I guess it doesn't matter who the head football coach is in Columbus, Buckeye loyalists are never going to be completely happy with everything that his Ohio State team does - or doesn't - do.
And of course, the guy in charge is always the one on the spot who people voice their complaints to or displeasure with when things aren't going exactly like or as well as they think they should.
Case in point, and I personally can only go back through the last four Buckeye head coaches as far as my days with Woody Hayes, but you know the old saying, ''You can please some of the people all of the time and all the people some of the time, but not all the people all the time.' '' Well, that axiom fits Ohio State's football fandom like a glove. Three games into his ''dream'' job at OSU, Urban Meyer, although still undefeated at 3-0 against a moderately-hard non-conference schedule, is already hearing from his critics after even Meyer admitted the Buckeyes haven't looked very good at times in the last couple weeks, despite dispatching Central Florida and Cal - two decent, but hardly great football teams.
The defense, in general, has been sort of a letdown, not living up to Meyer's expectations - especially when it comes to tackling and giving up big plays, notably against the Golden Bears last Saturday.
The hurry-up, no-huddle spread offense Meyer brought from Florida excited the faithful in the spring as they looked forward to the same this fall, but even that has waned a bit. After showing some spark early this season, and even looking quite impressive at times, the offense was basically a no-show in the middle two quarters versus Cal, and if it wasn't for Braxton Miller, the Buckeyes might have lost that game. In one phase of the game or another, OSU has had its moments in the three games thus far, but has failed to put everything together in one ball game yet against a good opponent, and UAB (0-2) will probably be not much of a test at noon this Saturday in Ohio Stadium.
OK, now over to the other side of the coin. Meyer, to his credit, never promised anyone in Buckeyeland within earshot a rose garden this season. In fact, anything but.
After all, the core of the 2012 squad is still made up mostly of players from the past two or three years, although a lot of talent has departed over the last several seasons. And I don't care who would have coached OSU last year, the Buckeyes likely still wouldn't have been much better than the 6-7 record they ended up with.
Meyer, like any veteran coach, knew going into a transitional season, like this one for Ohio State, is always a tricky thing that sometimes doesn't work out as well as everyone involved with it hopes it will.
Sure, the now-16th-ranked Buckeyes will probably be 4-0 after this Saturday. But they are fast approaching that precipice, the jumping-off point of the season, where from then on - starting next Saturday at Michigan State (3:30 p.m.) - they better have all their ducks in a row, i's dotted and t's crossed - essentially having it all together and everything in order - when Big Ten play begins.
Contact Steve Hemmelgarn at shemmelgarn@newsandsentinel.com
