Indiana is 5-0 and sitting at the top of the Big Ten picture. Ohio State follows with 4-1, with its only blemish coming in a game it appeared to have won before Texas stormed back in the fourth quarter. But Urban Meyer isn’t giving the Hoosiers much credit for their spotless record. To him, Curt Cignetti and co. haven’t really played five games that deserve equal weight.

“Indiana’s 2-0 to me,” Urban Meyer said on The Triple Option. “I don’t even, I don’t watch the highlights. I don’t care.”

That sounds harsh. Still, it was the point, as Urban Meyer wants the schedule to matter. Indiana’s first three games were North Texas, Howard, and Western Kentucky. The results were convincing. 52-16, 55-0, and 38-0, but the former head coach isn’t impressed by the margin. His issue is what those wins actually prove.

“I look at Ohio State’s close loss to Texas as a much better performance than playing Howard,” he said. “Why would you look at that?” Urban Meyer then went a step further, suggesting college football should find a way to stop teams from piling up easy wins without taking meaningful risks.

“I think at some point there should be some kind of bylaw that says, ‘yeah, you can do whatever you want, but you’re going to finish season 9-0 or something’ because it just does not count,” he said. “That’s not fair to both sides. It’s not good for the game.”

Mark Ingram pushed back with the obvious counterpoint. Indiana did something similar last year and went on to win the national championship. Urban Meyer wasn’t moved.

“Yeah, so they can do it, but it just doesn’t count,” he replied. “I don’t know if I’ve agreed Indiana going backwards, but Indiana’s 2-0.”

That is the argument for Indiana. The Hoosiers don’t control how voters, analysts, or playoff evaluators value their schedule. They can only keep winning. And so far, they have.

Indiana’s nonconference schedule was undeniably soft. The Hoosiers dropped their upcoming series with Notre Dame and replaced it with a slate that offered little resistance. But the Big Ten portion of the schedule is where things get interesting.

Indiana is 2-0 in conference play after beating Northwestern at home and Rutgers on the road. The Hoosiers’ 47-15 demolition of the Scarlet Knights showed just how physically imposing this team can be. They ran for 336 yards while allowing only 60. The defense also held Rutgers to a combined 2-for-14 on third and fourth downs.

Now comes Nebraska, followed by the part of the schedule nobody can accuse Indiana of avoiding. Ohio State visits Bloomington on October 17. Michigan, USC and Washington are also waiting later in the season. That stretch will tell us far more about Indiana than Howard ever could.

Meanwhile, Ohio State’s schedule has provided the sort of games Urban Meyer believes should carry more weight. The Buckeyes traveled to Austin to face Texas on September 12 and built a 23-3 lead before the Longhorns pulled off a stunning 24-23 comeback. 

Ohio State then returned to Big Ten play and beat Illinois before winning at Iowa. The remaining road gets no easier, with Oregon, Michigan, USC, and Indiana among the major tests surrounding the season. For Urban Meyer, that matters even when the Buckeyes lose. A close loss to Texas tells him something. A 55-0 win over Howard doesn’t tell him nearly as much. That is the argument buried inside his criticism.

The biggest question now is simple. Indiana can argue about the schedule all it wants. On October 17, Ohio State is coming to Bloomington. If the Hoosiers beat the Buckeyes, the “2-0” narrative is going to get very difficult to defend.