Ohio State football: Buckeye fans shouldn’t be concerned now

If Ohio State football fans were nervous without Urban Meyer on the sidelines they shouldn’t be so much if they watched the Florida-Miami game.

The 2019 college football season got  off to a great start with the terrific game between Florida and Miami last night. Any Ohio State football fans who were nervous without Urban Meyer walking the sidelines should feel comforted if they watched the battle between the Florida schools.

Here are the situations on both teams that should make Buckeye fans feel better. First let’s look at the Hurricanes.

Manny Diaz is Miami’s first year head coach and his quarterback was a second year player starting his first game. Does that sound familiar?

Coach Diaz had his team ready to play and the Hurricanes battled the Gators, who came into the game ranked in the top 10, but came up just short losing 24-20. Quarterback Jarren Williams was sacked 10 times and sometimes was running for his life, but he still completed 19-30 passes and one touchdown without throwing an interception.

Ryan Day has the advantage over Diaz because he has worked with most of his players the last couple of years. And while Williams was the 5th highest ranked pro style QB and the No. 77 ranked recruit in the 2018 class, Justin Fields was the top ranked dual threat quarterback and the No. 2 overall player.

Now a look at things to take away from the Florida Gators.

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Like coach Day, head coach Dan Mullen was an offensive coordinator under Urban Meyer. I have to admit I wasn’t familiar with his coaching style but I knew Florida’s defense was outstanding last year.

I was impressed with the aggressiveness of the players on that side of the ball. And like Urban, he put his better players on special teams regardless of position. As a result, a receiver recovered a muffed punt at a crucial point in the game.

Even though coaches Mullen and Day are offensive coaches, I think they learned the value of having an aggressive defense and good special teams units from Urban. I have a feeling the Silver Bullets will be flying around this season and the special teams will be solid.

The Florida-Miami game provided a great start to the college football season as it was a fun game to watch. And it should have alleviated some of the concerns Buckeye fans may have had heading into the season.