Meyer reflects on the rivalry

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer knows that everything comes down to this week in the eyes of Buckeye Nation. It is that week that the biggest rival comes to town and regardless of what the records are, all eyes will be on Ohio Stadium as the Buckeyes and That Team Up North take the field.

The stakes are about as high as they can be however with the Buckeyes holding the No. 2 ranking and That Team Up North coming in at No. 3. This game truly could be a CFP elimination game.

Meyer grew up watching the game that is only known as 'The Game' and has plenty of early memories watching it as a child or at one point, only being able to listen.

"My mother, for some reason I still to this day don't know why, grabbed me and said we have to go run an errand," Meyer remembered during his weekly press conference "What the hell we talking about? You don't leave that game. In Ashtabula, Ohio, outdoor mall walking down, and over the loud speakers I just kept stopping and listening to the game."

Of course Meyer also has had a chance to be a part of the game as a head coach at Ohio State as well as an assistant coach. That has given him the opportunity to talk with some of the greats of the series to get their perspectives.

"Here's my memory of that rivalry," Meyer added. "This is where I think it's the greatest rivalry in all of sport. You're darn right it was tough, but I know very well that there are two coaches who never respected each other more, and that's the head coach of our rival, Bo Schembechler, because I talked to him about it. I had great conversations with Coach Schembechler.

"And Woody Hayes, unfortunately, I never had those great conversations. I met him a few times. He was here in '86, and we lost him, and I never -- I look back, and I wish I would have been able to sit down and talk to him about it."

What lessons were learned as a young coach looking to move up in the coaching ranks?

"They go so frickin' hard against it, but there is a mutual respect. I didn't say like, but there's a mutual respect," Meyer said. "And I learned it from those two -- two of the greatest coaches of all time. They handled themselves with incredible class, toughness, demanded of their players, and you got to see that every time those two teams played. So that's my memory, and that's how we go about our business here."

Click here to read a transcript of the rest of Meyer's Monday comments.