COLUMBUS — Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer spoke with the media for his weekly Monday availability. He answered some questions about the loss at Iowa and looked forward a bit to Saturday’s key matchup against Michigan State. You can watch the video below. Here are the highlights.
+ There won’t be a speech about not having the national title available any longer. There are still plenty of things to play for.
+ There were some devastating penalties that kept drives alive. “There is no excuse for them and we’ve addressed them.” You can’t have those in these kind of games.
+ Nick Bosa apologized to Meyer for the targeting penalty. He was just lunging at the ball. “There was no intent is what he told me.”
+ J.T. Barrett’s inconsistency in the Iowa game was not normal, especially the interceptions. Today is a big day to get going for the next game. He feels like Barrett forced too many throws. That’s not what this offense is.
+ Bouncing back for this week is going to be a big key for the season. They work all year long for games like this. This game is between the top two teams in the Big Ten East and the Michigan State game is usually a prize fight. “The tougher team usually wins.”
+ Is there a problem within the program? Meyer is only focused on beating Michigan State right now. The kicking game was much better though.
+ “I think Iowa played well and we didn’t play very well.” They couldn’t get off the field on defense and that hurts.
+ There was a conversation about J.K. Dobbins’ carries. Dobbins should have more than six carries, “but we got behind and started to throw a lot.”
+ There are two quality tailbacks, so he is not going to micromanage who plays. The blowout aspect of the Iowa game eliminated much of the running game in the second half.
+ The depth on the offensive line is “not even close” to where Meyer wants it.
+ Iowa executed their game plan well. The first quarter and a half, the OSU offense went up and down the field, and then the injuries hit the offensive line and sank the offense from there. Then the OSU defense can’t get off the field and the OSU offense starts to panic and that’s not how you win a game.
+ Is it a failing of the linebackers and linebacker coach to play poorly? “Sure.” Meyer evaluates it.
+ Quarterbacks having more carries than the running backs is sometimes a “get out of jail card”, but the intent is not to use the QB more than the RB.
+ There are challenges with replacing early entries, but that’s part of life in the big city. You have to watch for players who are just coming here to go to the NFL. You have to make sure the players buy in to the program and everything it has to offer. They watch it closely.
+ This team has thrown the ball more than any other Meyer team at OSU, and there has been a discussion about making sure they still remain balanced and run the ball. It’s about 55-45 right now run-pass.
+ The Iowa plan was to force J.T. Barrett to keep it on reads, so they need to address that and keep that in mind moving forward.
+ The missed tackles were disappointing and they couldn’t control the line of scrimmage on defense, which rarely happens. They have talked about it and are ready to move forward to prepare for Michigan State.
+ The question you have to ask is why there were miscues. Are they not practicing well? Do they not have the right people playing?
+ Michigan State’s offense is picking up steam right now. He will watch them tomorrow on offense. They are throwing the ball very well right now.
