When the Ohio State offense comes to the sideline, there's usually one player constantly chirping at head coach Urban Meyer: Heisman Trophy contender Ezekiel Elliott.
"Zeke was outstanding, 180 yards," Meyer said Monday of Elliott's performance in a 28-3 victory at Illinois. "And was just constantly in my ear to keep going at the end, and I pulled him out because I can't imagine walking in front of you guys here if something bad would have happened. We did the right thing and pulled him out of there."
That's not an anomaly, either. Elliott's right in the forefront of the Heisman conversation, having a stellar year for Ohio State (1,425 yards on 220 carries, 16 touchdowns) in the process. He pleads often for more touches.
Elliott is his team's best offensive option and deserves to have the ball in his hands often, but Meyer said Tuesday there haven't been discussions to have the running back tote it more often in the team's next two games against stiff competition Michigan State and Michigan.
“We’ve rode Zeke pretty hard, 20 to 25 carries and I can’t imagine much more than that per game for a tailback.”– Urban Meyer
"Not at all," Meyer said on the Big Ten teleconference. "We’ve never even thought that way because we have to win each game we play and it hasn’t been easy."
Meyer's won nearly every game Elliott's been on his roster. A member of Ohio State's vaunted 2013 recruiting class, Elliott's lost just three times as a Buckeye: that year's Big Ten Championship Game and Orange Bowl when he mainly played on special teams and then to Virginia Tech last season.
Elliott is the catalyst to the No. 3-ranked team in the country and defending national champion Buckeyes, the stalwart to an offense that at time's been underwhelming through 10 games.
The most he's carried the ball in a game this season is 27, doing so three times: against Hawai'i, Penn State and Illinois. Elliott's highest carry total is 36, when he earned MVP honors in Ohio State's 42-20 victory against Oregon in January's College Football Playoff National Championship game.
Some clamored for Elliott to be handed the ball more during the earlier portions of the year, but his 22-carry per game average is right where running backs coach Tony Alford, offensive coordinator Ed Warinner and Meyer want it.
It might even been too much.
"He's still probably playing a few more reps than I would like him to play," Alford said Monday. "And that's on me. That's strictly on me, not Coach Meyer or Ed or anybody else. It's hard to pull him out of a game, though."
Alford and Meyer did against Illinois, even though Elliott wanted to add more to his 181-yard rushing total. The running back moved into third place on the Ohio State all-time rushing list in the victory, even carrying the ball five straight times and on seven of 11 plays during a drive that finished with him scoring and a 21-3 lead to put the game out of reach.
"I was very tired. That's basically all I can say," Elliott said Saturday about the drive. "I don't remember it, honestly. The O-line did a really good job blowing guys off the ball and I went in behind them."
Taylor Decker and Pat Elflein said Monday they enjoy going with an uptempo pace and paving lanes for Elliott to wear down defenses, but it's a hard act to keep up over the course of an entire game due to exhaustion.
Elliott always wants the ball more and won't stop asking for it, but Meyer isn't planning to make any adjustments to the way the Buckeyes use their best offensive threat down the stretch.
"We’ve rode Zeke pretty hard, 20 to 25 carries and I can’t imagine much more than that per game for a tailback," Meyer said.
