COLUMBUS — Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer spoke with reporters Monday for his customary start to the football week. He looked back at the Indiana game a bit. Meyer also provided updates on football team and then looked ahead a bit to Saturday’s upcoming game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Here are the highlights.
+ Meyer began by going over the Champions from the Indiana game.
+ Binjimen Victor “just keeps coming on.”
+ There were no special teams players of the game because there wasn’t much going on there and the effort was lacking.
+ The offensive line didn’t play very well. The protection hasn’t been bad, but there needs to be improvement across the board.
+ There has been conversation about using Tate Martell in short-yardage situations. “Tate’s a very dynamic player.” They talk about it all the time.
+ The pass blocking and picking up blitzes has been good by the offensive line, but blocking for the run game is more complicated. They have to do better as coaches and players in executing the running game. The struggles aren’t always because of a loaded box.
+ Meyer has dealt with headaches and he takes medicine for it and it is something he monitors. “I’m fine now.” There are no plans for another procedure to deal with it.
+ Meyer has conversations with his staff, but he has confidence that they will get things righted defensively.
+ Things are going well for the injuries to Malik Harrison and Jonathon Cooper, but they’ll know more tomorrow.
+ Meyer likes the way the team has responded to significant injuries and stepped up. “It’s a good group to coach.”
+ The defense was good in the second half. There were a lot of positives. They look at everything and overanalyze things. They try to build on the positives while looking at everything.
+ Press coverage is a very hard skill and most programs with it teach their corners to not turn back for the ball unless they are even with the receiver. That’s not just Ohio State specific, that’s a philosophical stance that many, many coaches have.
+ “Third and 1 is tough right now.” The weakness on offense is the lack of balance and short-yardage struggles. Meyer doesn’t feel too far off in confidence between third and 1 and third and 7, which speaks well of the passing game, but poorly of the running game.
+ When you don’t have a running quarterback, you have to be willing to throw the ball a little more on short-yardage downs.
+ Minnesota has an outstanding defense. They are not a big pressure team, but they’ve dealt with injures on defense.
+ Brian Hartline could very well be a full-time coach at Ohio State down the road. He has performed well enough to prove that.