Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer will be speaking on his weekly radio show on the Ohio State IMG radio network for around 40 minutes or so, answering questions about his football team and Saturday’s upcoming matchup against the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Once Meyer is done, offensive coordinator Ryan Day and co-defensive coordinator Alex Grinch will step in for the rest of the hour. We will have live updates throughout the Noon hour, so refresh for new updates. Here are the highlights of what has been said so far.
Alex Grinch Updates
+ “It’s been a long two weeks.” They took advantage of the time to self scout, and then they took advantage of it on the field. They worked on themselves and then worked on Nebraska. “It’s obviously been positive.”
+ You don’t get weeks off defensively anymore in college football. Offenses are too good and Nebraska certainly fits that. Quarterback Adrian Martinez can hurt them running or throwing.
+ Jordan Fuller has been a steady player for them. They need to make more plays on the back end, however. They lean on him, but they need to find the right guy next to him. “What we’re really looking for is someone to step up and be that guy.” They have put a lot of work in trying to find that second safety. They just want somebody to take advantage of the opportunities.
+ The safeties have missed too many opportunities to make plays. The 50/50 balls need to have safeties making plays on the ball 50% of the time.
+ The best coaches point the finger back at themselves. They need to find ways to put players in better positions to make plays. That’s Grinch’s job.
Ryan Day Updates
+ The more you see a defense on film, the more you can find ways to get them in mismatches because you know what they do in certain situations. That is what allows them to get somebody like Parris Campbell matched up on a linebacker.
+ “It feels like forever since we’ve played.” It’s been a good week of practice and the team is ready to play again.
+ The key over past two weeks was correctly determining what the problems were so that they could then properly fix them.
+ The coaches all have their certain areas that they studied, then they get together and talk about it. They look at trends over the last few games and situational statistics as well and see where things need to get better.
+ Every time Dwayne Haskins is out there he is learning something new. Every time he’s out there, his talent speaks for itself. Purdue did some different things that caught them off guard, so they have gone to work on fixing those weaknesses.
+ Defenses early on were match-based, which allowed the H-backs to be defended by linebackers in one-on-one situations. Nebraska plays a man coverage defense as well.
+ They are deep enough at receiver to afford a loss. You never want to lose somebody, but they are deep at receiver.
+ Chris Olave has done a great job of getting around the older guys to see how they do things.
+ The running backs would like to carry the ball more, which they have focused on more over the last week. But they have done a great job in the passing game both catching and blocking. Any time you can get them matched with a linebacker, they’ll look at doing that in the passing game.
+ The Nebraska defense is well coached. “They do a great job.” They are a three-down, two-gapping 3-4 defense. They have learned the defense as they’ve gone on. They have given up some big plays, but they’ve gotten better against the run.
+ The idea of offense nowadays is to create as much space as possible. The idea of just lining it up and running now isn’t workable because guys are too big and too strong. You have to create space and conflict for a defense. That’s where the RPO was born. It looks like a run, feels like a run, but turns into a pass when the defense comes after the run.
Urban Meyer Updates
+ The growth in the athletic program is great because it’s not just football, it’s all sports.
+ Nebraska is an elite program with plenty of tradition. The Big Ten continues to get better and improve that tradition through investments.
+ The running backs are frustrated. Meyer has talked to them about creating their own yards as well by getting their pad level down and running through tackles.
+ Wyatt Davis will play a little bit on Saturday. Brady Taylor and Branden Bowen are closer. Bowen will be “on call” on Saturday, but Meyer doesn’t think he’ll be quite ready. Another week and he should be.
+ Injuries have been an issue this season. When you are shuffling lineups constantly it also impacts practice. Most schools deal with that. The good thing is OSU has recruited well. Now they need to continue to develop.
+ Nebraska likes to play a Bear defense up front. It’s a run defense that fills every gap inside. It gives teams a hard time when they try to run. Hopefully OSU has enough balance because Nebraska will be in man defense and the passing game will have one-on-one situations.
+ Quarterback Adrian Martinez makes the Husker offense go. They run a very similar offense to what OSU ran last year. “Very effective.”
+ Nebraska is hitting their stride on both sides of the ball right now. Very good players and a very good scheme.
+ Blake Haubeil is officially known as “Kicker 2” at Ohio State. Kicker 1 is getting healthier. Haubeil had his black stripe removed this week following a 60-yard field goal in practice. “He’s a great dude and he’s very talented.” They have to monitor the amount of kicking they do in practice because you don’t want them to get fatigued.
+ They always check the forecast for the game and try to match the practice to that. If there is rain in the forecast, they may try to practice in it if possible. Weather looks fine for Saturday, so they’ll be inside this week.
+ Asked if the staff has input on alternate jerseys, Meyer said they do it for players and fans. Originally he was skeptical about it, but players like it and it’s good for recruiting.
+ Meyer said he had to address the health questions and concerns in order to get it out of the way and move on. He said people were telling him that he didn’t look so good, and he said he has been told that before.
+ Guys did get healthy, but they’re not where they need to be with everyone.
+ Early signing day has pressed the recruiting process forward. Everybody was out recruiting on Friday. The coaches had Saturday off to be with their families, but they’ve been full speed and busy since Sunday every day.
+ Whenever you get hit in the jaw, you have to get back to work. It’s happened before and the team has responded well.
+ They have had to balance the amount of physicality in practice right now, but they still have to get better, so they can’t go completely non-physical.
+ Austin Mack is a great person, player, and leader. There is a little bit of depth at X right now. Chris Olave and Binjimen Victor will get more snaps, as will sophomore Jaylen Harris.
+ The prototype X receiver is Mike Thomas or Binjimen Victor. The current Xs and Zs are perfect for what OSU is looking for.