Ohio State's first road trip in nearly a month doubles as its first Big Ten game of 2015 this Saturday at Indiana.
The Hoosiers and Buckeyes — both unbeaten — are set for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff at Memorial Stadium. Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer briefly answered questions Wednesday following practice, updating his team's progress in preparation for Indiana.
Notes:
- Meyer said "there's a lot of people occupying" Joey Bosa right now during games with respect to blocking. Bosa's only got 0.5 sacks right now, but Meyer thinks "he's playing his tail off." The sack number does surprise Meyer, though, but he said he doesn't pay attention to it much.
- "It changes big time." — Meyer on how things change around the Woody when Big Ten play rolls around.
- Meyer said the skill sets available at H-back right now "is a little bit unique." He said it's a good problem to have, but they're still trying to see where each guy fits best.
- On Jalin Marshall's number switch, Meyer said it is between him and his position coach. Meyer said Marshall's been "outstanding" on and off the field, a big reason for him to be allowed to change his number.
- On Indiana's defense, Meyer said the Hoosiers have changed their style of defense a bit and are now more 4-3 based. In recent years, Indiana's played the 3-4: "Very fundamentally sound. First game, they gave up a lot of yards ... Their best players are on the defensive line." Meyer added that suspended defensive tackle Darius Latham "is a very good player."
- Meyer said Curtis Samuel, Dontre Wilson, Braxton Miller and Ezekiel Elliott deserve more touches: "If you guys have a way to figure out how to do that, send a note in to (sports communication director) Jerry."
- Asked how tough it is to be the head coach at Indiana, Meyer said "I don't know." He did add that they lost to the Hoosiers in his first stint on Ohio State's staff in the 80s.
- Meyer said he thinks the Big Ten is "on an up year," but he hasn't watched much football this season: "I haven't had time."
- Meyer said Ohio State's still trying to figure out ways to get Braxton Miller the ball: "We're still evaluating it ... we have not done as well. We need to block better for him, too."
- "He can't play receiver here and not be great at it." — Meyer on Miller. He added the need for him to learn how to block is going to take time, but said Miller "is ahead of schedule."
- Indiana's offense is "outstanding," Meyer said. He said Jordan Howard is a great player, and noted how he leads the country in rushing: "I love their style of offense."
