Ohio State football: How Urban Meyer changed the Big Ten

Before coach Meyer was hired to coach the Ohio State football team, the Big Ten was lacking in key areas. Now they are perhaps the best conference in the country.

The Big Ten was known for years as a conference that was predicated on defense and running the ball. As Woody Hayes famously put it, “three yards and a cloud of dust” was the mantra of the entire conference. That changed in 2012 when a new coach was hired at Ohio State.

Once the Buckeyes brought in Urban Meyer, everything in the conference changed. Meyer’s offense not only changed the way Ohio State played, but it changed the way defenses had to gameplan for a new style of offense.

The spread offense that Meyer brought to Columbus emphasized the athleticism that his players possessed all across the field. He wanted to get his speedy players in space and in one-on-one matchups. Because of that, the Buckeyes scored a lot of points in his tenure.

Because the Buckeyes were so explosive, it forced the other teams in the Big Ten to change the way they played offense. Most of the other teams in the conference had to adopt a similar up-tempo offense just to keep up. Whether it was the same spread offense or the Air Raid, teams had to change their tactics.

Meyer almost single-handedly changed the fabric of the conference and how it is perceived across the country. The Big Ten is no longer viewed as the slow, out of touch conference. They now have speed as much as any conference in the country.

If it wasn’t for Meyer, the Big Ten wouldn’t be the best conference from top to bottom. This conference is in position to be the first conference to put two teams into the College Football Playoff. That is all thanks to the former coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes.