Skip to content

Ad Disclosure

‘Routines blown apart’ the reason behind upset-filled September in college football, says Urban Meyer

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

Louisiana defeated No. 23 Iowa State. Kansas State knocked off No. 3 Oklahoma. Mississippi State surprised No. 6 LSU.

Upsets were the story of the month of September in college football. While we might’ve expected to see some craziness in the sport this season, it has been surprising to witness so much of it early on in the year.

What have we seen so many upsets so far? Urban Meyer says it’s because of routines being “blown apart,” and a lack of focus on the fundamentals of the game — blocking, tackling and ball security.

“I all routines have been blown apart,” Meyer said on Big Ten Network. “You go back to March, spring practices were disrupted, training camps were disrupted and the biggest issue right now, to me, is the contact point of the game. That is blocking tackling and ball security. When you watch those subsets — for Kansas State to beat Oklahoma, on a normal day, just talent for talent, Kansas State is not going to beat Oklahoma.

“If you watched the second half, it didn’t look like an upset. You just look at the recruiting and the number of players that are probably going to the NFL, you’d have to give the edge to Oklahoma. So, what happened? To me, it’s all about the contact point of the game. Every coach, I can speak for the ones I know in the B1G — blocking, tackling and ball security. How can you teach helmet on helmet, hat on hat? In my opinion, you’re preparing for contact. You can’t really teach those phases of the game without contact.”

Because of the unique changes in the season, upsets will likely continue to be a theme throughout the year. Highly-ranked teams will have to be extra careful each and every Saturday.

Below is Meyer’s full explanation:

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB