If the on-field results weren't obvious enough, Urban Meyer made things pretty clear during his press conference Tuesday that he liked what he saw from Ohio State's offense during the final two games of last season. But perhaps what the Buckeyes’ head coach was most pleased with, and what he specifically singled out, was the pace at which his team played.
“The last two games, I want to say [the offense was] 80 percent tempo and it worked out really well,” Meyer said. “We’re going to do a lot more up-tempo offense than we’ve done.”
That sounds like it could be quite entertaining.
Meyer's comments, of course, shouldn't come as much of a surprise to anybody who watched Ohio State against Michigan and Notre Dame. It'd be more of a story if Meyer said he wanted to go away from how the Buckeyes ran their offense in those final two games.
But there's no way he could say that after the way Ohio State performed.
After a disappointing 17-14 loss to Michigan State in the second-to-last game of the regular-season where the Buckeyes only netted 132 total yards of offense, Ohio State got things rolling in the regular-season finale win against the Wolverines and the Fiesta Bowl victory over the Fighting Irish.
With offensive coordinator Ed Warinner up in the press box to call plays — as opposed to being on the sideline where he spent the Buckeyes' first 11 games of the season — Ohio State's offense racked up 482 yards of offense in that 42-13 pasting of Michigan and totaled 496 yards in the 44-28 rout over Notre Dame.
Of those 978 combined yards, 654 came on the ground thanks to a dominant rushing attack led by running back Ezekiel Elliott and complemented by quarterback J.T. Barrett. The duo was so successful largely in part to the Buckeyes' increased tempo.
Ohio State will certainly look to be a bit more balanced, but it doesn’t look like the speed with which they played those final two games isn’t going to slow down any. Warinner will remain in the press box in 2016 to ensure that happens.
“Offensively, we’re not going to change much at all,” Meyer said.
Meyer made some slight adjustments this year to the way Barrett and the rest of the Buckeyes' quarterbacks practice to help aid with the more up-tempo style. He wants everything to go just a little bit faster.
“I thought we were slow-twitched last year so we changed all our drills in the quarterback room,” Meyer said. “Everything is getting the ball out fast, quick, with hustle.”
Ohio State, of course, must figure out how it is going to replace Elliott at running back, and right now Meyer said there are quite a few options to work with. Barrett, though, is unequivocally the guy behind center for the Buckeyes and it’s because of that Ohio State’s offense is going to be able to utilize the tempo more.
Meyer might have been hesitant to employ such a strategy with a team as youthful as the one he has, but having Barrett makes things that much easier for the Buckeyes’ offense. It can't really be overstated how important it is having a guy entering his third season at quarterback for Ohio State next season.
Meyer has always wanted his teams to play fast and play with urgency. And it appears 2016 may see an even faster pace.
“I think that’s with Coach Warinner upstairs in the box, which he’ll be again, we were able to [play faster],” Meyer said, “So we hope to be a real fast offense this year.”
