Big Ten Football Morning Coffee: Urban Meyer to Utah?

Rise and shine, friends. Here's what's going down in the Big Ten today.

Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer spoke to the Deseret News in Utah yesterday, as he was in the state to address a conference for AGC Utah, a large trade organization in the area. Meyer has always been the...shall we say, itinerant sort, so these quotes should strike fear into the hearts of any faithful Buckeye. To wit (note: the parenthetical in the last answer is a follow-up question by the interviewer):

URBAN MEYER TRASHES OHIO STATE WEATHER?

Q: Do you miss Utah at all?
A: I miss it terribly. Shelly is up on the ski slopes. My son took snowboarding lessons today. I miss the people; I miss the weather; I miss everything. I miss the people at the University of Utah — Chris Hill and the great support staff I had. I loved living here. I still think this is the best climate in the country.

OHIO STATE NOT URBAN MEYER'S ONLY DREAM JOB?

Q: You once called Ohio State your dream job. Is that why you returned to coaching?
A: When I was coaching at Utah it was my dream job. But Ohio is my home. It's where I'm from. I was born and raised there. And I've always been a Buckeye fan, since I was little.

URBAN MEYER STILL IN LOVE WITH UTES???

Q: What do you think of Utah going to the Pac-12?
A: I love the Utes. [...]  (You could end up coaching against Kyle Whittingham). I'm not a big fan of that. Kyle is a great coach.

So look, we're not saying Urban's gone, Buckeyes...but it's on. It's so on.

(Please do not take anything I've just written at face value.) 

- Penn State has its eyes on four big-name running backs for 2013, per PennLive.com's Tom Tolley, including top prospect Ty Isaac. Penn State's got to tangle with at least two elite Big Ten programs for each of these guys (Ohio State has offers out to all four as well), not to mention pretty much every other elite program out there, so there's no telling if any of these guys are Happy Valley-bound, but suffice it to say there's been no compromise on recruiting expectations from Bill O'Brien thus far.

- Nebraska linebackers coach Ross Els is settling into his new role after taking on the additional responsibilities of special teams coordinator and recruiting coordinator, according to HuskerExtra.com. Not bad for a second-year coach.

- According to the Cedar Rapids Gazette, Iowa running back Jason White is leaving the program in pursuit of more playing time at a smaller school. White was a grayshirt recruit a couple years back and found himself second on the depth chart at times last year, but was only going to see the field for large stretches in case of calamity. Of course, at Iowa, calamity at running back is a way of life, but still.

- In other Iowa news, Kirk Ferentz's annual spring press conference included some quotes that may make fans bristle--things like "The bottom line is, we're 4-4, which I think you're well aware of. We're 4-4 the last two years. If that's the best you can do, there's nothing wrong with that—but he also reassured fans that he and his staff aspired to higher goals than that, so pitchforks down, folks.