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Tales from the trail: Another reason for Rubio to dislike Ohio State football

Urban Meyer left Marco Rubio's beloved Florida Gators after the 2010 college football season and was hired by the Buckeyes in 2011.
Republican presidential candidate, Ohio Gov. John Kasich responds to a reporter's question after a town hall meeting, March 9, 2016, in Palatine, Ill. (Photo by Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)
Republican presidential candidate, Ohio Gov. John Kasich responds to a reporter's question after a town hall meeting, March 9, 2016, in Palatine, Ill.

Want to know what the NBC News Embeds saw? Follow their daily journey to the inside of the 2016 presidential campaign here:

Another Reason for Rubio to Dislike Ohio State Football

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Marco Rubio now has another reason to dislike Ohio State football.

Urban Meyer, the team's popular coach, endorsed Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Thursday.

"Go win this thing," Meyer told Kasich in a video released by the campaign Thursday morning.

Meyer left Rubio's beloved Florida Gators after the 2010 college football season and was hired by the Buckeyes in 2011. The team won a national championship in 2015.

Meyer won two national championships in Florida, and Rubio has said there is no ill will for the coach's decision to leave Gainesville.

According to a recent poll from PPP, 85 percent of Ohio State football fans approve of the job Meyer is doing. That's even higher than the high approval rating Kasich clocked in with Ohioans in October at 62 percent.

The news comes just two days after voters in Ohio State's rival territory Michigan went to the polls. Kasich proudly brings up his time as a student at Ohio State at nearly every one of his town halls, but he also poked fun at the rivalry on his recent campaign swing through the state to Ohio's north. "I talked Urban Meyer into laying low just so Michigan could beat us this year," he would joke to Michigan crowds.

-- Kailani Koenig covering the Kasich campaign

We'll do it Live (Hopefully)

Live TV waits for no embed.

That's why my colleague Vaughn Hillyard and I found ourselves running through the University of Miami football practice field in 80 degree Florida heat at 10 minutes to 3 p.m. today. We had a 2:50 live shot, we had no idea where the camera was set up, and we were late.

MSNBC scheduled a quick check-in with the embeds for the afternoon at 2:50. They wanted to hear from Vaughn, myself and Danny Freeman about what it's like being on the trail, and we all happily obliged, figuring we'd easily make the time in our day.

But with a dozen other things going on, Vaughn and I hit the road a little late. When we got to the address of the debate location, where we planned to do our hit, we were 20 minutes early but clearly in the wrong place — a nondescript gray office building on the side of a highway in Coral Gables.

A cop set us on the right way, but we kept running into roadblocks: A slow red sedan in front of us, and then skeptical organizers at the press check-in who pointed us towards our camera location but told us it was a far walk and they'd never let us through without our IDs.

"We're on TV!" Vaughn shouted at them defiantly, and we set off in a sprint.

Running slightly behind Vaughn, I had the feeling I imagine mountaineers who never make the summit experience.

"We're not gonna make it, Vaughn!" I gasped. "I can't run that fast!"

He shouted back, a little frantic: "We've gotta make it, Jaffe!"

We ran through the parking lot, across the practice field and smack into a row of cameras. Frantically, we searched for the familiar peacock logo, finding only local NBC affiliates. Where was the camera?!?

A particularly elaborate set-up looked promising, so we asked: "Are you guys with NBC?"

"Network?" The producer and camera man replied.

"YES!"

We made it. Vaughn had to finish buttoning up his shirt and tying his tie. My hair was everywhere after running through a field. We were both a bit red in the face and sweaty from the heat. But we made it.

Within 12 minutes, we were hooked up with mics, dialed in to the control room, speaking live on MSNBC and down.

It was a crazy, big adventure — for a simple little bit of TV.

-- Alexandra Jaffe covering the Rubio campaign