Urban Meyer often reminds the media that he is "concerned about everything" when it comes to his program. It is his job, after all, to have his hands in anything that involves Ohio State football.
That, of course, includes his offensive line, which he often brings up as the reason why his offense doesn't move the ball as well as it should. Most coaches will tell you the same thing, but with three new starters set to make their road debuts this weekend, Meyer knows the pressure is on that group to perform.
 |
| OKLAHOMA SOONERS |
|
1-1 ROSTER / SCHEDULE |
|
|
|
7:30 P.M. – SATURDAY, SEPT. 17 GAYLORD FAMILY - OKLAHOMA MEMORIAL STADIUM NORMAN, OKLAHOMA |
|
|
|
FOX FOXSportsGo |
"I have a lot of confidence we are getting better and better each day, and that's growing pains with five guys that have to work together," Meyer said. "So yeah, a little bit concerned, but I think we're further ahead than I thought we would be at this point."
The same could be said about his team as a whole. With back-to-back blowout wins against inferior opponents, Ohio State's first true litmus test waits at Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium under the lights on Saturday against Bob Stoops's Sooners. Tulsa and Bowling Green provided chances for a young roster to get its feet wet in the comfort of Ohio Stadium. But all eyes will be on Norman for the contest between two teams expected to be College Football Playoff contenders in 2016.
"Of the talented teams I think the two we've faced they're both going to win games," Meyer said. "This one's real. Real real."
The Associated Press named Ohio State and Oklahoma its top-2 programs all time last month, a distinction made off how many times the teams made appearances in the weekly college football rankings, their number of overall No. 1 rankings in addition AP national championships. The two programs met just twice before, with Oklahoma topping Woody Hayes and the Buckeyes in Columbus 29-28 in 1977 and Earle Bruce's team pulling a 24-14 upset over the then-No. 2 Sooners six years later in Norman.
Bob Stoops and Meyer met once in their careers, the 2008 BCS National Championship Game. Meyer's Florida Gators shut down Oklahoma in a 24-14 win to give him his second national title in three seasons.
The Buckeyes claim eight national championships, the Sooners seven. Each team has a Heisman Trophy-caliber player at quarterback — J.T. Barrett for Ohio State and Baker Mayfield for Oklahoma. The game's outcome will go a long way in determining how the College Football Playoff committee views each team in a few months.
Yeah, this one is a big deal, especially to a pair of coaches hailing from Northeast Ohio.
"I grew up watching Ohio State football. I can't say we were Buckeye fans, but we watched and paid attention," Stoops said this week. "Everybody knew and loved Woody Hayes ... He had great teams, great players."
Oklahoma's Week 1 loss to Houston turns the matchup with Ohio State into an elimination game for the College Football Playoff. The Buckeyes can still run the table in the Big Ten and get in with one loss but nothing is guaranteed in this new age of college football. Moving parts are everywhere and meet each other on the gridiron Saturday night.
"I'm glad we have two under our belt for the new guys to play a little bit, and got a lot of respect for the personnel," Meyer said. "We're facing a very good team."
Oklahoma Breakdown
As we touched on this summer, quarterback Baker Mayfield butters Oklahoma's bread offensively. Armed with two terrific running backs alongside him, Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon, Mayfield's ability to turn a busted play into a huge gain or even touchdown is what led him to finish fourth in the 2015 Heisman Trophy voting.
"They give him a lot of responsibility like we do J.T. as far as run plays throwing screens. He knows that offense, you can tell, very well," Meyer said of Mayfield on Wednesday. "But the biggest thing is that he's a creator of plays. He's not just making plays when they're there but he had some just outstanding plays when nothing is there. Hard to bring him down."
The Sooners start two redshirt sophomores, a true sophomore, redshirt freshman and junior in front of Mayfield, a group that underwent some reshuffling following an October loss to Texas a year ago when the Sooners rushed 37 times for 67 yards. After inserting then true-freshman Dru Samia at right tackle and then-redshirt freshman Jonathan Alvarez at left guard, the Sooners averaged 271 yards rushing in their final eight games. It helps to have Perine and Mixon running the ball behind them, a pair of backs Ohio State co-defensive coordinator Greg Schiano called two of the top-5 in the nation earlier this week.
"That's a huge challenge," Schiano said. "Then throw in the fact that they both are good receivers and you're playing two very, very complete running backs. Which, it's hard to just defend them but then you start dedicating resources to do that, you're pulling. It's robbing Peter and pay Paul. Something's gotta give."
Mixon leads the Sooners with 157 yards on just 20 attempts through two games, and he doesn't even start. Perine is a more of a wrecking ball checking in at a stout 5-foot-10 and 235 pounds, while Mixon is 6-foot-1 and 226 pounds with excellent feet and hands. Mixon made a 60-yard catch and run down the middle of the field against Houston, finishing the day with 77 yards receiving and a rushing touchdown.
 |
 |
|||
| OFFENSE | ||||
| 62.5 | 2nd | POINTS FOR | 41.0 | 32nd |
| 313.5 | 9th | RUSHING OFFENSE | 179.0 | 67th |
| 283.0 | 32nd | PASSING OFFENSE | 337.5 | 16th |
| 596.5 | 5th | TOTAL OFFENSE | 516.5 | 25th |
| .593 | 8th | 3rd DOWNS | .478 | 39th |
| 1.00 | 1st | RED ZONE | 1.00 | 1st |
| DEFENSE | ||||
| 6.5 | 3rd | POINTS ALLOWED | 25.0 | 68th |
| 65.0 | 14th | RUSH DEFENSE | 83.5 | 22nd |
| 151.0 | 26th | PASS DEFENSE | 296.5 | 112th |
| 62.3 | 3rd | PASS EFFICIENCY DEFENSE | 141.6 | 97th |
| 216.0 | 5th | TOTAL DEFENSE | 380.0 | 76th |
| .219 | 17th | 3rd DOWNS | .355 | 61st |
| .400 | 6th | RED ZONE | .833 | 49th |
| SPECIAL TEAMS | ||||
| 9.2 | 49th | PUNT RETURN | 7.6 | 60th |
| 21.0 | 63rd | KICKOFF RETURN | 22.4 | 51st |
| 44.3 | 9th | NET PUNTING | 40.5 | 39th |
| MISCELLANEOUS | ||||
| + 3.5 | 1st | TURNOVER MARGIN | - 0.5 | 78th |
| 9.0 | 106th | PENALTIES | 4.5 | 19th |
| 15 | EDGE | 4 | ||
Perine battled an injury against Houston but still has 66 receiving yards through two games. Both are as complete of running backs you'll find in the country, complementing one another beautifully and providing more than just safety valves for Mayfield in the passing game.
"That's why we're in that room right now trying to figure out how to do it so we can give our guys a chance, give them a plan that lets them go play," Schiano said.
Much like last week when the Buckeyes faced Tulsa's wide-open, uptempo, spread attack, Meyer stressed how essential it is for his defense to wrap up Mixon, Perine, Mayfield and top wide receiver Dede Westbrook in space on Saturday. Based off what his players said this week, they appear to have gotten the message.
"They can move well, they can juke, they can break through tackles and everything," defensive tackle Mike Hill said of Perine and Mixon. "They're both kind of like the same thing but we just gotta do our job and wrap up well."
"You can’t miss a tackle," middle linebacker Raekwon McMillan added. "It comes down to the fundamentals. Taking on blocks, getting off blocks, changing the math, somebody getting off a block and making a play.
"If you’re in the open field with a good player like Mixon or Perine or Baker Mayfield, you’ve just got to make a tackle."
Defensively, the Sooners run a 3-4 scheme with powerful and large bodies on the defensive line. Meyer showed concern for their size against his offensive line, both a nod to their struggles early against Tulsa running the ball last week and being aware that Houston didn't really do much on the ground either against them in a 33-23 win. Cougar running back Duke Catalon and star quarterback Greg Ward Jr. combined for just 89 yards on 40 attempts.
"Houston made their money on — it's not like they methodically moved the ball down the field on them," Meyer said. "They made some big plays on them, and great two or three back shoulder throws, couple isolation passing routes and little trick play the tailback swing out on the backfield, but it wasn't a methodical beating."
Ward Jr. threw for 321 yards and a pair of scores but completed fewer than 60 percent of his passes. Houston did enough, however, to score and put its field goal kicker in position to make four field goals. Clemson beat Oklahoma in similar fashion last year in the College Football Playoff, winning 37-17, making 3-of-4 field goal tries. Ohio State runs a similar offense to both the Cougars and Tigers.
"I think what that gives you is a little bit, on the style of defense that we're facing and we knew it from last year," Meyer said. "They played Clemson, we're very similar to Clemson as well. The thing it just proves is how hard it is to run the ball against them."
Oklahoma lost top corner Zack Sanchez from last year's team to the NFL and now leans on Jordan Thomas in addition to safety Ahmad Thomas on the back of its defense. Top talent is gone from the front seven as well, including star linebacker Eric Striker and defensive end Charles Tapper. Five of the defensive line's top six return up front and Tapper's backup, Charles Walker, earned second team All-Big 12 honors despite not starting a single game. He is battling an injury suffered last week against Louisiana-Monroe, however.
Houston and Ward Jr. found success with jet sweeps and tunnel screens, using linebacker Ogbonnia Okoronkwo's tendency to pass rush up the field from his outside linebacker spot to its advantage. Stoops' defense is very athletic and deep in a similar way as Ohio State, but Houston and Tom Herman did exploit some holes on the way to a victory.
"I like our scheme, our offense, our talent and our personnel. I feel good about whatever opponent. And it's good to see I guess similar opponents do well against them, sure," wide receivers coach Zach Smith said Wednesday.
And for as well as Herman is running things down in Houston, he doesn't quite have the depth at playmaking positions as Meyer does on offense starting with Curtis Samuel and Dontre Wilson because he is only in his second season. Ohio State featured Samuel and Wilson heavily so far in 2016.
"I definitely think that Ohio State has some great athletes. That gives them different dimensions," Okoronkwo said this week. "They have a lot of great players. It gives them more playmaking ability but I think we’ll be fine."
Safety Steven Parker added: "They’re a great football team. It’s a football team that we’re definitely going to have to have all hands on deck."
And Oklahoma is fully aware of how much is on Barrett to make Ohio State's offense hum, a Texas kid who grew up watching Oklahoma and the likes of current NFL star Adrian Peterson.
"Everything goes through J.T. Barrett, an exceptional athlete playing quarterback," Stoops said this week.
Buckeye Breakdown
Ohio State's defense did not allow a touchdown in the first two games of the season, but the group is fully aware an entirely new challenge awaits in the form of Oklahoma. The Buckeyes intercepted seven passes in wins over Bowling Green and Tulsa. Mayfield has not thrown one yet this year.
Plus, the entire team is readying for its first road trip of the season.
"We're going to be away from home. We're going to be playing a historically great program. This is big boy football," Schiano said. "Do we know how we're going to respond? No, we don't. A lot of these guys have never been in this situation."
Ohio State's youth performed well for the most part against inferior opponents, doing so in Ohio Stadium with more than 100,000 Buckeye fans supporting it. Stoops is 97-8 at Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in what is now his 18th season, an outstanding mark when you consider the longevity. Additionally, Mayfield is a perfect 7-0 at home as a starter in his career.
"There's no way to simulate going on the road in the offseason or I would have done it," Meyer said. "Gene (Smith) would have been a little bit upset if I said I need 60-grand to go take my guys to somewhere. Didn't work out. We didn't do that. That's the only thing with a young team, the newness of what happens on the road as opposed to focusing on their assignments."
Ohio State fans will surely do their part and line the stadium as best they can Saturday night but a change of scenery will cause some sort of reaction from those new face and freshmen in the rotation. Barrett and Elflein spoke this week about crowd noise playing a factor especially with regards to the offensive line, which needs to be on its game to not suffer a misstep if it can't hear the center's calls.
"Everything is hand signals. All of our things from the sidelines are hand signals, J.T. is not telling the wideouts, even at home, what to do," Meyer said. "He'll tell the line but you're right there and you can control that."
Meyer likely wants to see even more control out of Barrett this weekend since most of the pieces around him — Mike Weber, Michael Jordan, Isaiah Prince, Jamarco Jones, to name a few — are making the first road starts of their careers.
The wide receivers need to perform better too, and Noah Brown's size could be utilized against Oklahoma's corners. He outweighs each by about 25 pounds and is a few inches taller, sort of how Steven Dunbar did for Houston two weeks ago when he caught seven passes for a game-high 125 yards. He and Ward connected on a few back-shoulder throws, though that's not something Ohio State has done much in the past under Meyer.
Ten wide receivers played against Bowling Green and Tulsa which will continue on Saturday. They need to make more plays to keep Oklahoma's defense honest and not hone in on Weber, Curtis Samuel and Dontre Wilson in the running game. Barrett must be on point orchestrating things for the Buckeyes to achieve balance and keep the inexperienced guys around him in check.
"With that, you try to get them to make sure they stay in the moment and be focused on our task at hand and that’s to go out there and play really good football," Barrett said. "I think that’s one of the main things because when you’re in a new environment, and I think that’s what the pregame is for when you look around and see where everything is."
A new environment, crowd noise and talented players on both sides of the ball will provide challenges for a young Ohio State roster. But these are the kinds of games sold in recruiting and why players commit to Meyer and the Buckeyes and Stoops and the Sooners.
"We’re both some of the top schools in college football so we’re definitely looking at it as a different approach and it’s going to be a big test for us as a young team this year," Malik Hooker said. "We’re looking forward to the challenge and come game day, we’re going to be ready for it."
How It Plays Out
Though Saturday's matchup would have certainly been a top-5 battle had Oklahoma not fallen to Houston in its season opener, the Buckeyes and Sooners each have plenty to gain in Norman.
Athletically, Oklahoma represents the first team Ohio State will face this season that can match up with it on both sides of the ball. The Buckeyes likely won't get truly challenged again until trips to Wisconsin and Penn State, though they should be favored in those contests. For the first time since 2000, Oklahoma is a home underdog. The Sooners beat then No. 1 Nebraska 31-14 and went on to win the BCS National Championship that year. The Buckeyes are favored by three on Saturday.
"Being the underdog, it makes you want to fight harder, practice harder and prepare better," Parker said.
You could make the argument that Oklahoma is more ready for the game than Ohio State because it already played a team ranked in the top-25, doing so away from home (the Sooners played Houston at NRG Stadium). Either way, NFL-caliber talent is set to be everywhere on the field.
"It’s not like we’re coming into this game not having faced a real, top-tier program. It’s going to be big for us to know what it’s like to get hit the mouth," Oklahoma tight end Mark Andrews said. "These guys are going to be real athletic, fly around."
Ohio State has a chance to put the nation on notice and show that even though it lost all that NFL talent last season, Meyer's team can reboot and still be elite. He knows his offense cannot start the way it did against Tulsa and rely on a ball-hawking defense to keep the team in it. Mayfield, Perine and Mixon are dangerous and can light up the scoreboard in a hurry.
He didn't feel like the Buckeyes were ready as of Wednesday evening but knows that is fine — they didn't have to be.
"I'm glad we have another two days to get ready," Meyer said.
What should be an exciting affair perhaps has even more anticipation than what existed over the offseason once the Sooners made it to the College Football Playoff. Both teams have the potential to get there once again.
"This is the main event," Meyer said. "It's going to be a firestorm to start the game."
Meyer called it a "prize fight" on Wednesday. He's never lost a road game while the head coach at Ohio State (18-0) and prize fights provide opportunities on the biggest of stages for participants to show the world what they can do. Saturday fits that bill.
ELEVEN WARRIORS STAFF PREDICTION: Ohio State 32, Oklahoma 26
