate under. It’s not just about striving; it’s a stated mandate, an expectation that makes every single week a potential disaster zone. It highlights the brutal reality of coaching at the highest level of college football.
How Do You Keep Hope Alive When The Season Feels Over?
The real test, Meyer explained, comes when a team inevitably stumbles. How do coaches prevent one loss from torpedoing an entire season? He remembered the 2015 season, just a year after winning a national title, when his Ohio State squad lost a heartbreaking 17-14 game to Michigan State in a rainstorm at home. Meyer said he couldn’t sleep that night, not because of the loss itself, but because he was consumed with one thought: “How do I keep this team playing?” He knew Ohio State’s chances for the four-team playoff were on life support. He explained on the “Triple Option” podcast this week that a coach has to walk into that Sunday team meeting and “give these guys hope.” Why? Because, as he put it, “The minute hope is gone, you’re gonna see some horrendous football. You’re gonna see s— happen, because kids will quit playing hard. It is what it is. That’s the reality.”
Meyer’s strategy was always to lay out a tangible path to the postseason, something concrete for the players to rally around. He leaned hard on his leadership group to set the tone and demand accountability. And it worked that year. After that brutal Michigan State loss, Ohio State responded by absolutely gashing Michigan on the ground for nearly 400 yards in a win the following week. They capped it off by beating Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl, finishing with a 12-1 record. A phenomenal season by most standards, but they were still left out of the playoff. That’s how tight the margin for error is when “win every game” is the unwritten, or in Meyer’s case, *written*, rule.
This isn’t just an Urban Meyer story from the past, either. Look at what just happened in the annual Red River Rivalry. Texas, ranked No. 1 in the country heading into the game, made too many mistakes and got absolutely stunned by unranked Oklahoma, losing 27-24 last Saturday. You know Texas coach Steve Sarkisian is now facing that exact same challenge Meyer talked about. The Longhorns’ national title hopes just took a massive hit.
The question isn’t just about the upset, but how Sarkisian will rally his squad. What path to redemption will he lay out? With their season suddenly on the brink after that shocking loss, every single snap moving forward will tell us if Texas can still salvage a season that started with such high expectations.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Fox Sports.
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