Meyer praised Ohio State's talent throughout the offseason and said in August that the Buckeyes' roster was “perhaps the best roster in college football of the last decade.” Two months and an Ohio State loss later, the former Ohio State coach still believes the talent of Ryan Day's team is the best in the sport.

Given that, Meyer doesn't think Buckeye fans should panic over the team's 32-31 loss at Oregon two weeks ago. He acknowledges the Buckeyes need to be better defensively than they were against the Ducks, but he believes any issues exposed in that game are fixable. And he believes the Buckeyes will be ready to respond when they begin their second half of the season against Nebraska on Saturday.

“I still think they have the best talent in the country,” Meyer said Friday. “I think they missed a yard against Oregon. It's not time to panic. It's time to get better. You were a little exposed in pass defense, so you had to play the corners better, you had to put more pressure on the quarterback, but those are all things you can fix. So I don't expect any panic. I mean, there's anger, but I don't think there's panic.

Asked specifically about the Ohio State pass rush's struggles in Eugene, Meyer said he thought the Buckeyes should rotate more on defense after Jack Sawyer played 59 snaps and JT Tuimoloau 55 against the Ducks. He also believes the Buckeyes need to reduce spacing on their defensive line so quarterbacks can't push into the pocket as much as Dillon Gabriel did against Ohio State.

“60 games is a lot for D-Ends, so they need to get a little rotation going. And then you could see a lot of space between the inner D-line and the ends. Dillon Gabriel was able to step up in the pocket; If you reach into your pocket, that's obviously not a good thing. So there has to be a connection between this and that,” Meyer said, pulling his hands toward him before moving them outward to indicate that Ohio State needs to apply more pressure in the backfield without leaving large gaps up the middle. “And if there are any, then there are sacks. You will see that. They’ll get better.”

Meyer sees Ohio State as one of three or four “super teams” in college football this season that have no real weaknesses because of how much talent they've accumulated and how well they've done at plugging holes through the transfer portal.

“I made the comment that even our right-back, like our 2014 (national championship) team, and I'll give an example, has problems after the spring, but he will still have problems in the fall because of his arms can't move and so suddenly you have a new player. Now you can,” Meyer said. “So I just don’t think there are any weaknesses – right now it’s Georgia, Oregon and Ohio State. I just don't – show me a weakness and I'll say it's not the case. I don't want to say that our defensive ends are a weakness here, because that's not the case. You just have to do things a little differently, a little better.”

Big Noon Kickoff analyst Brady Quinn, who also met with Ohio State reporters Friday afternoon, continues to believe Ohio State is one of the two best teams in the country along with Georgia.

“I would say them and Georgia are the two most talented teams, the two best teams. And I understand Oregon just beat them, but the reality is they're going to play this game again in Indianapolis and I think Ohio State wins,” Quinn said. “So they are two of the most talented teams. Texas is also at the forefront in this respect. I'm still a big fan of Tennessee, I think they're still improving, especially (quarterback Nico Iamaleava), a guy starting in this first year. So those are about the four teams, you can add Oregon into that mix and make it five, but I still think Ohio State and Georgia are the top two.”

“I still think they have the best talent in the country.”– Urban Meyer on this year’s Ohio State football team

While Meyer is back in Columbus this week with the rest of the Big Noon Kickoff crew, he's also celebrating the 10th anniversary of the 2014 national championship team, which will be honored Saturday at Ohio Stadium. About 40 members of that team are expected to be at the Shoe for Saturday's game against Nebraska, and the former OSU coach hosted an event Thursday at his eponymous Dublin restaurant, Urban Meyer's Pint House, to celebrate both the 2014 national championship team and also raise money for the Buckeye Cruise for Cancer.

Meyer said it's hard to believe it's already been a decade since that national championship season, and he still marvels at how the Buckeyes were able to do it despite having two quarterbacks, Braxton Miller and Braxton Miller, before Cardale Jones at the end of the season JT Barrett, lost to injury, led Ohio State to glory in an epic postseason run.

“It's hard to believe it's been 10 years, and as I told the audience last night, when you think about it, this was probably the most unlikely national title to play with your third-string quarterback. This has never happened before and I don’t think you’ll ever see it again,” Meyer said.