The Eleven Warriors Web Report comes to you weekly from the Spectrum Sports studios in downtown Columbus, featuring our own Beau Bishop and Dan Hope along with former Buckeye linebacker Joshua Perry.
The big news this week, of course, is the return of Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer to the sidelines, as well as the Buckeyes improving to 3-0 after their 40-28 win over TCU in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday, so the panel discusses both on this week's show.
While Meyer's suspension and the investigation that led to that suspension have already been covered at length, it's in the rear-view mirror for the Ohio State football team now, as the Buckeyes look to improve to 4-0 this Saturday (3:30 p.m., BTN) against Tulane and continue their pursuit of a playoff berth and national championship.
Perry and Hope agree that the reason they're in that position now is because of the culture Meyer has built at Ohio State, as well as the job that Ryan Day and the rest of the coaching staff did in his absence, that allowed the Buckeyes to achieve early-season success even without their head coach.
"Ryan Day, the assistant coaches and the players – they didn't allow themselves to get side-tracked because of this," Hope said. "I think everyone, from a football perspective, handled this situation about as well as they possibly could, and now Urban Meyer comes back to a team that's 3-0."
The panel also discussed Meyer's comment on Tuesday's Big Ten teleconference that he plans to be a "game manager" for Ohio State's offense in his return, allowing offensive coordinators Ryan Day and Kevin Wilson to continue leading the way in calling plays.
"I think it's a great idea, honestly, because you had three games where you able to see the body of work and what they were able to do without Coach Meyer being there on game day, and I think he's got some great offensive minds," Perry said. "I think we saw the playbook open up, and especially in the TCU game, I think we saw some really good scheme. They had scheme runs, they knew how they wanted to attack the pass game. And so when you're working with that, I think he has the confidence now to say, 'Hey, you know what? My role is different now. We've got some really good guys, we've got great players, and I can sit back and I can coach, and I can manage the game, and I can let those guys scheme it up."
Watch the video above to hear what else Perry, Hope and Bishop had to say, and for additional discussion on Meyer's return to the sidelines, the Buckeyes' victory over the Horned Frogs and what else is happening around the Big Ten, watch this week's episode of the Eleven Warriors Report on Spectrum Sports Mid-Ohio, premiering at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
