Despite winning a national title in 2023, Michigan’s on-field success hasn’t been the main discourse around the program. The Wolverines have embroiled themselves in one scandal after another. It started with the sign-stealing scandal, and in the latest one, the program had to fire its head coach after discovering an inappropriate relationship with a female staffer. It’s in stark contrast to how Michigan operated when Urban Meyer coached their rival in Columbus, and the former Ohio State head coach couldn’t help but stress the point.

“Name another person who respects that school more than I do,” said Meyer during his May 21 appearance on The Script. “I’m including some people that have gone there. That’s how much I respect that school. That’s why we work so hard to beat them. The respect I have for that school academically and the school as a football program. I’ll tell you, it’s taken a little bit of a hit, though.”

“What’s gone on the last four or five years, I lost a little respect. I know this is going to make some headlines,” added Meyer. “But the nonsense that has gone on up there, that’s not the Wolverine team or program that I know. When I start hearing about all the violations and then the most recent stuff.”

Even the die-hard Michigan fans won’t disagree with Meyer here despite his status in the legendary rivalry with Ohio State. It’s hard to dismiss him as a ‘hater’ when the Wolverines have employed multiple law firms to clean up things at the program. The Sherrone Moore controversy was just the latest one in an embarrassing sequence of events that even Dave Portnoy finds hard to defend.

The Jim Harbaugh era brought in a national championship, but it will also be remembered by the sign-stealing scandal and ‘Burgergate.’ Last year, an athletics coordinator was indicted on federal charges for hacking into the personal accounts of over 3,000 student-athletes. And this doesn’t even cover what’s happening at the top of the program. Mark Schlissel was fired following an inappropriate relationship. Even Santa Ono abruptly left the program.

Despite that, the former OSU head coach believes Michigan took the right step by hiring Kyle Whittingham.

“They hired the right guy to get them back,” said Meyer. “He’s 66 years old, but he’s in a 50-year-old body and mind. I know what he stands for. I know it’s about doing it right. It’s about toughness, it’s about the line of scrimmage, it’s about academics; he’s about the right stuff. And they got a great one.”

However, that didn’t change Urban Meyer’s perspective on the OSU-Michigan rivalry.

Urban Meyer’s take on Michigan dislike

During his seven seasons at OSU, Urban Meyer treated the Michigan rivalry as a 365-day-a-year obsession. He randomly announced brutal “Wolverine Workouts” to keep his players ready for ‘The Game.’ He admitted his perfect record against the Wolverines proved how much hatred he had for that school.

“When you’re the head coach at Ohio State, and you’re an Ohio guy, and you grew up in the 10-year war, the 7-0 is something that, please, don’t touch that one, man. I mean, that’s something I’ll take with me the rest of my life,” said Meyer.

“The hatred I had for that school, part of it was my fault. I mean, I made that whole facility all about that game. We never went more than a week without either talking about ‘The Game’ or practicing for ‘The Game.'”

He totally banned the existence of that rival at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. But from 2021 to 2024, Michigan beat OSU four times. Yet in 2025, OSU’s 27-9 victory against the Wolverines ended that long drought. Now, we will see how this season’s OSU-Michigan rivalry unfolds.