With red tape stretched across the Ms on the outside walls at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, Ohio State broke ground on its biggest Monday of the season.
The Game is five days away. The No. 2 Buckeyes host No. 3 Michigan and Jim Harbaugh on Saturday at noon in Ohio Stadium.
Urban Meyer met with a bevy reporters in the team room at the Woody on Monday morning to wrap up his team's 17-16 win at Michigan State and give his early thoughts on the Wolverines.
NOTES:
- Ohio State named nine champions from its victory against Michigan State. Offensively, only Curtis Samuel and Noah Brown earned the distinction. Defense: Jalyn Holmes, Chris Worley, Sam Hubbard, Tyquan Lewis, Raekwon McMillan and Gareon Conley.
- Holmes and Worley earned co-Defensive Player of the Game honors and Terry McLaurin received the nod as Special Teams Player of the Week. There was no offensive player of the game.
- Asked about Jabrill Peppers, Meyer expected what the player is doing at Michigan in recruiting: "I thought he would be a very good player on special teams. And he is."
- Meyer feels like his offensive line played well Saturday in pass protection. Sarcastically, he said "Is there a concern with pass protection this week? Yes. Any question that starts with 'is there a concern ...' the answer is yes. I always am concerned."
- On J.T. Barrett's rushing attempts, Meyer likened it to how the game goes if they call quarterback runs: "You have to create a plus advantage."
- They are aware of how many rushes Barrett has but not much: "Go win the game."
- "They're a good defense."
- "I think we played OK. Ran for over 200 yards this week, had troubling throwing it a little bit. But we're getting ready to go play the big game."
- You can "always" count on Michigan having great players on its roster: "The difference is there are 40-some seniors. They're grown men, they've been playing for a while."
- Meyer's earliest memories of The Game was back in the 70s between Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler. Was there ever a question who he would be a fan of growing up? "No."
- The game against Michigan "is always big." Doesn't matter the record.
- Meyer cannot give an adjective to describe the importance of Pat Elflein to his team: "We have Senior Tackle on Thursday and that one will be tough ... He’s as good a player, person, leader as I’ve ever been around."
- Asked about J.T. Barrett and how he is viewed by fans, Meyer noted the quarterback's credentials: "You look at wins No. 1. Stats after that. Won-loss record, TD-INT ratio and passing efficiency but the first is the most important. And he has won a lot."
- "He might be one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game." — Meyer on Barrett.
- "We've gotta be man coverage. It's no secret what they play. And they're very good players." — Meyer on Michigan's secondary.
- Meyer doesn't really remember the reaction when Jim Harbaugh guaranteed Michigan would win at Ohio Stadium his senior season: "Just moved on."
- Ohio State didn't spend too much time on the last game. "We've been all focus on this one coming up."
- Meyer spoke about each one of his seniors: "People joke around and I say, if I ever have any more children I'm going to name Burger and Fada. I love all of those guys." Meyer said this is the smallest senior class he has ever had as a coach.
- Gareon Conley has made a "major impact" on the program. He remembers seeing Conley play basketball and saying, "he can play for us."
- "When you face an elite defense like this one, you've gotta use everything you got."
- Defenses are forcing Ohio State to get the ball to players other than Curtis Samuel: "They know where he's at, at all times."
- Meyer appreciates rivalry games "probably more than most. It's just the way I've always been." Said he believes it came from Hayes and Schembechler: "They had so much respect for one another and their teams just played so damn hard. I remember that."
- Asked about being an at-large team in the College Football Playoff as opposed to the Big Ten Championship Game, Meyer said: "I hope our tackles have their ankles taped up, we're going to get our tip sheets ready to go so we can have a good Tuesday practice."
- "There is a mutual respect for each other ... that is my memory and that's how we go about our business here."
