Ohio State fans are a little on edge right now, despite the fact the Buckeyes are ranked No. 1 in the country and sit at 5-0 on the season.
Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer isn't really worried about all of that outside noise, though.
"It’s impossible to live up to expectations," Meyer said Tuesday on the Big Ten coaches weekly teleconference. "But that’s not our job. Our job is to win, to play the best of our ability and really the thing I want to make sure of is that they’re going as hard as they possibly can. If they’re doing that then good things happen."
Meyer said right now there are a few areas of concern for his team: Turnovers, red zone production and efficiency in the passing game. All three aren't where Meyer expects them to be.
"The obvious is the execution issues," Meyer said. "Fundamentally, taking care of the ball and red zone production are really an issue for us offensively right now.”
As Ohio State prepares for Saturday's game against Maryland, Meyer is focused on fixing those issues. Playing perfect isn't necessarily a realistic goal, despite what many people may think.
"I’ve learned a lot and our focus is not to be perfect, our focus is to play as hard as we possibly can," Meyer said. "Coaches are responsible to just teach and fill the toolbox with fundamentals and if that’s not happening we have to ask the question why? That’s what we’re doing and the good thing is this is a very good practice team and I anticipate you’ll see a progress as we continue to move forward.”
Additional Meyer notes:
- Meyer was asked if having good team chemistry brings winning or if winning games creates good chemistry. After giving it some deep thought, Meyer said, “I think they both feed off of each other. The correlation between the two, I think they’re both tied into great teams. I think great teams you have to have great chemistry and losing games will often deteriorate great chemistry and it will just wear and tear on you so I think it impacts one another.”
- On Ezekiel Elliott's knack for rising to the occasion in big games, Meyer said, "I think it’s all a product of his work ethic. He has competitive spirit and the coaches talked about that other day. He has that look in his eye when it’s time to start feeding the beast. He’s extremely talented and he does have that next gear when the game is on the line.”
- Meyer said the loss of Tom Herman as Ohio State's quarterbacks coach was obviously a tough blow, but said new position coach Tim Beck is "an excellent coach." As far as the struggles from the position go, Meyer said, "It’s not all the quarterback. The timing between the quarterback and receivers, it’s off right now so we’re going to work hard to fix it. ... I have all the confidence in the world that we’re going to get the production back here real soon.”
- Meyer was asked about the situation at Texas, where a player used his phone during halftime of Saturday's blowout loss to TCU to retweet something on Twitter. When asked if he had addressed similar situations with his team, Meyer said, “I haven’t, but I probably will now. ... I will cover that. If this was 10 years ago you’d probably overreact, but I will make sure I cover that with our team now."
The Big Ten still has four unbeaten teams as Ohio State, Michigan State, Northwestern and Iowa are all 5-0 to start the season. Michigan, Penn State, Indiana and Illinois are all currently sitting at 4-1. The marquee matchup this weekend in the Big Ten pits Northwestern against Michigan in Ann Arbor.
In addition to Meyer, the additional 13 coaches in the Big Ten spoke Tuesday on the weekly coaches teleconference. Below are some highlights from each coach in the league.
Pat Fitzgerald (Northwestern):
- Fitzgerald was asked if he sees Saturday's matchup with Michigan as a defensive slugfest. "I'm not sure any coach looks at it that way. ... Coaches typically just watch the tape and try to find ways to be successful in all three phases."
- "There's great chemistry, there's great brotherhood and trust within our program. The guys really made an emphasis in the offseason, in January, to focus on what we can control and they were spectacular in the offseason."
- Fitzgerald said Northwestern played 11 defensive linemen on Saturday. "The No. 1 reason why we're playing so many guys is really the last two seasons I was really critical of myself and staff that we didn't get next guy ready to play."
- Fitzgerald said he had some conversations this summer with former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel.
Jim Harbaugh (Michigan):
- Harbaugh said recruiting at Michigan is "very similar" to recruiting at Stanford.
- Harbaugh was asked if he had a policy on players using their phones during games. "Yes." What is it? "Don't use your phones during games."
- Harbaugh on Northwestern: "Played with great effort, great discipline. ... You see the finish, the way they're coached and the effort that the players play with. It's a great team."
Paul Chryst (Wisconsin):
- On the similarities between recruiting at Wisconsin and Pittsburgh, Chryst said, "I think there's a lot of similarities and yet each place has its uniqueness."
- Chryst on Wisconsin's success so far on defense. "I think it's a number of factors and yet I still think we can be better. It's a good scheme."
Mike Riley (Nebraska):
- When asked how he keeps his team focused in middle of tough losing streak, Riley said, "I think that is what we're in the middle of right now. The most important thing for us is to have a plan to help give players concrete evidence of how they can improve and get better and how we can turn some of these games that we've lost into wins."
- Has Riley ever been through this type of stretch? "No, I have not."
Mark Dantonio (Michigan State):
- Dantonio on how much injuries on offense line have affected team's play: "Any time you change there's gonna be adjustments, but to me, change inevitably makes you stronger in the long term."
- On if there's been any adjustments with Pat Narduzzi leaving for Pittsburgh, Dantonio said, "There's an adjustment in terms of personalities and things of that nature. ... But the bottom line is making plays and players make plays."
Kirk Ferentz (Iowa):
- On Iowa not allowing a rushing touchdown this season, Ferentz said, "I don't know if it's part of a master plan, the touchdown aspect of it, but that's been one of the things on our list. ... We didn't stop the run last year like we wanted to."
Jerry Kill (Minnesota):
- "We're playing good defense, but we've got some areas on offense and in the kicking game where we've got to play better."
Norries Wilson (Rutgers):
- A report this morning said charges wide receiver Leonte Carroo was facing were expected to be dropped. Wilson: "That's an ongoing situation that I'm not going to comment on."
Bill Cubit (Illinois):
- Cubit said Iowa's defensive front is "the best we've faced so far."
- On Illinois' defense: "Maturity and then I think the defensive line, this is probably the first time since I've been here, that we look like a defensive line in terms of stature."
Randy Edsall (Maryland):
- On the matchup with Ohio State, Edsall said, "We've got our work cut out for us."
- "They have a talented secondary and Vonn Bell's an excellent player. All their players on defense are excellent players." — Edsall
- Edsall on Maryland returner William Likely: "We feel any time he touches the ball, he can take it the distance."
- Edsall asked if he sees Ohio State playing close to its potential. "I see a team that's undefeated and that's the bottom line."
- Edsall will not name a starting quarterback prior to Saturday's game. "We'll know that when we take the field on Saturday."
Darrell Hazell (Purdue):
- On Purdue's close loss to Michigan State on Saturday: "The big thing we were able to take away from that is our guys had a lot of confidence. There was a different look in their eye the second half and they really believed they could win that football game."
James Franklin (Penn State):
- On differences between recruiting Penn State and Vanderbilt. "The traditions here and the history here, the expectations here are a little bit different, but our message is very similar to be honest with you."
- Franklin said one thing that stands out with Indiana is its size on the offensive and defensive lines.
Kevin Wilson (Indiana):
- "Hard fought game last week. We didn't make the plays we needed to to get the outcome we wanted."
- Wilson said he doesn't take last week's loss against Ohio State as a moral victory. "We've got a lot of respect for Ohio State, they played very, very hard and we went at it as hard as we could and it just wasn't good enough."
