Ohio State and Maryland take the field against each other this Saturday afternoon at 4:00 pm on FOX. In advance of the matchup, Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer provided some updates on his Buckeyes football team on Tuesday’s Big Ten coaches teleconference. Here are the highlights.
+ Asked what stands out about Maryland, Meyer said the offensive skill set sticks out, as does their return game. The running back (Ty Johnson) is very patient and has great acceleration. The defense has another year of understanding of what they are doing, which catches his eye.
+ How to use both Mike Weber and J.K. Dobbins? Meyer said they’re working on it. The obligation is to play the best players. They didn’t get the reps with either player that they wanted last week because the score was out of hand, but they want to get them both more involved.
+ Meyer would get “so angry” when people used to rip Alex Smith in the NFL. He was on a bad team and the struggles are not always on the quarterback.
+ Maryland quarterback Max Bortenschlager was extremely efficient last week against Minnesota. “I thought he did excellent.” Now he has established himself as a starter. The Ohio State defensive staff has great respect for him.
+ Dwayne Haskins has played well and his performance bodes well for his future at Ohio State. He came from a smaller high school, so it took him some time to get up to the speed of the game. Game experience has been priceless and he has handled it very well.
+ Meyer will stick with a running back if he provides energy to the offensive line and protects the ball. As a coach, it’s not much different than being a fan — you can just tell when a running back should stay on the field and get more carries. This is the first time he’s had this quality of running backs complementing each other.
+ Dante Booker struggled a bit early in the season getting back into the flow of things. You never worry about him going hard, but sometimes he overanalyzed everything instead of just playing 4-6, A-B. Everybody loves him and the players respect him. There was a big cheer for him when he was announced as the defensive player of the game following Rutgers.