Upon entering the Buckeye Hall of Fame and Grill and maneuvering through swarms of Ohio State fans, Urban Meyer took the stage and found issue with Mike Golic's wardrobe.
Golic, a cohost to the popular ESPN radio program Mike & Mike with Mike Greenberg, was donning a light blue long sleeve T-shirt. Meyer, Ohio State's head football coach, made sure Golic knew he didn't agree with his shirt's color Friday morning before his time on the live broadcast began.
Urban Meyer takes the stage at @MikeAndMike, asks Golic why he's wearing blue in Columbus: pic.twitter.com/NW3FBqXOuV
— Eric Seger (@EricSeger33) November 20, 2015
Meyer joked with Golic and Buckeye great Cris Carter, before putting on his headset to talk about his team's monster matchup with Michigan State Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
"This is a big week," Meyer told Greenberg, Golic and Carter. "This is insane."
The Big Ten and national implications swirling above such a high-profile contest — Ohio State is 10-0 and ranked No. 3, the Spartans are 9-1 sit at No. 9 — are palpable. Attention has been building toward this game since it was revealed the two conference titans would face off in the second-to-last regular season game of the year.
That was felt Friday, with a mad amount of Buckeye supporters filling the Hall of Fame and Grill to the brim, all anxious to get a look at Meyer and his star running back Ezekiel Elliott. Some arrived even before 5 a.m.
"We feel like we should be No. 1," Elliott said. "At the beginning of the season we weren't playing like it, but now we are."
The Buckeyes have a chance to prove it Saturday afternoon and gain their first win over a ranked opponent in 2015.
"The most prepared team is going to win this game," Meyer said.
ELLIOTT BRINGS CANDY FOR THE HOSTS
Elliott, Ohio State's best offensive player and best chance to win the Heisman Trophy, brought a bit of Buckeye flavor to the stage Friday morning. He handed out Ohio State candy upon sitting down and going live.
Ezekiel Elliott introduced on @MikeAndMike, brings Buckeye candy for the Mikes and Cris Carter. pic.twitter.com/xPtgtweyeb
— Eric Seger (@EricSeger33) November 20, 2015
Naturally, the Heisman conversation was broached by Mike & Mike on set. Elliott, with a big smile, provided his opinion on where things stand with two weeks left in the regular season. He currently battles Alabama and LSU running backs Derrick Henry and Leonard Fournette in addition to Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson for the top odds to win the award, according to Oddshark.
"At the end of the season, they'll know what they need to know," Elliott, who's ran for 1,425 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2015, said to a chorus of cheers. "If I keep handling business every week, the truth will reveal itself."
Elliott was asked about what it's like to play for Meyer at Ohio State, especially because he's from St. Louis and his parents are Missouri graduates.
"He's a very intimate coach and a very tough coach. " Elliott said. "He demands excellence from you at all times."
Meyer's said multiple times he hasn't spoken to his team about where it stands the College Football Playoff rankings — the "State of the Union" address, as he calls it — but Elliott said he and his teammates get together Tuesday nights and know what they need to do in order to move up.
"We think that we made strides each week, but we're not where need to be," Elliott said. "But it's not the end of season yet."
CARTER'S CROP TOP WISH
Carter torched opposing defenses as a wide receiver for the Buckeyes from 1984-86, earning consensus All-American honors his senior year. He also knows how good Elliott can be after how he exploded against Wisconsin, Alabama and Oregon in the 2014 post-season.
Elliott did all that while wearing a "crop top," or tucking his jersey under his shoulder pads. The NCAA's since outlawed players from wearing their uniform in such a way, but Carter wants to see Elliott bring it back Saturday for what will most likely be his final game in Ohio Stadium.
"I want to see the crop top, I want to see the spoon going up to your mouth," Carter said with a smile. "I'll pay the fine, it's cool."
Elliott said he sometimes feels like he's the lone player in the country the rule is enforced upon, but there's more important issues at hand right now.
"The most important thing right now is getting that pass game going," Elliott said. "So teams can't stack the box."
MEYER ON QUARTERBACKS, HIS EVOLUTION AS A COACH
Cardale Jones won the starting quarterback job for the Buckeyes out of fall camp, but yielded to J.T. Barrett when the team traveled to Rutgers Oct. 24. Barrett had played both in the red zone and when Jones had struggled earlier in the year, something Meyer admitted Friday wasn't the easiest situation to deal with.
"It did create some inconsistencies with play calling," Meyer said.
Meyer added that the move to Barrett full-time — even after his one-game suspension for OVI early Halloween morning — has helped put those issues to rest, however.
Both Golic and Greenberg worked with Meyer briefly in 2011 at ESPN, when he took his year break from coaching for health reasons prior to returning to Columbus.
Greenberg prompted Meyer with the chance to look back at the man who won a pair of national titles at Florida, doing so while almost killing himself because of his obsession with winning. If he could, what advice would Meyer give his former self?
"Lighten up, man," Meyer said.
Meyer claims he's learned to enjoy victories more now, especially because he's back home at Ohio State and 48-3 overall since taking the job.
"His résumé says he's the best football coach that ever lived," Greenberg said.
In season, however, Meyer called his job "a grind" with the expectations in place for the Buckeyes in Columbus. The bodes true for Saturday afternoon, too, as Mark Dantonio's Spartans come ready to take town Ohio State and stake their claim to the Big Ten once again.
"This is a tough team we're getting ready to play. We're expecting a very physical game," Meyer said. "You don't have to be the best team in the country, you just have to be the best team in that stadium."
It's Ohio State's final home game of the 2015 slate, with a visit to Ann Arbor, Michigan looming after Thanksgiving. That means its the final home game for an extremely successful senior class, who Meyer wants nothing more than to send out on top.
"This group, what it's done, incredible people. Probably one of the winningest groups to play the game," Meyer told Mike & Mike. "It's going to be very emotional time in that stadium."
