With the playoff race proving how costly one loss is, Urban Meyer says Ohio State is taking an unnecessary risk next season. He’s urging a major scheduling change before it backfires for head coach Ryan Day. And he’s taking the message straight to athletic director Ross Bjork.

“If I’m Ryan Day, I don’t play that game at Texas next year,” Ohio State’s former head coach, Urban Meyer, said in an interview with Dan Dakich. “I’m going to the athletic director and saying I’m not playing that game. Give me Old Dominion, Indiana State, and Kennesaw State.”

Meyer’s point is that strong non-conference matchups don’t guarantee playoff security, and one bad loss can derail an entire season. The Texas Longhorns’ playoff hopes faltered this year despite their tough schedule, and Ohio State could face the same fate if it sticks to high-risk games.

During his coaching days, Meyer preferred a balance he calls “one big dog, one medium dog, and one small dog” on the schedule to control risk while still building a strong resume. In the current playoff era, that approach is even more critical. Meyer’s comments worked as fuel in the ongoing debate of whether going up against strong non-conference teams is worth the potential damage in the expanded playoff era. And that’s a risk he doesn’t want Ryan Day and Ohio State to take.

And if we take Indiana’s case, playing against easy non-conference opponents did wonders for them. This season, they have played Old Dominion, Kennesaw State, and Indiana State, and even next year, they are going to go up against easier non-conference opponents: Colorado State, Howard, and Western Kentucky. And the result was they made back-to-back playoffs. On top of that, they won’t be playing a non-conference Power Four-caliber opponent until their trip to South Bend to play Notre Dame in 2030.

But when it comes to Texas, their tough resume didn’t get playoff consideration. This year, the Longhorns faced five ranked opponents, including Ohio State. That’s exactly why even Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian questioned the necessity of playing them.

“We scheduled Ohio State and played that game, and we lost 14-7,” Sarkisian said. “We outgained them by nearly 200 yards, and we got stopped twice inside their five-yard line on two fourth downs. We lost the game, but they’ve beaten every other team they played on their schedule by three scores. So, at that point, why do we even play that game?”

The coming season will show whether Ohio State learns from his advice and cancels its game against Texas scheduled in mid-September, or pays the price.

Urban Meyer gets real on Ohio State’s playoffs

Ohio State’s loss against Indiana didn’t take them off the playoffs and gave them a No. 2 seed in the final CFP rankings. They earned a first-round bye before facing either Miami or Texas A&M. But to advance in that game, the Bucks squad had to show up with a strong game that was far better than Indiana’s. Their offensive line struggles, because of which Julian Sayin was sacked 5 times; ironically, he was sacked 6 times in the regular season.

Now, the inability to have an experienced quarterback can give some trouble to Ryan Day’s team in the first-round game.

“You can say the template is set because they did it last year,” Meyer said. “After the horrible loss to the Wolverines, they rallied back. Here’s the difference, Brady (Quinn), last year’s team was the most veteran team in college football. That’s not the case this year. You’ve got a young quarterback. Remember last year, you had senior Will Howard; you had a senior-laden group.”

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Then, just like in Michigan’s game, Sayin threw an interception on Ohio State’s first offensive possession. The Bucks couldn’t convert on third down once in the first half and converted just four of 11 third-down tries in the game. While wide receiver Jeremiah Smith did have a record of eight receptions for 144 yards, the inability to get short yardage in the red zone cost them big time.

“I used to say there’s a big difference between coaching grown-ass men in that locker room to young guys,” Meyer added.

It will be interesting to see if Ohio State actually stumbles with a young team or shines much brighter.