Ohio State Football: Urban Meyer's Tough First Practice Was Much Needed

When Urban Meyer took the head coaching job with the Ohio State Buckeyes back in November, all of Columbus knew that a massive overhaul was in store.

The change in procedure, brought about by the regime change, began at 6 a.m. sharp last Friday morning.

Cornerback Bradley Roby had this to say after the tough practice, according to Newsday (via the Associated Press):

"

'"You can tell just by the practice: It's totally different than coach Tressel's (practices). Just the whole intensity of practice is more urgent, there's more intensity, it's more competitive. (The coaches) stress the competitiveness so it brings out more."'

"

That is exactly what this team needs.

The Buckeyes lost their last four games of 2011 by seven points or less, which is undoubtedly due to a lack of motivation by the coaching staff.

Losses to Purdue, Penn State and Michigan scrapped all chances of a berth in a respected bowl. The Buckeyes wound up losing to Meyer's old team, the Florida Gators, in the TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl.

When a team falls into a tailspin like the one we saw from OSU, it is in the hands of the coaches to get their players back into the right state of mind.

The talent was there, but the coaching staff wasn't.

There's no doubt that interim coach Luke Fickell lost the pulse of his team late last year. That doesn't come as a surprise after Jim Tressel's ugly exit from the football program, as well as a ban from postseason play.

Meyer obviously knows how to coach a football team, and he did exactly what he needed to do to let his players know how things are going to be.

Ohio State was a broken program before Meyer took the job—and maybe it still is. There's no way to tell what the team will do this season, but the new coach is doing his best to make sure the results are positive.

Meyer's job isn't only to make the media and the country forget about the dark cloud that has hung over Ohio State's campus for the last 1.5 years, he needs to do the same with his players.

The air has cleared, though, and Meyer can surely make the Buckeyes a Big Ten powerhouse in due time.

Unfortunately, his team isn't eligible to play in a bowl game until after this season, but he can't wait until his second year to change the culture of the program.

There's a new sheriff in town, and he has the Buckeyes on the right track.