On the Upswing, Ohio State Trying to Sustain Momentum in Unwelcome Bye Week

By Patrick Maks on October 10, 2014 at 8:30 am
With its second bye in seven weeks, Ohio State must find a way to sustain sudden momentum with the weekend off.
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In what’s supposed to be a weekend of (relative) rest and relaxation away from the chaos of college football, Urban Meyer is restless over another Saturday he won’t roam the sidelines.

After all, it’s Ohio State’s second bye in seven weeks and it threatens to decelerate the Buckeyes’ swelling momentum since a loss to Virginia Tech had previously seemed to leave them for dead.

"It’s uncomfortable to be honest with you," Meyer said. "I’m not used to the two (bye weeks) in the first six/seven weeks of the season.”

But the first break — which came after a 66-0 pummeling of hapless Kent State — seemed like a gift for a team still regrouping after a demoralizing loss to the Hokies. It also gave Ohio State an extra week to prepare for its primetime bout with in-state foe Cincinnati. The Buckeyes won, 50-28.

A weekend later, they traveled to College Park for their first road game of the season against an upset-minded Maryland team that called the contest one of the biggest games in school history. Ohio State played arguably its best game of the season and won in blowout fashion, 52-24.

“The first (bye) week, I think," Meyer said, "came at the right time. You can see we played pretty well afterwards."

Uh, you think? 

In those wins against the Bearcats and the Terrapins, the Buckeyes' offense exploded for a combined 102 points, more than 1,200 total yards and 71 first downs.

Redshirt freshman quarterback J.T. Barrett completed 75 percent of his passes (44-of-59 attempts) for 597 yards and eight touchdowns. An offensive line that Meyer called his "number one concern" after it let Barrett get sacked seven times against Virginia Tech is now opening crater-sized holes for running backs Ezekiel Elliott, Rod Smith and Curtis Samuel to run through.

On the outside, young and previously inexperienced talent like Michael Thomas, Dontre Wilson and Jalin Marshall are emerging as reliable playmakers. The defense, which had yet to do much of anything to show off its supposed offseason overhaul, had, unequivocally, its best outing against Maryland. 

Some of that's thanks to the natural progression of any team during any given season. A lot of it's thanks to a bye week that came at the right time and a coaching staff that took full advantage of it. 

The results are an Ohio State team on the upswing while other squads lose in front of it. And after an anarchic weekend that saw five of the top eight teams in the Associated Press poll lose last weekend, the Buckeyes' once-lifeless playoff hopes aren't so unthinkable. 

"“When you look at it, everything’s wide open. College football is a pretty open year. So we had a five-minute discussion because I know I can hear it: you walk around campus or your watch TV so why not address it. So we address it and move on,” he said Wednesday after practice.

“I don’t want to make it bigger than it is, we talk about it briefly and move on and then we’re getting ready for practice. I don’t think these kids care, I think — I’m hoping — that they just want to get better. I think we’re most concerned about is we have momentum and it’s been taken away so we have to keep that momentum somehow.”

It's a concern that's been on Meyer's mind since last weekend. 

"I wish we were playing another next week," he said less than 30 minutes after the Buckeyes thrashed Maryland. "Our whole team wishes we were playing." 

Instead, Meyer's trying to find a balance between making the most of the last pit stop before the end of the regular season and not losing gained ground. 

Will it work like the last bye week worked, though?

“I don’t know,” Meyer said. “It always remains to be seen.”

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