Urban Meyer Discusses State of Ohio State Buckeyes

Ohio State Buckeyes head football coach Urban Meyer discussed the state of his team in an Oct. 9 interview with ESPN’s Austin Ward.

Urban Meyer has opened up on the state of the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Meyer discussed where his team currently stands in an Oct. 9 interview with ESPN’s Austin Ward:

“This is a weekly routine for Urban Meyer on the drive home from games on Saturdays.

“First the scores of his friends from around the country are rattled off to the Ohio State coach, followed by some updates in the Big Ten and, obviously, what happened to Michigan.

“The next day Meyer will brainstorm with his operations coordinator to put together a Top 25 and cast his vote in the coaches’ poll.

“Neither of those activities involve watching any film or perhaps going any deeper than catching some highlights, and Meyer usually makes it clear during the season that he doesn’t make much of an effort to stay up to date with what’s happening in college football outside of his own program.

“But at least once a year an exception has to be made, and Ohio State’s standing in the national race must be addressed. Meyer brushes up on the rankings, takes stock of the conversation about his team in the championship picture and carves out about five minutes for a ‘state of the union’ to clear the air. 

“Then the Buckeyes move on.

“‘We do that every year this time of year,’ Meyer said. ‘I just show the (players) rankings and I show the teams, because they’re going to hear it. When you look at it, everything is wide open. College football, this is a pretty open year. 

“‘I know they can hear it, probably walking around campus or watching TV. So why not address it?…But I don’t want to hear too much about it at all after our conversation.’ 

“Thanks to a combination of wild upsets elsewhere and steady progress since an early loss to (the) Virginia Tech (Hokies) last month, the Buckeyes can once again be realistically included in the playoff discussion after seemingly being left for dead.

“A team that appeared hamstrung by its youth at quarterback, inexperience on the offensive line and a defense that couldn’t defend the pass has rapidly developed over the past few weeks, and the rest of the pack in the Top 25 has allowed Ohio State to climb back into the mix at the same time it’s gaining confidence.”  

Nothing better after winning a game than getting to celebrate with your players in front of the best fans in the land pic.twitter.com/pv3hMEfPt1— Urban Meyer (@OSUCoachMeyer) October 9, 2014

The Buckeyes continue to hum on the offensive side of the ball despite losing seven key players from 2013, per an Oct. 8 update from Ohio State’s official athletics website:

“The offensive machine that is the Ohio State Buckeyes under coach Urban Meyer under coach Urban Meyer continues to hum along nicely in 2014 despite the unit being without the services of seven key offensive players from 2013 that were central in the team’s school-record 24-game winning streak while establishing an impressive collection of of school and Big Ten conference records.

“After Saturday’s 52-24 win over Maryland that feature 533 yards of offense, 15th-ranked and 4-1 Ohio State, led by the redshirt freshman quarterback J.T. Barrett (Wichita Falls, Texas) is on a current run of three consecutive games with 500 or more yards of total offense and three consecutive 50-point games heading into a second off weekend before the Oct. 18 home date against (the) 5-1 Rutgers (Scarlet Knights).

“One more 500-plus yard game and the Buckeyes will tie the school mark for consecutive 500-yard games, set during the 1998 season. As it stands now, Ohio State’s 1,871 yards of offense over the last three games is the second-highest three-game total in school history, trailing only the 1,917 yards the 2013 team put up in consecutive games against (the) Penn State (Nittany Lions) (686 yards), Purdue (Boilermakers) (640) and Illinois (Fighting Illini) (591).

“And one more 50-point game — a fourth consecutive — would be a first for Ohio State and also for an Urban Meyer-coached team. Meyer has had three consecutive games with 50-or-more points scored two times previously: in 2004 while at Utah (vs. UNLV, San Diego State and Colorado State) and last year’s team (vs. Penn State, Purdue and Illinois).

“No one could have or would have predicted the offense would be lighting up the scoreboard like this when two-time Big Ten offensive player of the year and quarterback Braxton Miller was lost for the season with a shoulder injury during fall camp. But despite not taking a snap in a game in nearly two full years, Barrett has been nothing short of outstanding while learning on the go.”  

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