COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Following Ohio State’s wild 52-51 comeback win over Maryland, Buckeye head coach Urban Meyer spoke with reporters. He talked about plenty of things, including the issues his defense is still having. Also answering questions were quarterback Dwayne Haskins, running back J.K. Dobbins, defensive coordinator Greg Schiano, and more. Here are the highlights of what was said.
Urban Meyer
+ This was a great win. Meyer has great respect for Maryland head coach Matt Canada and his staff. Buckeyes were very fortunate to come away with a win.
+ There was phenomenal effort on offense and defense. The two biggest players allowed were because of missed tackles.
+ On going for two at the end by Maryland, Meyer said he probably would have done the same thing in Canada’s shoes.
+ Mike Weber has a quad bruise and it got worse over the last couple of days.
+ Demario McCall is the kickoff guy now.
+ Asked if the OSU defense lapsing is alarming, Meyer replied, “It is.”
+ Ryan Day called the fourth down pass play to Rashod Berry but Meyer approved it.
+ The problems on defense are both coaches and players, but the coaches need to put the players in a position to succeed.
+ “It’s frustrating when you see mistakes.”
+ Dwayne Haskins took a step forward as a leader today.
+ They’ll have to play better to beat Michigan.
+ “I anticipate we will (play better).”
+ This was the best that Haskins has run the ball. “He has to do that. His leadership was great.”
+ Thayer Munford and Terry McLaurin are probable for next week.
Dwayne Haskins
+ On trailing several times throughout the game: “I never lose faith.”
+ Playing in front of family and friends meant a lot to him today.
+ He ran harder because of the competition and they were talking smack.
+ “I watch Michigan every week.”
+ It was tremendous faith by Ryan Day to call the pass play on fourth down.
+ Ryan Day told Haskins that his read on the pick six was correct.
+ “I knew I was gonna run the ball today. Running’s fun actually.”
Chase Young
+ “Sometimes I guess we just don’t end up in the right gap.”
+ The big plays are discouraging, but those are easy to fix. The defense stepped up in the fourth quarter.
+ There are no concerns about being ready for Michigan.
+ Young said a quick prayer on the two-point conversion.
+ Young was teammates in high school with running back Anthony McFarland. “Ant’s a beast.”
Greg Schiano
+ Maryland did a very good job with their scheme. They put you in a position to make one-on-one tackles.
+ Maryland got a few deep shots in on the Buckeyes, which was an area where the defense had been containing.
+ Are they ready for Michigan? “We’re as ready as we’re going to be. We’re going to put together a good plan.”
+ The coaches didn’t do a good enough job preparing the defense today.
+ “We’ve had some really good defensive play at times, but not consistently.”
J.K. Dobbins
+ Dobbins isn’t sore from the workload, but he is tired.
+ He likes carrying the ball this many times because it allows him to get into a rhythm.
+ Demario McCall is going to be great at Ohio State when he gets his opportunity.
I prefer laying the real blame at the feet of the miserably incompetent idiots called coaches. YES the blame remains there……..for the most part. But yesterday was a display of 4 and 5 star defensive talent with exactly “1” football player among them. Dre’Mont Jones.
ZERO pride, ZERO ability, and absolutely nothing in the way heart. This team sucks, and that’s simply a fact. It’s by far the shittiest coached team in my lifetime. It also happens to be the LEAST accountable coaching staff in the HISTORY of Ohio State football.
If Meyer is too cowardly to clean house on that defensive staff, he should be fired for being so damned negligent.
For this particular OSU team, I actually felt a sense of calm come over me after this win. The improvements and “we have to get better” is over, so move on from that. I live by Tony’s weekly “10 Things We Learned” posts, and all 10 of this week’s lessons should read “This 2018 OSU Football Team is what it is.” This is the 2018 version of the Buckeyes. We can do a root-cause analysis and what program/coaching changes need to be made after the season…and they will happen, but nothing’s going to or should happen prior to that. Starting in August, just a bizarre and unorthodox year.
From the eye-test, the ugly-helmets should romp Saturday. In actuality, zero will surprise me and will not be overly shocked if the OSU defense comes to play (actually feel most emphasis should be put on the offence and outscoring them).
There are more cameras on Coach Meyer during the games then on the game . All wanting to catch coach Meyer on whatever look they can project as negative to the fans. Sadly some of us take the bait & run with it. All you are doing is giving our opponents more trash to talk. If everyone of us had a camera on us during the Maryland game the Psycho ward up in Ohio would be OVERFLOWING today. Fl. too!!
When Schiano wasn’t fired after the Purdue game, that was all we needed to know. Meyer is simply unwilling (or unable) to do what needs to be done. I won’t be shocked if OSU beats a puckered up UM team in Columbus next week. I’ll be rooting for Oklahoma and Washington State as well. I don’t want to see the Buckeyes obliterated in the CFP again. Don’t give me the “anything can happen” nonsense. Anything will happen next week. OSU could play Alabama ten times and they would lose ten times. Let’s get a winnable bowl game and enjoy the New Year!
Football is a thrilling game and the pain of a season of Houdini like escapes and one experience of trapped in the safe under the bridge at the bottom of the river in West Lafyette is enough for a lifetime! Urban Meyer, what has happened to you? How can things have swung so wildly out of control? The lack of defensive focus is astounding. One positive note: the young Heisman canidate finally showed some signs of disciplined fight. So we will fight to the end, it is more than a business! Come on Ohio! Beat Michigan!
Ahh, the spoils of success. I always thought the point of playing football was to win. Style points are great, but a win is still a win. So, please, enjoy – yes, the DC and Urban’s Bestie probably need to go – I wholeheartedly agree with that. However, I’d like to suggest that it’s still ok to be happy about a win. Go Bucks!
I’m just going to come out and say it! I think Urban’s shelf life as a useful coach at any team at any level is 6.5 years. That’s it! HE employed his “golf buddies” and friends that were in his wedding. It starts with him. He has become unhinged, and his demeanor resembles on the sideline resembles the team on the field. It’s a train wreck! This team has no discipline, no heart, no guts! The defense is an utter abortion of an outfit! I have never seen anything that bad in my life.
I only saw the last 8 minutes of the 4th Quarter and the OT.
I am impressed that Haskins is running better and showing some toughness.
Sometimes he does get rattled under pressure.
Demario McCall’s kickoff return was a game changer.
Excellent performance by Dobbins with Weber out.
Buckeye defense is a total puzzle – man coverage is not working – Zone ?,
Tackling is still an issue. Many other issues discussed above.
Just read that Shea Patterson predicted they would beat Ohio State. Sounds like Harbaugh. Need to be ready and Beat Michigan!
“They’ll have to play better to beat Michigan.”
No kidding. Urb.
I’ll be the first one to say it…we’re going to beat Michigan again.
The D stepped up in
The 4th q? No. They put 20 on OSU. I know as all believe MI will pound us like a 8 year old with 20 dollars at the Whack a mole game, but MI looked rather pedestrian today. Some good to take away but the ship better get righted soon and MD played 5 pay grades above their level. Interestingly I told my son that MD couldn’t complete the short pass but looked like Montana and Rice in the long passing game. Too bad their head coach opted for the short pass which their success against us was as ineffective as bi partensonship in Congress.
I mean 20 in the 4th and ot.
I have already given criticism on another O-zone article that tried to be relevant to this game ( the article which curiously focused on Dwayne breaking OSU passing records while we were being thrashed…) Time for some optimism in regard to the clowns from Ann Arbor…
First, keep in mind that ALL the pressure will be on scUM next Saturday. For once, they are the ones with the “great team” (that lost to ND with a 2nd string QB, that was behind 17 to Northwestern, and which struggled mightily with INDIANA today). They also come to Columbus, and haven’t fared well in this little series for the best part of 2 decades. Plus, their coach has to wear headgear around his own home to avoid injuring himself. They aren’t the Patriots, folks!
Karan Biakabatuka is salivating.
Schiano doesn’t have a clue about defensive schemes … he needs to be fired now! This defense is worse than some of the bottom feeders in the Big Ten and they look pathetic! Michigan will eat the Bucks for lunch with this crappy defense.
If Schiano is still emplyed at Ohio State a 5 pm on 11/24/2018, certain phone calls need to start going out.
In whose world was this a phenomenal effort on offense and defense? Everyone messes you every now and then but this sentence is really bothersome: “The two biggest players allowed were because of missed tackles.” It’s almost as bad as the Buckeye defense….lol.
This has to be one of the worst one-loss teams in the nation. This late in the season for a player to admit they missed playing their gap assignments is inexcusable. Tackling continues to be a huge problem. What is equally as bad are the senseless penalties.
Once again what we saw was an inferior team that took it to the Buckeyes and outplayed in every phase of the game. Ohio State was out-coached once again. This time they were humiliated on special team play….are you kidding me…you had no one looking for a player to slip out of the backfield to catch a pass on 4th down and what was with the hesitation on fielding the first kick-off
by Maryland.
Idk. Michigan has got more overall talent as Maryland but their skill is nowhere near as explosive.
That TB might be better than Higdon, but other than that it’s not close. UM’s receivers are elite and Patterson is better than either Maryland QB. You do realize the Terps were using a backup QB yesterday?
Patterson and Higdon will run all over this pathetic defense!