COLUMBUS — Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer met with reporters on Sunday to talk about the Buckeyes’ Rose Bowl berth as well as answer questions about not making the playoffs. He also spoke a bit about winning back-to-back Big Ten Championships. Dre’Mont Jones and Dwayne Haskins also spoke with the media. Here are the highlights of everything said.
+ Great news they just received about the Rose Bowl. Can’t say he’s even been more proud of a group of guys than he is of this team this season.
+ It’s hard to get space against Northwestern’s defense, but Ryan Day and Kevin Wilson made it happen.
+ “Very proud of these guys. Back-to-back Big Ten Champs.
+ The team was happy after the game and they seem happy now. He will monitor how the team reacts to being left out of the playoffs. “That was a tough job, now” determining who should be fourth.
+ Terry McLaurin is the ring chairman and he has said he’s going to make the ring as big as he possibly can.
+ Asked if this season could be seen as a disappointment, he said he didn’t want to devalue what this team has accomplished winning a Big Ten Championship.
+ There will be transition in personnel after this year like always. “And there’s always that NFL stuff that happens.”
+ The Rose Bowl still matters to the players on this team like Parris Campbell and Terry McLaurin. He’s not sure if it does to everyone on the team, such as the guys who are from Texas.
+ Meyer expects Gene Smith to share with him some of what went down with the committee.
+ Asked to weigh a great win against a bad loss, Meyer said he was taught by his father to never put your fate in somebody else’s hands. The thing you can’t do is stand up there in front of a microphone and criticize the committee. That devalues what this team has accomplished.
+ Meyer isn’t sure if something needs to change with the playoff selection process, but he has seen that some of the criteria that is listed is not what is being utilized in making decisions.
+ The postgame locker room was fantastic. They love going to Indy and they love getting rings.
+ Meyer was worried when he saw the Oklahoma score. “They beat a pretty good Texas team.”
+ Meyer has always dreamed of coaching in the Rose Bowl.
+ Dwayne Haskins should be in New York for the Heisman ceremony. “I’ll fly him in myself.”
+ Should the playoffs expand? Maybe the best of all of Meyer’s teams at OSU was the 2015 team. But you have to look at the model and how do you add games. Meyer has been against it in the past, but you have to look at it. There should be a more systematic way of schools setting their schedules and who they play.
+ Give Ryan Day his due, along with Kevin Wilson and the offensive staff. When you can’t run the ball, you are going to lose. “That will never change.” OSU reached a point where they could not run. When you don’t run with the quarterback, it is harder to keep defenses out of the box. Day has changed his viewpoint a bit on throwing the ball, but you still need balance and a quarterback who is wiling to take off for the first down.
+ Meyer doesn’t know enough about Georgia, but he was a little surprised to see them ranked ahead of Ohio State.
+ Meyer thought they were in last year but didn’t really think so this year. Once he saw Oklahoma win he thought it would be hard to jump them.
+ Needing a blowout crosses your mind, but Northwestern doesn’t really let you do that. Meyer was surprised to see they had thrown for 499 yards.
+ Asked how he views this season, he talked about a board on the wall by his office will the great OSU teams listed on it. Jim Tressel started it. Meyer added the 2012, 2014, and 2017 teams, and if they win the Rose Bowl he’ll add this team. They have overcome some major injuries.
+ Meyer has thoughts on Dwayne Haskins future but didn’t want to share them with the media before he shares them with Haskins.
+ Meyer has known Washington coach Chris Petersen forever. Back when he was an assistant at Boise State.
Dwayne Haskins
+ Asked about the support from OSU and Meyer about the Heisman, Haskins said “it means everything … for him to vouch for me the way he did.”
+ The expectations for the Rose Bowl is to go and win. It’s a rich tradition game and a lot of great quarterbacks have played in it.
+ Haskins didn’t surprise himself with his play this season.
+ He always felt like running to get guys open has been part of his game, he just hasn’t had to do it much.
+ “It would mean with the world” to be in New York with Tua Taigovailoa and Kyler Murray. To be in the same conversation with them would be some sort of proof that the work has been productive.
+ Haskins used to play the NCAA Football video game and would be No. 7 for Ohio State, 6-4 220, and win the Heisman every year. It would be a dream to win it and to be mentioned with the award and to one day be able to tell his kids about it is great.
+ Haskins is playing in the Rose Bowl and isn’t thinking about skipping it.
+ Meyer was slow with praise with Haskins this season because he didn’t want him to “get big headed.”
Dre’Mont Jones
+ The defense has had moments this season where they have played up or down to the level of their competition.
+ Chase Young’s ceiling is super, super high. He’s going to continue to grow and he has the right mindset.
+ Jones was surprised and disappointed to be sixth in the rankings. He’s never been to California before though so he’s excited about the Rose Bowl.
+ There was a little bit of a deja vu moment by missing the playoffs again this year, but last was with two losses. This one was more of a surprise.
+ Missing out on the playoffs does not take away any joy from winning a conference title because the Big Ten is very hard.
+ It would be nice to have better results this season, but they did lose against Purdue, so they put their fate in other people’s hands.
+ Losing Nick Bosa affected them on the field in terms of production as well as leadership
+ Without Bosa, they needed to enhance their games individually.
+ When he thinks about the Rose Bowl, he thinks about being a little kid watching Reggie Bush back in 2005.
+ The lesson of missing the playoffs the last two years is to stay humble or else you will get humbled. “If we’re going to lose, I don’t want to lose by 29 or 30.”
+ Asked if he plans to play in the Rose Bowl, Jones responded, “We’ll see.”