After a gutty win over Penn State, the Buckeyes return home to face Indiana this week.
Urban Meyer and co-offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson took to 97.1 The Fan's radio waves on Thursday afternoon to break down the team's comeback win, discuss the importance of wide receiver blocking, great special team's performances, and preview Saturday's matchup with Indiana.
Here are some highlights.
Urban Meyer
On unselfishness blocking downfield
- "The testimony was all over that field last Saturday."
- Praised Rashod Berry, Parris Campbell, Johnnie Dixon and Ben Victor for their blocking.
- "That's as good as I've seen."
On special teams
- "We punted too many times, but when you have the best punter that I can remember... Drue's fantastic."
- Praised Liam McCullough, Sean Nuernberger and Chrisman, calling them pros.
- The gunners on Saturday at Penn State was the best Meyer has ever seen.
On the screen passes
- "Ryan (Day) and Kevin (Wilson) did such a good job with adjustments.
- "Threw for 200 yards in the second half and most of them were screens."
- "We had to execute, and we did."
On the offensive line
- "That was our toughest yet."
- All five players did not grade out as champions for the first time this season.
- "The effort was there, and they played really, really hard against that defense."
Coffee with the coach question from Sammy in Pemberville: Are there advantages and disadvantages about standardizing penalty rules throughout high school?
"I've never thought about it, don't have time to think about it," Meyer said "Obviously we have no control over that."
Meyer said it would help players adjust to different levels of football.
"I'll be honest with you, I don't even know the rules (of high school or the NFL)," Meyer said. "I don't really get to watch football."
Injury updates
- Damon Arnette, Dre'Mont Jones, Robert Landers and Dante Booker are all probable to play
On Chase Young
- "His skillset is so high. He's a blessed player. Size, speed, quickness and toughness."
- Meyer said when you add his athletic gifts to experience and Larry Johnson's coaching, he turns elite.
On Nick Bosa
- "He's rehabbing. He's moving around on the field."
- "Obviously he's not running, but he's close."
On Indiana's offense
- Compared Indiana quarterback Peyton Ramsey's style to Trace McSorley
- "We all know about dual threat quarterbacks around here and the difficulty they present."
- "Offensively, it's quarterback driven. They've had some injuries but they're very good."
- Praised true freshman Morgan Ellison, though he's unsure if he'll play.
On Indiana's defense
- "The head coach runs the defense and they're really well coached."
- "They're not going to give you free passes. You have to work for every pass yardage that you get."
- "We have to keep our quarterback upright and the receivers have got to win."
On the "call to arms" for young players
- Praised Amir Riep and Jahsen Wint for their efforts.
- Said he wants the young players to step up.
- Josh Proctor "has got to give us more" and start to contribute on special teams.
- Marcus Hooker, who has been sidelined by injury, has been cleared to play this week.
- "There's been some good freshman production, but we need more."
On Joe Burrow
- "I love joe and we all do."
- "Everybody cheers for that guy."
- "The significance of winning on the road... Sometimes I don't think people realize how hard that is."
On Jacob Jarvis:
- "He has a national championship ring."
- "He's part of our team. Talk about an open invite."
Kevin Wilson
What's it like going against Indiana?
- "Last year was very, very difficult because it was the first game."
- Mentioned he knows about 34 of the 44 contributors. "There are some young guys I don't know."
- "We used to love to compete against the Buckeyes."
On Indiana's defense
- "Structurally, they know what they're doing and how to play."
- "It's the TCU package that Gary Patterson has had success with over the years."
- "It's a team that plays with a fair amount of speed since they're essentially playing with five defensive backs."
- "They know what they're doing."
- "We need to play well. I'm excited to see our guys react and play on Saturday."
On going up-tempo
- "It's hard when it's loud to go fast."
- "We went a little faster and it got into some rhythm."
- It's a double-edged sword – when you go fast you get rhythm, but you can exploit the defense better when you go slow.
On coaching the tight ends
- Kevin Wilson said he often acts as a second offensive line coach.
- If there's a kicking meeting, instead of being involved with kicking, I go get involved with Greg Studrawa on the offensive line.
- "Even though my responsibility is tight ends, I often coach the offensive line."
On the Tight Ends
- Praised Luke Farrell and Rashon Berry.
- Praised Jeremy Ruckert. "Maybe he should play a little bit more."
- "It's probably an overshadowed group."
- "That group makes the offense complete."
On Dwayne Haskins
- He thinks watching J.T. Barrett the past few years helped Dwayne Haskins a lot.
- "He does a phenomenal job of preparing."
- "He got three tough wins on the road" when you count Michigan last year.
Ohio Sate's matchup with Indiana kicks off at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
