Urban Meyer knows what it’s like to lose two crucial players at the same position on an Ohio State football team with championship hopes.
Meyer lived that scenario in 2014 when the Buckeyes lost quarterbacks Braxton Miller and J.T. Barrett to season-ending injuries. Ohio State’s response was the stuff of Urban legend as third-string quarterback Cardale Jones led the Buckeyes to a Big Ten Championship Game win over Wisconsin and College Football Playoff wins over Alabama and Oregon en route to a national title.
Losing key players to injuries can have a galvanizing effect on the rest of the team, Meyer said, and he saw that with the way the Buckeyes responded to Barrett’s injury in 2014.
“I remember when J.T. Barrett went down, I heard Joshua Perry and a bunch of the players say, ‘Man, it's our chance now, we got to pick it up,’” Meyer said.
Ohio State will need a similar response from this year’s players as they enter the toughest stretch of their season looking to overcome their second major injury on the offensive line as starting center Seth McLaughlin went down with an Achilles injury this week in practice, joining left tackle Josh Simmons (season-ending knee injury) on the injured list.
Speaking with a pair of Ohio State reporters on Friday, Meyer said he believes the Buckeyes can overcome McLaughlin’s injury. He thinks the fact that Carson Hinzman has a year of starting experience and center and that Austin Siereveld has started games this year at left guard will be valuable now that they’re stepping into full-time starting roles at those positions, though he acknowledges it would be a tall order to overcome any more injuries up front.
“They have a guy that's played a lot of center, they moved him back. They got a guy that started the first two games at left guard, he's going to left guard. So it's not great, but it’s not as bad as it seems,” Meyer said. “But I don't think they can afford to have anyone else go down on that offensive line.”
Ohio State will need Hinzman, Siereveld and the rest of its offensive line to rise to the occasion right away as it faces No. 5 Indiana at Ohio Stadium on Saturday. Meyer, who will be at Ohio State on Saturday with the rest of FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff crew for Saturday’s pregame show, has been amazed with what he’s seen from the Hoosiers this year and says the Buckeyes can’t take them lightly even though they have a clear talent advantage on paper.
“In my lifetime, I've never seen anything like it,” Meyer said of Indiana’s 10-0 start to the season. “When you look at the roster, it's David vs. Goliath on paper. And what I mean by that is Ohio State's got NFL players at every position. Indiana, over half the team – I didn't realize this until just recently – over half the team didn't have stars when they were coming out of high school (as recruits). So on paper, it's David vs. Goliath, but on videotape, it's not. They're a really, really good team.”
Meyer and Big Noon Kickoff will be back at Ohio State next week, too, for the game that’s always meant so much to Meyer, Ohio State’s rivalry game vs. Michigan. Even though Michigan is just 5-5 this season, Meyer doesn’t expect that to take anything away from The Game with how much it means to both schools.
“For someone to say the Wolverines don't have good players, you’re out of your mind. And I know Coach Day’s saying they have good players,” Meyer said. “But the one thing about that game, and I'd pass out if I ever heard the opposite, is that the respect is immense. If you're wearing a maize and blue helmet, you're a good football player. If you're coaching for the maize and blue, you're a good football coach. So the Buckeyes will be ready.”
Saturday’s game against Indiana starts what could be a three-week stretch of one intense game after another as The Game will be followed by a trip to the Big Ten Championship Game for a rematch with Oregon if the Buckeyes can beat both the Hoosiers and Wolverines. But Meyer says Ohio State can’t be thinking about anything beyond beating Indiana right now.
“There's zero conversation about that right now. It's trying to get a first down on offense and stop them on defense,” Meyer said.
You can hear Meyer’s full comments from Friday’s media availability in the video at the top of the page.
