Two days after one of the worst losses of his coaching career, Ohio State's Urban Meyer faced the music on Monday at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, when he held his press conference to review the Buckeyes' 55-24 loss to Iowa and look ahead to Saturday's game against Michigan State.
Meyer gave no opening statement to begin his press conference, as there were no champions and no praise to pass around, instead going straight into questions from the media.
As you might expect, Meyer didn't get many questions against the upcoming game, instead being asked to talk primarily about what happened on Saturday, when Ohio State was outclassed by a team it was expected to beat. Still, Meyer seemed intent on turning his focus toward playing Michigan State instead of dwelling on this past weekend.
A sampling of what Meyer said from his meeting with the media:
- Meyer expects the character that has been instilled into his team all season to keep it motivated despite Saturday's loss. "There's still plenty of great things ahead."
- Meyer has addressed with his team the issues the Buckeyes have had with penalties in recent games.
- Nick Bosa apologized to his team for the targeting penalty that disqualified him from Saturday's game.
- J.T. Barrett's performance on Saturday was "not normal." Meyer felt his quarterback forced passes more than usual.
- On playing Michigan State: "The tougher team usually wins ... great respect for them, and they're playing well."
- "We're playing Michigan State this week, and we got to really practice well."
- Turnovers and not being able to get off the field on defense were the biggest factors that led to Saturday's loss.
- "He should have more than six carries," Meyer said in regards to J.K. Dobbins, who he considers to be the team's starting running back over Mike Weber at this point.
- Depth on Ohio State's offensive line is "not even close" to where Meyer wants it to be.
- How does Meyer evaluate Bill Davis' coaching, considering the linebackers' poor performance in the Buckeyes' two losses? "I evaluate it," Meyer said without elaborating.
- Is Ohio State having problems with buy-in because it has too many players with their eyes looking forward to the NFL? Meyer says that's something he has to monitor, acknowledging that was a problem for him when he was at Florida.
- "This is one of the first games I can remember not controlling the line of scrimmage," Meyer said in regards to Ohio State's defensive performance vs. Iowa.
- "The question you have to ask is why did that happen, not so much the how."
- On Michigan State quarterback Brian Lewerke: "He's really throwing the ball ... He's throwing at a very high level." Michigan State is a much different team than it used to be, as it used to have a run-heavy offense.
Check back with Eleven Warriors this afternoon for further coverage from Ohio State.
