Last week, Urban Meyer made history by recording his fourth winning streak of 20 or more games – something no other coach has achieved more than two times.
Saturday night in Piscataway, Meyer notched another milestone when his Buckeyes' 49-7 win over Rutgers gave the coach his 150th career win.
150 wins is an accomplishment, no doubt, but when you look at how quickly Meyer has reached that mark, it's simply astounding.
Consider it took Woody Hayes 19 seasons to reach 150 FBS (or D1 in those days) wins. John Cooper? 20 seasons to reach 150. Earle Bruce is long retired and well short of 150 Division 1 wins. Jim Tressel? Same, although if you count his 15 seasons at FCS Youngstown State, he gets to 150 wins in 17 seasons. That run includes five national championships at two levels, by the way.
Urban Meyer has 150 – and counting – in his 14th season as a head coach.
Now, you can say Meyer's teams played more games per season than his predecessors, and that's true, but Meyer has the winning percentage to fall back on, too. At .852, he has the highest lifetime winning percentage among active FBS coaches. In fact, since arriving in Columbus, Meyer is 46-3, good enough for a .939 winning percentage, the highest of any coach since his return to coaching in 2012.
Ohio State fans are blessed to follow a steady program. Excluding Luke Fickell's one year stint as interim head coach, every man to coach the Buckeyes since 1947 is in the College Football Hall of Fame. That's Wes Fesler, Woody Hayes, Earle Bruce, John Cooper and Jim Tressel. Meyer will most certainly follow the others into the Hall.
That said, it's important to take a minute to recognize the greatness patrolling the West sideline at Ohio Stadium right now. Meyer is simply that much better than his peers. It's almost like he was put on earth to do one thing: win football games.
| Games Won | Team(s) |
|---|---|
| 25 | FLORIDA (2010) and OHIO STATE (2012-13) |
| 22 | FLORIDA (2008-09) |
| 21 | OHIO STATE (2014-CURRENT) |
| 20 | UTAH (2003-04) and FLORIDA (2005) |
| 11 | FLORIDA (2006-07) |
| 11 | BOWLING GREEN (2001-02) |
He's now undefeated in games played in October (14-0) and November (12-0) at Ohio State. His team is riding a national-best 21-game winning streak, a national-best 16-game road win streak and a Big Ten record 28-game regular season winning streak. If his Buckeyes top Minnesota at home in two weeks, they'll tie the national record for consecutive conference wins at 29, set from 1992-95 by Florida State.
Or consider the fact that Meyer has six double-digit winning streaks in his 14 years as a head coach. That isn't normal.
Or that his .852 win clip is good enough for fourth all-time at the big school level, trailing only Notre Dame's Knute Rockne and Frank Leahy, and Bowling Green's Doyt Perry. Rockne hung them up in 1930, Leahy in 1954 and Perry in 1964. Among contemporaries, only Washington's Chris Pederson is anywhere close to Meyer and with each week in Seattle, he slips further behind.
So, enjoy your morning and take a minute to appreciate what Ohio State fans have in Columbus right now.
