Urban Meyer hasn’t had too many ‘bad moments’ since taking over at Ohio State four years ago, but the Buckeyes’ head coach has a vivid recollection of one such instance from a road trip during his first season at the helm.
Ohio State traveled to Bloomington, Indiana, as the eighth-ranked team in the country to take on an unranked Hoosiers team in 2012. The Buckeyes’ offense put up 52 points and gained 578 total yards as then-quarterback Braxton Miller accounted for 360 of those with three touchdowns.
Ohio State’s defense, however, is what left that sour taste in Meyer’s mouth that day as the Buckeyes allowed Indiana to score 49 points and gain 481 yards of their own. Ohio State escaped Bloomington with the three-point win, but the team’s defensive effort has since stuck with Meyer.
“That was one of the few times I’ve ever seen a defense quit playing hard and that was a problem,” Meyer said Monday as his Buckeyes prepare to travel to Indiana for the first time since that 2012 game. “That was a program-changer. Mistakes are one thing, but when I saw that, that was not a good moment.”
The only current Ohio State players who were a part of that game are seniors or fifth-year guys. They haven’t forgotten about it.
“That was one of the few times I’ve ever seen a defense quit playing hard and that was a problem. That was a program-changer. Mistakes are one thing, but when I saw that, that was not a good moment.”– Urban Meyer
“I remember that we didn’t finish; that’s what I remember,” said fifth-year senior defensive tackle Joel Hale, who was a sophomore on that 2012 team. “I remember that we were up, up at halftime we were up by a good amount and kind of just let it go. You can’t do that. You’ve gotta finish.”
Senior defensive tackle Adolphus Washington said he remembered Meyer holding a team meeting after that game consisting only of defensive players and coaches.
“He had the whole defense in the team room and he was just like going over the film with us, telling us the things we needed to improve on and stuff like that,” Washington recalled. “That was the only time and still the only time that he’s ever did that.”
Ohio State’s defense is much different in 2015 than it was back in Meyer’s first season in 2012. Through the first month of the season, the Buckeyes rank in the Top 10 nationally in both total defense (sixth, 253.3 yards allowed per game) and scoring defense (10th, 12.3 points allowed per game).
On Saturday against the Hoosiers, though, they’re going to be challenged against an explosive Indiana offense that ranks first in the Big Ten in both total offense (522.3 yards per game) and scoring offense (38.3 points per game).
The Hoosiers are led by the nation’s leading rusher, Jordan Howard, who has carried the ball 111 times for 675 yards through the first four games this season with four touchdowns. Indiana also has a senior quarterback in Nate Sudfeld, who has thrown seven touchdown passes versus just one interception thus far in 2015. The Hoosiers have been solid up front, too, allowing just two sacks on the year.
“They’ve got a great running back, a big guy, and their offensive line’s been playing really well,” Ohio State junior defensive end Joey Bosa said. “We always love a challenge and this is definitely the best offense I think we’ve faced this year.”
Last year, Indiana came to Ohio Stadium and led the Buckeyes late in the third quarter until Jalin Marshall took over the game and ultimately carried Ohio State to the 42-27 victory. But the Buckeyes struggled to contain running back Tevin Coleman, who exploded for 228 yards and three touchdowns.
That’s been a point of emphasis this week from the Buckeyes’ coaching staff along with that trip to Bloomington that Ohio State made in 2012. The Buckeyes are trying to avoid similar trends.
“Yeah, and we brought up last year, too,” Hale said when asked if that 2012 game had been brought up this week. “I don’t know the exact amount of rushing yards they had last year. We had to stop the rushing game and that’s our main goal this week. Stop the rushing game and go from there.”
