Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema — the former head coach at Wisconsin — made headlines last week when he ripped Ohio State's strength of schedule.
It's the classic point being made by an SEC head coach, saying his team is perhaps better or more deserving of inclusion in the College Football Playoff than those from other conferences because the SEC conference schedule is so difficult. And the SEC conference schedule is always very difficult, no argument there.
But Ohio State, the No. 1 team in the country and odds-on favorite to win a second straight national championship, proved itself plenty last season with three straight postseason wins over Wisconsin, Alabama (the SEC champ) and Oregon. This season, the regular-season schedule is certainly not the nation's strongest, but if the Buckeyes reach the postseason, they'll be sure to be tested. Plus, there is a regular-season matchup with current No. 4 Michigan State coming in November. That's a pretty tough game.
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Bielema was served his humble pie Saturday, as his Razorbacks lost to Toledo, showing that strength of schedule doesn't mean much when you can't win games against the beatable opponents. And the Big Ten got one heck of a boost when aforementioned Michigan State beat Oregon in a clash of top-10 teams. That has the conference's perception on the rise.
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So asked Monday about the outside perception of the Big Ten, Meyer took the opposite route of Bielema, while also alluding to the Arkansas coach's comments.
"I don't have any idea. I don't know where people have time to do all that. I don't know anyone else's schedule. I don't care," Meyer said during his weekly press conference. "We've got enough issues. Yeah, I've been asked that question, 'Did you hear what this guy said?' How did they say that? I don't know.
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"This time a year ago, we were a really bad team. And we got better. Probably because our focus was on getting better and better and better. I don't ever want to hear that through this (building). If I ever hear one of our coaches talk about another conference, that's a problem."
So there you have it. Urban Meyer is the anti-Bret Bielema, at least in this case.