Ohio State Football Notebook: ‘The team last year would not have won that game’

Culture Club

Urban Meyer talks about the culture of the Ohio State football program as something that sets the Buckeyes apart from most programs.

When asked if Ohio State would have won Saturday’s game against Penn State without the culture that this team has built, he had no hesitation in his answer.

“No. No that was a grind,” he said. “That was a never-say-never, love-of-brother, long-live-the-brotherhood-type mentality. You don’t win that game when you spot a team — a team like that, spot them 14 points. And the team last year would not have won that game. They would have dropped their head. Offensive line would have dropped their head.”

So what makes this team different than last year’s group?

“Maturity,” he said. “Isaiah [Prince] is older. I couldn’t be more proud. You should have seen him in the locker room and on the sidelines of the game, it was a grown man. It’s the maturation process.

“What happens is when you have recruiting mistakes or you have guys leave early, people are forced into positions too early to play. But it’s not like we’re the only team that deals with that. And when guys get stuck too early, they’re not mature enough to handle it. That’s when you rely on Billy Price, Greg Studrawa, Kevin Wilson, Jamarco Jones to help them through that.

Just Keep Dobbins (on the Field)?

During the second quarter of Saturday’s game, the most common question being asked by those watching was, “Where is J.K. Dobbins?”

Dobbins sat for at least three series and didn’t reappear until the second half.

Urban Meyer has talked about wanting to get Dobbins more touches, but the freshman had just four in the first half. Mike Weber saw all of the action in the second quarter. So what happened?

“I’m not micromanaging that right now. I trust them both,” he said.

Meyer is comfortable with both running backs right now, so he doesn’t call for one guy to play over the other.

“He still had 88 yards and however many carries,” Meyer said. “So we’re throwing the ball so darn well right now, too. So there’s no, once again I don’t micromanage. That’s Kevin Wilson, and that’s Tony Alford to determine. And they’re both practicing very hard. You’d like to get them more carries.”

One of the ways to get them both on the field more has been the much-talked-about sets with both of them on the field together. Has that been scrapped, or are they still working on it?

“No. It’s in,” Meyer said. “Those are all game time, if something’s not working or it’s ways to create issues, but we just haven’t used it yet.”

It Starts Up Front

There is going to be quite a contrast from the offense the Buckeye defense saw last week in Penn State and the offense they’ll see this week at Iowa.

Penn State runs a spread offense with a quarterback who needs to be watched. Iowa, meanwhile, runs a pro-style offense with a drop-back pocket passer.

Even as the offenses change, the game plan for the Ohio State defense will always remain the same.

“They’re two different, very different offenses we’re getting ready to face,” Meyer said. “But regardless, my point is regardless of the spread or pro style, if you control the line of scrimmage good things usually happen in the run game and that’s what happened.”

The Buckeyes displayed that control extremely well on both sides of the ball in the fourth quarter. The Ohio State defensive line could not have been more disruptive on Penn State’s final two possessions.

“I thought we had some very good mesh charges, we call them, on the spread,” Meyer said. “That one was we were waiting for it all night and they ran it near the end of the game where Sam Hubbard took both. And they’ve been working on that for a long time.”