Urban Meyer learned a thing or two from the last time he prepared Ohio State for the College Football Playoff.
“That was the uncharted waters,” Meyer said on Sunday afternoon, a few hours after he learned along with the rest of the world that his Buckeyes finished third and are set to battle No. 2 Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl. “All focus, obviously, is on this one. When I first heard about the Playoff, I thought we'd split up our staff have guys work on the other games in case.
“When you get into it, you don't have time. So it's going to be all hands on deck.”
The Buckeyes have 26 days before they kick off against Dabo Swinney's Tigers at University of Phoenix Stadium at 7 p.m. ET on New Year's Eve. Clemson is explosive, extremely skilled and talented across the board. There is a reason it made the Playoff.
Both teams have a shade under four weeks to dissect everything about their opposition's first 13 or 14 games this season. They will practice but not every day—there isn't a point to wear out players in the weeks prior with no game waiting as a reward on Saturday afternoon. For Meyer and Ohio State, getting back to the basics in the early days of Clemson prep is essential.
“It will be full fundamentals this next week. We have two or three practices this week, full fundamentals,” Meyer said. “Then the next week will be preliminary game plan, and then as we get around Christmastime, game plan goes in, then you're in game week.”
“The last thing you want to do is give guys things to work on that we're not going to do So it's going to be hard, hard fundamentals, which we have a lot of work to do in certain areas.”– Urban Meyer on Bowl Prep
Select players are set to meet with reporters Tuesday and Friday evening after practice, so there are two of the potential three days the Buckeyes will do on-field work this week. Expect a similar schedule in place for the following week before things pick up around Christmas as the team installs a game plan, like Meyer said.
On the other days where players don't lace up and go through drills on the practice field, they will be the subject of conditioning and other workouts under the watchful eye of Mickey Marotti.
“We have the best strength staff, best coaches in America. They have a plan in place to get us where we need to be,” defensive end Tyquan Lewis said on Sunday. “Lately just been doing conditioning and things like that until we found out our opponent.”
Wear and tear was a crucial part of the conversation when the sport thought about adopting a Playoff system. Ohio State and Oregon both played 15 games in the 2014 season. In 2016, Clemson could play 15 should it defeat the Buckeyes, while Ohio State would cap their season with 14 if it beats the Tigers in the desert to advance to the title game.
For student-athletes readying to take final exams to wrap up fall semester, it can be tough to balance. Coaches don't want to burn out players by over-practicing them essentially four weeks before the biggest game of the season.
“The last thing you want to do is give guys things to work on that we're not going to do,” Meyer said. “So it's going to be hard, hard fundamentals, which we have a lot of work to do in certain areas. Then preliminary game plan, then game plan.”
Meyer is bound to take multiple pages out of the book he used to beat Alabama and then Oregon to win the 2014 national championship. Clemson isn't the animal the Crimson Tide was that year but is still a very, very good. And, one of four programs to beat Meyer at Ohio State.
“I would imagine them and Alabama would be the No. 1 team as far as NFL prospects in the country right now,” Meyer said.
He and his staff have plenty of work to do and plan to recruit in addition to game prep. It is a balance for them as well, with families wanting some form of time reserved for them when as the holidays draw near. Meyer became a grandfather early Sunday morning, after all.
But Meyer wants his team focused on getting better because he knows it must be if it hopes to defeat Clemson.
“It's not just passing the ball, it's protecting and running the ball better,” he said.
Sounds exactly like the basics of the game—the fundamentals, if you will.
“There's numerous things we can get better at. I think one of the main things that Coach Meyer, we talk about, is being nine units strong, make sure if you're playing at a championship level in your unit, then that's all you can do,” J.T. Barrett said. “That's all we need to do in order to win a game. That's what's going to be needed in order to beat Clemson, make sure we're nine units strong.
“With this time we have, [26] days, we're going to be at a good place as far as being nine unit strong. Our coach is going to do a good job of getting us ready for that.”
