Urban Meyer believes the national champion might be decided this year before the season really gets going. On Friday, the Big Noon Kickoff co-host said either Ohio State or Texas will win the national title in the 2025 campaign. In less than 24 hours, Meyer will have a more educated guess on which of the […]
Urban Meyer believes the national champion might be decided this year before the season really gets going. On Friday, the Big Noon Kickoff co-host said either Ohio State or Texas will win the national title in the 2025 campaign.
In less than 24 hours, Meyer will have a more educated guess on which of the two teams has a better chance of winning it all this year. At noon on Saturday, No. 1 Ohio State and No. 3 Texas will square off in Ohio Stadium.
Naturally, Meyer has to lean toward the Buckeyes since he coached there from 2012-18 and won a national title with the Buckeyes in 2014. However, even Meyer can’t deny the talent on Texas’ roster this season.
The Longhorns are entering the year as the No. 1 team in the AP Top 25. After reaching the College Football Playoff semifinals, it certainly feels like the Longhorns are due to take home the big one. Nonetheless, they’ll have to deal with the defending champs first.
Ohio State is returning nine starters from last season. Most notably, the Buckeyes are bringing back arguably the two best players in the country: Wide receiver Jeremiah Smith and safety Caleb Downs.
Smith had a jaw-dropping freshman campaign last season, tallying a national-high 1,315 receiving yards. In total, he hauled in 76 catches for 15 touchdowns. Meanwhile, Downs was named the Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year and a unanimous All-American.
Of course, two players can’t single-handedly defeat the No. 1 team in the country, but they can surely make a difference. Alas, on Friday, Urban Meyer also pointed out the difficulties of repeating as national champions.
“Everybody changes,” Meyer said. “And everybody wants to point the finger at the players. I did it. The administration’s different. Your fans are different. Your donors are different. Your coaching staff is different. Everybody walks around like something’s changed, we’re a blue-collar team, we’re a blue-collar people, we work our ass off.
“And now we have the answers. I used to say that all the time, say, ‘Oh, I get it now. We have all the answers because we’ve won it.’ Do you realize now we are the target of every team in the country? And I would always try to push it down and it’s hard to do, because everybody changes.”
Ohio State and Texas will square off at noon ET on Saturday. The game will air live on FOX.
Category: General Sports
