Urban Meyer on Run-Pass Option Plays: “We Have to Use That More”

Despite throwing for 270 yards and completing 25-of-33 passes, the calls for J.T. Barrett to be replaced by Dwayne Haskins continued to circulate following Ohio State's 38-7 win over Army on Saturday.

Following a poor showing against Oklahoma, Barrett and Ohio State's offense approached the matchup against the Black Knights with a different look, running multiple run-pass options, many of which resulted in positive plays.

Meyer and multiple players acknowledged after the game that the RPOs played to Ohio State's strengths, and the Buckeye head coach reiterated on Monday that he expects his team to continue to use the scheme more as the season goes on.

"We've got to get better at that. We've got to use that more," Meyer said. "That's been a directive. And we're going to use that more."

The scheme seems to fit Barrett better than a traditional drop-back passing game, especially since teams have continued to drop as many as eight defenders into coverage against Ohio State's offense.

While Ohio State hasn't hit many deep passes this season, Meyer said he was pleased with the execution of the offense against Army, adding the Buckeyes were happy to take what the defense gave them.

"Teams are playing pretty soft (coverage)," Meyer said. "If you remember how the way Army was playing, they played it smart, tried to keep everything in front of you. Don't let anything over the top.

"We knew that. And I thought J.T. and everybody managed it very well, which means it's going to be a lot of horizontal passing. The tighter the defense, you'll see more vertical passing."

Throughout his career, running the zone read has been one of the strengths of Barrett. It was clear through the first few games of 2017 that drop-back passes and trying to read eight players in coverage was not. That said, Meyer and the coaching staff appear to have made an adjustment that plays more into Barrett's strength, adding one additional read to the run play, which involves reading a slot or "hang" defender.

"He's got great sense of space on the field," Meyer said of Barrett's awareness. "And we need to continue to utilize him more. And I think you're going to see more and more of that as we move forward, even more, where decision-making, that's J.T.'s strength."

While some fans have been clamoring for the stronger arm and more traditional drop-back passing of Haskins, the Ohio State coaching staff is instead finding ways to play to Barrett's strengths.

Meyer said Monday that he is aware of the outside noise surrounding Barrett's play and the clamoring for Haskins to get more playing time. He added that while the outside criticisms used to bother him, he is far less concerned now with what fans and media have to say.

"Anything external is far less than what's going on internal, is the way I look at it," Meyer said when addressing fan and media criticism of Barrett. "Come out to the practice field and watch the grind and the work so we don't have bad things happen."