Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer spoke on Tuesday’s Big Ten coaches teleconference. He spent some time providing updates on his Buckeye football team and also looked ahead to Saturday’s matchup against Michigan State. Here are the highlights.
+ Meyer doesn’t think the issues this season is due to a lack of leadership.
+ Meyer would like to get back to using a featured back like they did in 2014. Defenses are taking the tailback out of the game, “so we’ve been working hard on that this week.”
+ The message this week is to keep moving forward. You have to rebound and put the loss behind you.
+ Meyer said he thought about calling a timeout on the fake field goal, but the defensive staff said they felt they could cover it.
+ Damon Webb is a very good player and a good person. He has done a pretty good job as a leader. It wasn’t a great week last week, but before that it’s been pretty good.
+ Parris Campbell has been cleared and should play this week. Not having him available is big. He’s one of the best returners in American and any time he’s not out there it hurts.
+ On the coverage issues against the tight ends, there were some mistakes on the defense. The answer is to address it in meetings and then practice it on the field.
+ The linebackers as a whole were not good this past week, but this season they have been very good at times.
+ The players have to be able to put last week behind them. Sunday was a very good and energized practice. The team knows what is at stake this week.
+ Michigan State quarterback Brian Lewerke is really starting to play well. The MSU rush defense is the best in the Big Ten. “They’ve just got some momentum right now.”