With a bout against in-state rival Cincinnati looming Saturday, Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer met with reporters Wednesday evening after practice. Here’s what you need to know:
- Meyer was asked to address the notion of whether he could imagine the Buckeyes losing to an in-state school. After all, it hasn’t happened since 1921. “I think there’s some good schools in Ohio, there’s some good teams — the Bowling Green team the year after I left came down and gave Ohio State and Cincinnati one time, they were on the red zone to win the game. I’m not worried about all that, I just gotta make sure our team’s ready to go. I got a lot of respect for Ohio schools, because they’re mostly Ohio high school football players.”
- Meyer said junior defensive tackle Adolphus Washington could see time at defensive end, but don’t expect to see it happen against Cincinnati. “There has been some thought, I don’t think this week we’re gonna do it, but there’s been some thought. He’s got some reps out there.”
- Meyer said freshman linebacker Sam Hubbard could see reps at defensive end in the absence of an indefinitely suspended Noah Spence. “We’re playing a back and forth game with him a little bit just because we’re down on numbers.”
- Speaking of depth on the defensive line, Meyer added Tyquan Lewis “shows bursts” and true freshman Jalyn Holmes “is just extremely young and certainly the talent to play, just getting him to grow up fast.”
- Cincinnati head coach Tommy Tuberville, particularly during his days at Auburn, seemed to develop a rap for taking risks and drawing up tricky plays on the field. Meyer, who’s 0-2 against Tuberville from their Florida-Auburn battles in 2006 and 2007 said: “He’s got a reputation, fine football coach, a friend and a guy that we went back and did our due diligence whether it be a pooch kick or something in this kind of a game. So we’re doing our homework.”
- Meyer on what happens if the Buckeyes get into an offensive shootout with the high-flying Bearcats: “You just prepare offensively and defensively and manage the game how you have to manage it.”
- Meyer said he has a new level of confidence in his offense compared to earlier this season. “Just because I get confidence from what I see, not what I hope. And I see it on the practice field, I saw it in the games, I see the maturity of a quarterback happening and most importantly, the offensive line’s starting to get a little savvy to them now. It wasn’t there in game one or game two.
- Meyer on aptly-named Cincinnati quarterback Gunner Kiel: “He’s big, strong (guy) and he runs pretty good when he runs. But he’s a big, strong — I was asking (cornerbacks coach) Kerry (Coombs) how big he is because Kerry obviously knows a lot of people down there and he looks giant on film and on TV. He just looks like a big gunslinger quarterback.” Kiel, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound Notre Dame transfer, was a five-star recruit out of high school.
- It’s a given Cincinnati's offense will test Ohio State’s overhauled defense. But what about the Bearcats’ defense? “A very good athletic team, some experience in the secondary … they have given up some yards but like you said, they’re a big-play style defense and they blitz you once you start getting into the red zone and that’s where a lot of these big plays take place,” Meyer said. He added: “They’re bringing Zero coverage and a lot of pressure and we struggled with the one team that did that a lot, so we have to be ready for that.” That team, as Meyer alluded to, is Virginia Tech, which bludgeoned the Buckeyes to a 35-21 win earlier this season.
- Meyer was asked to explore the notion of whether the team with the best quarterback on the field wins the game. “I think it’s all relevant — who’s the best quarterback usually has the best players around him, too. That’s in the NFL — boy that quarterback’s not very good — and then all the sudden you improve that personnel around him. I think — got to say this politically correct — people that really know the game that live it and play it and coach it, the quarterback’s a product — you put a great offensive line, and good receivers and a quarterback becomes great. You put that same quarterback with a makeshift offensive line and some struggling receivers and he’s a really bad quarterback. It’s not just the quarterback, the quarterback’s a product of that around him.”
- Meyer said Ohio State is close to solidifying its offensive line depth. “It’s getting close — the only new name that’s gonna surface is Chase Farris. He’s our backup right tackle because he’s getting some opportunities inside I think.” Taylor Decker, Pat Elflein, Jacoby Boren, Billy Price and Darryl Baldwin remain starters.
