While some coaches are worrying about visitor’s locker rooms, or demonstrations, or their basketball team’s connection to Adidas, Urban Meyer’s worries at the moment remain on his football team.
Meyer likes to talk of the Ohio State football bubble that he lives in, but there are a couple of things right now that could end up bursting said bubble.
“Pass defense continues to be No. 1 on the hit parade,” Meyer said during Tuesday’s Big Ten coaches teleconference. “We had three pass interference penalties last week. Other than that, we played well. But that’s number one where we need to improve.”
The Buckeyes only gave up 88 yards passing to UNLV on Saturday, but that statistic is a bit deceptive considering the three aforementioned pass interference penalties.
Ohio State has played an aggressive brand of pass defense since the 2014 season, and that is Meyer’s preference. However, when the passing yards pile up and so do the penalties, the players are obviously doing something wrong.
“Yes, they are,” Meyer admitted. “And I think [defensive coordinator Greg] Schiano is a good one [to ask] — because I don’t want to act like I’m expert on that — I have my opinions and we share them. PI’s are — kickoff return, the front line of kickoff return, we have to turn and retreat and block people; the transition of pass/rush from run to sacking the quarterback; and bump-and-run coverage are the three hardest skill sets, in my mind, that you teach.”
Right now, the coverage of his cornerbacks is the biggest concern, and they are working on getting it fixed. The bottom line, however, is that it is up to the players to play better.
“We have conversations about it, and when we get a PI they didn’t do it right,” he said.
The Buckeyes will have another opportunity to get better on defense with Rutgers on the schedule. How much of an opportunity, however, is debatable as the Scarlet Knights are dead last in a number of passing categories in the Big Ten.
The other area that Meyer is concerned about centers around his offense.
“Number two is consistency on offense,” he said. “Especially when you start to get into conference play and face the better defenses, you have to play much better.”
Ohio State currently leads the Big Ten in total offense by a wide margin. They are averaging 549 yards per game. The next closest team is Wisconsin at 511 yards.
For the Buckeye coaches and fans, however, the only total offense number that matters is the 350 yards they managed against Oklahoma. Meyer himself has said that while big yards against lesser teams are nice, he wants to see it happen against the best opponents that Ohio State faces.
He believes that the offense is progressing in the proper direction, and credits the development of the players who didn’t have as much experience last season. The more comfortable they get in this offense, the better the offense will become.
“We had a somewhat experienced team coming back, but a lot of new players on some key positions,” he said. “I think we’re doing pretty good. The normal development that you have with young players is taking place, so this week’s a big one to continue to get better.”
Rinse and repeat, anyone? This topic has been covered to death, and nothing of substance has changed since a game 4 days ago against mighty UNLV. Its all smoke until OSU lines up against another team that can actually defend itself, then we will see what’s what. I’m more worried about the offensive play selection than anything else, just have doubts our “experts” are willing to improve in that area as much as they are demanding/expecting our defensive backs to improve in theirs.
My money on Joe Burrow
Put Rashod Berry at fullback in goal line.
That guy turned my head, he needs the ball big time! Spot on!
No doubt our DB’s are a concern, however, watching those penalties, most of them weren’t necessary. Foolish? Yes. It’s more about technique and experience then raw talent. The O needs to improve and the 2nd verse is same as the first, JTB will need to hit open receivers in stride and the receivers need to get separation, the whole O hinges on that vertical passing game, and until OSU can prove that against better teams, beware, and plus our D doesn’t seem to have the same sting as it did last year. JTB had a better game, but then again, UNLV doesn’t put much of a fear in most. OSU has a little under a month to improve!
I agree but I’m not sure either will get fixed this season. OL couldn’t even match up with OK’s D-line and really haven’t fully dominated anyone relative to talent. Did well vs. Army and UNLV, but still those teams did well with what they had. Defensively it’s all about pass defense and I’m just not sure they’ll get there.
Meyer will have offensive troubles against good teams as long as Barrett is the QB. Yes, he’s a leader and has experience, yada, yada, yada, but he can’t throw an accurate deep ball. And this allows teams to stack the box and force JT to beat them, which he showed in the past two BIG games (Clemson and Oklahoma) that he can’t. Haskins is raw, but he is much more accurate with the long ball than Barrett. At least put him in when the Buckeyes are behind and let him throw the damn ball. The Buckeyes won’t beat Penn State or Michigan with Barrett unless their defense wakes up and plays lights out, so give Haskins a chance.
Agreed
JTB is number three in the B1G in passing yards and that would be first if Haskins didn’t play against UNLV. The reality is that we won’t find out how good JTB is until maybe NE, as they’re not playing too bad of D or against PSU, and my fear is that it will be too late as OSU hosts PSU, then travels to IA with closing games verses MSU and at MI. Now that we’ve seen Haskins, would love to see what Burrows could do.