Just a humble observation from a college football nut. The talent is there. The main element that I see missing from Buckeyes football is unity. There is no team cohesion. Good teams typically rally behind the quarterback and the head coach. I don't see anybody on the team giving a fuck about either one. What I see is a bunch of big headed individuals who think the rest of the team should put them on a pedestal. Naturally this creates push back from others on the team. I don't think they respect Barrett and as a result are not willing to play hard for him. I think theres too much division between each aspect of the team. Your defensive lineman are not good friends with your secondary. The front four on offence aren't friends with your receivers or running backs. It seems like every little group is in there own little click and each one has someone thats trying to be a superstar. The talent is there. I have seen it. The second half come back against Indiana was done as a team.
I believe the problem lies in the way that urban Meyer is managing the team. I think he tries to run it as a corporation where he is the CEO and he tells his coaches the VPs what he wants done. It filters down through the assistant coaches all the way to the players. By the time the players are involved they are so distant from the coach that they're not going to fight for that guy, they don't even know him. This not only create separation between each aspect of the team but also between the players and the coach.
I have met a lot of important people in my life, from sharing a first class seat with the then CEO of IBM, to old jungle Jack Hannah. Some of them genuine people, some of them strictly business. Urban is the most egotistical, big headed, narcissist I've ever met. The guy walks in a room expecting everyone to bow. I had the unfortunate experiance of meeting him at a charity event at the columbus zoo and spoke to him for about three minutes, in my opinion that was about 3 minutes too long.
You can be in egotistical asshole off the field all you want. When it comes to your team you better be a leader, someone your team is willing to go out there and blow a knee for. I just don't see that with urban Meyer. Real leaders inspire those behind them to be better, their very nature makes you want to give it your all.