“What's important to remember is we're not as good as people say we are.”
Those were some words Urban Meyer muttered on his radio show Thursday alongside Paul Keels and Jim Lachey. The Ohio State head coach is no stranger to expectations or high rankings but knows all too well his team is not at a point yet to rest on its laurels, even though it is 3-0 and a week removed from a 45-24 road thumping of Oklahoma.
“There was a lot of offense left on that field in Oklahoma,” Meyer said Thursday. “Defense could have played better and special teams — punt did well but obviously kickoff did not.”
Ohio State gave up a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to Oklahoma running back Joe Mixon in the first quarter last Saturday, a play that happened right after Jerome Baker intercepted Baker Mayfield and returned it to the end zone. Ohio State rebounded, however, to win convincingly behind four touchdown passes from J.T. Barrett to Noah Brown.
The Buckeyes also ran the ball well and their defense gave up just 17 points. Before that game, that unit had yet to allow a touchdown.
But the Buckeyes led the Big Ten in penalties entering its off week with 29, something they stressed during practice this week. Inexperience still plays a factor too, as the majority of Ohio State's roster is set to participate in its first conference game on Saturday when Rutgers visits Ohio Stadium.
An off weekend is a time to nitpick, get healthy and work on the mistakes that caused issues in the games prior. Ohio State only has three games in its back pocket for the 2016 season, and owns a 170-37 scoring advantage in those contests. The Buckeyes are ranked No. 2 in both the coaches and AP polls, another new thing the younger players have to deal with — actually playing for a team ranked high instead of just being on it like last year.
“We have so much room for improvement,” Meyer said. “I’m very pleased with their growth, their development and their play hard. Those are all things that are kind of demanded around here. But there's still far too many mistakes.”
In 2012, Meyer's first season, Ohio State did not crack the top-10 in the polls until Week 7. It stayed in the top-4 in 2013 until it lost to Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship Game. The loss to Virginia Tech in Week 2 two years ago dropped the Buckeyes out of the top-20 before they began a slow climb to an eventual College Football Playoff National Championship. Expectations to run the table after a preseason No. 1 ranking were not met a year ago but Ohio State never fell out of the top-8 despite losing to Michigan State in November.
Every year is different but the Buckeyes avoided a loss in the first quarter of the season this year, were not ranked No. 1 to start the year but still must deal with pressure and presumption with Meyer at the helm and a ridiculously talented roster. There is a reason the team entered the year ranked No. 6 in the AP Poll even though it lost 12 draft picks, 16 starters and five of its six leading receivers.
And now that Ohio State secured a marquee win on the road against a team that made it to the College Football Playoff last season, it is on Meyer and his staff to make sure 18-22-year-olds stay level-headed.
“We had some issues,” Meyer said. “But they're all fixable.
“The mechanics of the offense sometimes and defense you can always improve your tackling. There are many areas and I'm not by myself on this.”
Meyer instilled in his players the same mindset, at least leaders like quarterback J.T. Barrett. But it never stops.
“Where we're at right now, we wanted to be 3-0 going into the bye week. So with that, it leaves us a lot of room to develop our young guys and develop as older players too. Create that chemistry better with the bye week.”
Part of that chemistry is not buying into too much hype. Welcome to Meyer's world during what is an extremely early off week.
“I try to work them really hard Tuesday and Wednesday,” Meyer said. “And we're going to run them hard [Thursday] because they're off Friday and Saturday.
“Then it's time to work.”
