Urban Meyer’s exit from Ohio State provides reason for celebration in State College, Ann Arbor and other Big Ten outposts. The road to Indianapolis gets a little wider and a little less treacherous for those traveling from the East. The shiny silver football that is the Stagg Championship Trophy gleams a bit more in the foreground of James Franklin’s visual field.

One of my colleagues here at Saturday Tradition wrote a piece suggesting this is Michigan’s opening. He didn’t even put Penn State in the conversion.

I beg to differ. Franklin has already had his hands on the Stagg trophy once, something that can’t be said for Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh.

Harbaugh maxed out the potential of his boring and dated approach to football this season, and his Wolverines’ attempt to out-muscle Ohio State came up 23 points short two weeks ago at The Horseshoe.

Penn State still needs to prove it can stand up to Harbaugh’s bully-ball ways. The Lions certainly didn’t this season. But the program’s consecutive 1-point losses to OSU suggests that James Franklin is light years ahead of Harbaugh in the quest to knock the Buckeyes from their perch atop the B1G East.

Both men, I’m guessing, gladly will take their chances against rookie head coach Ryan Day. They won’t miss Meyer. Say what you will about the guy rival fans dub Urban Liar; the man could run a major program as good as anyone outside of Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Harbaugh went 0-4 vs. Meyer and lost by double-digits in three of those. Franklin went 1-4.

Bring on Day. Root for continuing chaos in Columbus.

These are troubling, uncertain times for Buckeye Nation. The bad vibes haven’t let up: the scandal surrounding assistant coach Zach Smith, Meyer’s three-game suspension in its aftermath, the CFP committee’s disrespect … and then, wham, Meyer announcing he’s done after 7 outrageously successful years at the helm.

If Day’s promotion from offensive coordinator does indeed create a window of opportunity, the Lions need to pounce decisively through it. It won’t be open long.

Day is 39 years old, has never been a head coach, and has spent all of two seasons in Columbus. The OSU administration sees him as a rising star in the mold of Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma — the young first-time head coach who has the Sooners in the Playoff two years running.

Ohio State has gone through uglier transitions in the past and been right back on top in a couple years. And, unlike Meyer, no previous departing coach has handed over a 12-1 Rose Bowl team on his way out.

Meyer professes that he’s retiring for good, willingly, with no hard feelings. He says he’ll remain a mentor to Day and the program rather than lurk as an exiled legend casting a shadow over The Horseshoe. Time will tell.

PSU’s best-case scenario

Meyer’s exit creates a transition point, for the Buckeyes program and the league. For rival fans, there’s no shame in rooting against the smooth changing of the guard that the OSU administration is trying to pull off. The perfect storm:

  • The staff breaks up, with several assistants feeling slighted by Day’s ascension or concerned about his readiness to lead. Other programs swoop in, wooing key members with higher level positions and/or more money.
  • Star QB Dwayne Haskins decides to go pro early, along with junior DT Dre’mont Jones and maybe a few others.
  • A few key recruits opt to go elsewhere to play for established coaches rather than give Day a chance. The 2019 class falls from its current No. 11 national ranking and the 2020 commits bail one after another.
  • Meyer blows everything up by telling another version of his truth after the Rose Bowl. A more candid, self-serving Meyer admits he was deeply hurt by his suspension and wanted out. His health issues are serious, but treatable, and he very well might return to the game once he feels better. Meyer has a reputation as a coaching junkie, with a wanderlust reminiscent of vagabond NCAA and NBA legend Larry Brown (six decades in coaching, currently leading a pro team in Italy at age 78). A year from now, Meyer could be poaching assistant coaches and stealing recruits rather than providing fatherly mentoring to Day.

The rest of the B1G world can dream.

‘Let’s take over the Big Ten’

Penn State’s leading tackler, true freshman linebacker Micah Parsons, sees the opportunity.

In a recent tweet that pretty much coincided with the Meyer news, he urged 247Sports No. 1 overall prospect Nolan Smith to eschew his home state Georgia Bulldogs and move north.

If Parsons and Franklin pull off the coup of flipping the edge-rushing Nolan Smith to join 5-star linebacker Brandon Smith in the 2019 recruiting class, they’ll be well on their way to chasing down OSU — along with a lot of opposing quarterbacks.

Even if Nolan Smith doesn’t wind up in Beaver Stadium, Penn State looks loaded for the next couple of seasons. Barring players leaving early for the NFL, the Lions stand to return all but a handful or their key players next year. At least one “Smith,” if not two, will head up another solid recruiting class and bolster the rapidly improving defense.

As I’ve written in September and in a tongue-in-cheek way a month later, I’m sold on Franklin and his push to make Penn State an elite program. But if it’s going to happen, Franklin and company cannot waste this opening. Suddenly the fourth-most tenured coach in the B1G, Franklin now faces the same expectations that Meyer dealt with year after year.

Mark your calendar: Nov. 23, 2019

Penn State plays at Ohio State in each team’s 11th game of next season. By that time, the B1G plot line will be clear.

By that time, Penn State will have already played vs. Michigan and at Michigan State to close a tough October schedule that starts vs. Purdue and at Iowa. If the Lions reach late November still in the hunt for the B1G East crown and a Playoff berth, with a victory over Michigan, they’ll have clearly established themselves as the top contender.

By that time, defending champ Ohio State will be no worse than 9-1 or its fans will be counting down the days to Day’s imminent departure. If the Buckeyes lose to anyone other than Michigan State in their first 10 games, it’ll be a setback to a school that never beat OSU in the Meyer Era.

By the end of that Saturday, Nov. 23, the fallout from Meyer’s departure should become clear. If Penn State doesn’t seize the opportunity, Michigan will get its shot a week later.

If nothing has changed by then, the conference might remain as boring as a Michigan game plan for years to come. Even Buckeyes fans might then be gleefully jesting: “Urban who?” If they don’t miss him, that would be worst indictment yet of the rest of the league.