COLUMBUS, Ohio – In a weak moment, Ohio State coach Urban Meyer made a major blunder on Monday when he spoke the dreaded “M” word, but not because he doesn’t understand the rivalry between his team and the one Up North.
Far from it. Meyer was a graduate assistant coach in the 1980’s and says that was his real introduction to the OSU-Michigan grudge match and blundered while explaining it.
“Where I grew up in the ten year war, and I learned to dislike Michigan at a very young age. But…you never really appreciate it until you’re behind the walls here and find out how serious it is,” he told reporters Monday.
Yes, he said the word “Michigan.”
“Did I really?” he said when it was brought to his attention. “Wow. I apologize.”
Around these parts, Buckeyes coaches, fans and players refer to their biggest rival as “That Team Up North” or maybe “That School Up North,” but almost never by the university’s actual name. People have even gone around campus, covering up the M’s on as many signs as they can find.
“Do we make a huge deal over the top about rivalry games? Yes, we do. That’s the way I was brought up. We kind of go over the top here, and we always have,” Meyer said.
Meyer says wasn’t on campus very long before he got a graphic illustration of how deep the animosity goes.
“I was a 21 year old graduate assistant, and I look up on those twin towers by the stadium, and it says ‘Muck Fichigan’ and sheets hanging off. I said that is really cool right there. And they switched the M and the F, and someone made them take it down. So that was in 1986, so there is some old student now that is laughing their tail off saying, yeah, that was my room.”
He also praised the struggling Wolverines and offered words of caution about his third-ranked team’s trip on Saturday for the 110th edition of the rivalry they call “The Game.”