With a trip to Penn State looming, Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer met with reporters Wednesday after practice. Here’s what he said:
- Meyer said backup linebacker Devan Bogard has not been cleared and could potential need surgery again. “Your heart bleeds for him.” Bogard has missed the last two seasons with ACL tears.
- Meyer said starting center Jacoby Boren is cleared, backup defensive end Rashad Frazier, who suffered an ankle sprain, is probable/questionable and backup safety Cam Burrows is questionable.
- Meyer on the state of the Ohio State-Penn State rivalry: “I think it’s pretty good. I heard that Penn State considers Ohio State their rivals, obviously we have one. But I think it’s a little bit like when we played Wisconsin a couple years ago because that’s really a rivalry because there’s some really good teams … we consider them an elite program. It’ll be a tough game.”
- Meyer on playing at Beaver Stadium, one of the loudest, most intimidating venues in the country: “This is one of those top five in the country places, so it’s hard to get ready for this one. We’ve had some good practices and the one thing about our setup our here, we can get some noise pumped in pretty good.” The Buckeyes were playing Zombie Nation and crowd noise during practice Wednesday evening.
- Meyer said the reason for simulating crowd noise is to potentially avoid communication mishaps: “The only thing is it’s the communication on offense, during a play and making sure the five guys hear you and the silly penalties … a lot of times it goes on the center cadence. We’ve been decent about but sometimes it looks like a circus out there.”
