Urban Meyer Doesn't Hesitate on Ohio State-Texas Prediction

Urban Meyer Doesn't Hesitate on Ohio State-Texas Prediction originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

The Ohio State Buckeyes' opener against the Texas Longhorns is one of the marquee college football matchups of Week 1. Given Urban Meyer's status as a former Ohio State head coach, there is plenty of interest in how the Fox Sports analyst views this showdown.

Meyer made his feelings clear on the matchup with the Aug. 30th game a little more than one month away from kicking off. During a new episode of "The Triple Option" podcast released on Wednesday, Meyer offered his prediction for how the Ohio State-Texas game will play out.

Spoiler alert: Meyer is picking his former Buckeyes squad, which will likely surprise very few college football fans.

"Here's why I think Ohio State's got the advantage," Meyer explained. "They have Jeremiah Smith, the best player in college football, and I don't think it's really that close. You can roll up on him. You can double him and you can slow him down, you can't stop him but they have other weapons . Carnell Tate's going to come into his own. That's a big, freakish athlete as well. There's Julian Sayin, they say he's probably going to be the quarterback.

"But I think the ability to have someone other than, you know, a one-show team and that's Jeremiah Smith. They got more than that," Meyer continued.

Cancel my plans for August 30th.

12pm -- Texas vs. Ohio State
3:30pm -- Alabama vs. Florida State
7:30pm -- LSU vs. Clemson
11:00pm -- Utah vs. UCLA

— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) July 14, 2025

"They've recruited so well at the skill positions there. That's why they won last year. You can slow down Jeremiah Smith, but you can't do it with the other weapons around like they have. So, I think it should be a great game."

Meyer is expecting the Arch Manning era to get off to a bumpy start for Texas. The legendary coach is not the only one.

.@CFBHeather believes Jeremiah Smith may be the best player in the country this CFB season 😯 pic.twitter.com/hvIDfzdQZN

— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) July 17, 2025

Ohio State is a 2.5-point favorite versus Texas in the Week 1 matchup, per FanDuel. Watch below to see Meyer's full comments about Manning, Ohio State and Texas.

Related: Ohio State Reveals New Timeline to Name Starting Quarterback

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 23, 2025, where it first appeared.