Standing 6-0 and with a primetime trip to Happy Valley on tap, Urban Meyer took to 97.1 The Fan's airwaves to discuss all things Buckeye football with Paul Keels and Jim Lachey.
Urban Meyer stated he's thankful for the adversity his team faced last week. "I was particularly impressed with the defense" in the second half. Again reiterated he didn't need to deliver a fiery sermon at halftime because he saw professionals at work when he entered the locker room.
"There's a bundle of guys in that room who gave us their best when we needed them the most."
There are few things better than road wins in tough environments. "It's 1 or 1A"
Ohio State had a play dialed up to Marcus Baugh if they got the ball back because Wisconsin was "overplaying a certain thing we were doing." Obviously they never got to run it.
On seeing a fullback against Wisconsin:
- Credited Damon Webb for his defense against the Badger rushing attack.
- "It's like a communist offense. You don't see it very often; like, what is that?"
- "We boned up when we needed to."
On Penn State:
- "They look completely different offensively than they did a few years ago."
- "A lot of respect for their running back. He hurt us a year ago."
- Three good receivers and an "up and coming offensive line."
- "They spread the field and run the quarterback, which is tough to defend."
James in California: Will we see any misdirection to take advantage of over-pursuit we've seen from opponents?
- They've done it a bit, but other things to consider doing it like pressure from the edge.
- The touch pass — which Meyer noted Clemson hurt them with in the 2014 Orange Bowl — isn't much of a thing anymore.
Drew in Columbus: Have you noticed the slow starts? Does it fall on the coaches or the players?
- "It's part of the game. Not everything is going to go perfect."
- "It's also part of who you play. ... In the tough games, it's a battle of field position."
- "The way to incite a stadium [on the road] is to turn the ball over or surrender a sack."
- "78% of turnovers come after sacks. ... We're not going to do that. If we give up a sack, we play it cautious."
- "Remember now, it's a marathon. We try to start early but we have to quiet the crowd."
- Opponents coming off a bye-week also factors into it because teams give Ohio State looks they haven't shown on film. They expected Wisconsin to play four-down man coverage, and the Badgers came out with a lot of zone looks.
Dan in Bexley: Why does the passing game seem like it's all or nothing? Where are the intermediate routes?
- "We hit a slant to Noah [Brown] last week for 15-20 yards."
- "When we're hitting the deep ball, that's when we're on."
- Meyer felt most passes against Wisconsin came in the intermediate game.
Jeff in Columbus: What stadium do you look forward to playing in the most?
- "I hate 'em all," Meyer joked. "There is none. Which ones are we aware of? The one we just played at and the one we're going to."
- "This one we're going into now... [Beaver Stadium] is a tough one."
- "I spent six years in the Southeastern Conference. Man, those places are hard."
- Hand signals and cadence play a big part, too. They had some problems in Camp Randall but Meyer credited Pat Elflein for righting the ship.
On the Cleveland Cavaliers coming to Columbus:
- "I grew up with my dad taking me to the Richfield Coliseum watching Bingo Smith and Austin Carr."
- "There's a good battle on our team with guys from Cincinnati and Cleveland right now."
- "They probably spent an hour with us, and those guys don't have an hour to spend." Tyronn Lue answered 25 minutes of questions from his team.
- Meyer called Lue after Game 7. He asked how LeBron James not touching the ball went over in the huddle. Lue said, "All he cared about was winning the game." The Cavs thought Kyrie could exploit his matchup. "That tells you LeBron is a team-first guy who will do anything to help his team win," Meyer said. "I made Lue tell that story to our team."
- Meyer saw James play football on tape in high school. As a Notre Dame wide receivers coach, Meyer said, "I'll offer him right now." He didn't realize at the time he was "the next Michael Jordan."
Meyer on his professional baseball career: "I was a very good player. That's why I'm coaching football right now."
If they have to go win a game, the ball will be in the hands of J.T. Barrett. "I think people recognize his leadership now." Meyer also credited Tyquan Lewis as a defensive leader who provides energy on the sidelines.
