Ohio State vs. Michigan: Urban Meyer Can Speak Freely After Buckeyes Loss

Now that The Game is over and Ohio State has officially lost to Michigan for the first time since 2003, Urban Meyer can quit ducking cameras and recusing himself from ESPN broadcasts and confirm what everyone in the world of college football already knows.

That all his bags are packed, he's ready to go and he's standing there outside Gene Smith's door.

In other words, that he'll be leading the Buckeyes back to respectability in the wake of the scandal that cost Jim Tressel his job and sent Terrelle Pryor off to the NFL a year early.

As soon as interim coach and Adam Sandler lookalike Luke Fickell clears his office, of course. Wouldn't that be awkward if Meyer waltzed into the athletic department with a hammer, nails and a bunch of BCS National Championship memorabilia from his days at Florida while Fickell is sitting at his desk, staring longingly at a photo of him and Tressel in a tender embrace?

Certainly, Fickell deserves a heap of credit for biting the bullet on this one. From the moment he took over for Tressel, everyone knew Fickell wasn't going to last long. The job itself is just too big, too important and too high-profile for a guy with exactly zero experience as a head coach coming into the season.

And while a 6-6 record is hardly something to be proud of for a Buckeyes program coming off six consecutive Big Ten titles, things could've been much worse given all the turmoil and the suspensions to key upperclassmen resulting from the NCAA's rulings.

That being said, Fickell can't hope to keep a coach with Meyer's impeccable resume from taking his job. Few in the profession could, given that Meyer turned two mid-major programs into football powerhouses and took a storied Florida football team to new heights in the span of a decade.

And realistically, it shouldn't (and probably won't) take Meyer long to lift the Buckeyes back to the top of the Big Ten. After all, Tressel didn't exactly leave the cupboard bare in Columbus. Braxton Miller would probably be the most talented quarterback that Meyer has yet had at his disposal, Tim Tebow included, not to mention the solid foundation of NFL prospects waiting in the wings around the Horseshoe.

And, as a native Ohioan and a former graduate assistant on the Buckeyes' staff back in the mid-1980s, Meyer knows the territory as well as anyone and should have little trouble gaining access to those uncharted regions of the state, thanks to the two BCS National Championships rings on his fingers.

But first, Meyer has to agree to a deal with Ohio State and, of course, announce it to the world, which he can with class and without guilt now that the Buckeyes have finished up their regular season slate.