Ohio State Football: Urban Meyer Setting Bad Example with Michigan Trash-Talk

Bill Belichick and Urban Meyer are supposed to be buddies, which is why it's strange that the new Ohio State football coach is employing such un-Belichickian tactics to get his team fired up for its fiercest rivalry.

Reports have surfaced that Meyer not only posted a team schedule that referred to Michigan as "The Team Up North," but he also allowed a sign mocking the majors of Michigan athletes to be posted in the Buckeyes' football building.

The sign boasts that the bulk of Ohio State football players major in either communications (14 percent) or family resource management (10 percent), while Michigan's players opt for the allegedly fluffier field of general studies (24 percent).

Whether or not the big bad world of communications studies is more mentally grueling than that of general studies is a debate for another day. The real question is, does Meyer really need to resort to this kind of childish ammunition in order to fuel up his players for one of college football's most heated rivalries?

Calling your opponent stupid is something you might expect to hear on a grade school playground, not in a collegiate locker room—especially when that locker room belongs to one of the top programs, and coaches, in NCAA history.

Yes, this war of words between Michigan and Ohio State is all in good fun, but there is something to be said for respecting your opponent and rising above the mindless trash talk. You might hear this kind of dribble from freshmen, but from the head coach? Really? And from a head coach with Urban Meyer's pedigree? Really?

A situation like this can go one of two ways: Meyer's team can either pummel Michigan this season (and, undoubtedly, it will have nothing to do with whether the players major in communications or general studies), or the Buckeyes will lose to the Wolverines and pundits will criticize Meyer for focusing too much on a childish rivalry and not enough on the game plan.

Ohio State shouldn't need to resort to dumb signs like this to get fired up about this rivalry. There's a better way to get the competitive juices flowing—like maybe watching the highlight reel of last season's 40-34 loss at Ann Arbor. That should do the trick.

And if it doesn't, the problem won't be solved by majoring in communications.