Urban Meyer has quickly returned No. 12 Ohio State to prominence in the Big Ten, but he has rubbed some of his fellow coaches the wrong way.
Back in February, there were complaints about Meyer’s aggressive recruiting tactics. Last week, Michigan State complained that the Buckeyes sent incomplete game video before their game Saturday.
Spartans defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi told the Detroit Free Press that Ohio State deleted pre-snap motions and shifts before plays on video of its first four games. Narduzzi indicated that the Spartans (3-2, 0-1 Big Ten) complained to the league, though Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis said he and Gene Smith, his counterpart at Ohio State, settled the issue.
Meyer wasn’t in the mood to revisit the matter Tuesday during the league’s weekly coach’s teleconference.
“I’ve moved on,” Meyer said, and MSU head coach Mark Dantonio didn’t want to talk about it, either.
The Spartans, a preseason favorite to represent the Leaders division in the Big Ten title game for the second straight season, instead lost their second home game in three tries when the Buckeyes (5-0, 1-0) slipped past them, 17-16.
“What happened on the game field on Saturday translated into winning or losing, and that’s where I’m going to leave that,” Dantonio said.
Meyer has another complaint, though. He said Monday that Ohio State sent a tape to the Big Ten that appears to show a Michigan State player gouging at the eyes of Buckeyes defensive lineman Johnathan Hankins.
The short clip appears to show the Spartans’ Jack Allen or a teammate trying to thrust a gloved hand inside Hankins’ facemask. At the same time, Hankins is trying to get his fingers inside Allen’s facemask.
Dantonio said he hadn’t heard from the Big Ten regarding the play, though he mentioned that neither Allen nor Hankins seemed bothered by whatever had happened after the play.
“My review of the play saw two players get up after the play and walk back to the huddle. Probably a little something going on with both of them. If you look at the play cleanly, that’s what you see,” Dantonio said.
NUNES GETS NOD
Stanford coach David Shaw stood behind redshirt junior Josh Nunes, delivering an unprompted message at the beginning of his weekly news conference that his struggling quarterback will start for the No. 18 Cardinal (3-1, 1-1 Pac-12) against Arizona (3-2, 0-2).
The only quarterback change Shaw wants to see is a change in Nunes’ play.
Nunes completed 18 of 37 passes for 170 yards and an interception in Stanford’s 17-13 loss at Washington last week. The offense converted 5 of 18 third downs, never scored a touchdown and looked lost for the first time since Andrew Luck left.
EXTRA POINTS
Ohio State and TCU will play a home-and-home series in 2018-19. TCU said Ohio State will make its first trip to Fort Worth on Sept. 15, 2018. TCU visits Columbus on Sept. 21, 2019. … An Alabama man pleaded guilty to obscenity charges and faces a two-year prison sentence for rubbing his genitals on an unconscious LSU fan in a Bourbon Street restaurant after the BCS national title game in January.
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