Urban Meyer Coach's Show: QB Efficiency, Penn State, Bat Flips and More

By D.J. Byrnes on October 15, 2015 at 12:04 pm
Urban Meyer, Penn State Coach's Show
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With Maryland vanquished and Black Saturday on tap, Urban Meyer took to 97.1 The Fan's airwaves to discuss all things Buckeye football with Paul Keels, the Voice of the Buckeyes, and former All-American Jim Lachey.


Urban Meyer says he thinks the team performed "very well" against Maryland. "[Quarterback rating] is a stat we look at very closely." Goes back to his days at Bowling Green. The common denominator in his quarterbacks: "They efficiency is high.. both quarterbacks played at a high level." Called J.T. Barrett's throw to Mike Thomas on third and 15 on his first drive was "the play of the game.”

Another week, another "Marcus Baugh is another guy you might see more of this week.”

On Urban Meyer's MLB postseason thoughts: "I love baseball... with the job I haven't really watched a lot of it... I'm a Cubs guy. I did see the highlight of the guy hitting the home run and throwing his bat [José Bautista] I loved that. If I was on the other team I'd be pissed." Jokes that he heard somebody say he should "act like he's been there," because "he's never been there.”

Urban Meyer has become friends with Pete Rose "over the last couple of years." Says he has a Big Red Machine team-autographed picture in his office.

On J.T. Barrett's red zone abilities: Teams lose their vertical stretch in the red zone, which causes DBs to "sit down on the routes." It's a lot easier to play man down there.

How does Ohio State fix the numbers problem? Through quarterback runs and option play, which is J.T.'s strength. "The other way is the Peyton Manning way," which is to be extremely accurate in the throw game.

Cardale is at his best when he doesn't force throws. Urban notes he checked it down three of four times against Maryland, which was the right way to go.

"We're very balanced right now." They're at 230 (yards passing) / 230 (yards rushing). They want to get to 250/250.

Pat Elflein has "been nursing a minor injury" but he's good to go now.

"You have to be able to run the ball at Ohio State to win championships. We'll never be a 'chuck and duck team.’"

On Penn State's defense: "Their defense leads the nation in sacks." A lot of "NFL guys." They're "back to looking like Penn State." They "make you earn everything... it was a war last year."

On Penn State offense: "Statistically... [Christian Hackenberg] hasn't been as good as he's been." They run quick outs, quick screens... "very good offense as well.”

Urban Meyer isn't dwelling on the negatives in the Maryland win. "We won by basically four touchdowns... we gave them a stupid one at the end."

Caller thanks Meyer for restoring Ohio State to "integrity football" before asking if there's an emphasis on getting Braxton Miller the ball now: "Believe it or not there's an emphasis on getting him the ball every week," but it doesn't work out that way. People say the Barrett/Jones platoon worked well, but it won't always work great.

Urban's strategy on the late bye week is basically Penn State is on deck and they'll cross that bridge when they get there.

Do the players feel the need for a statement win? "There will be no statement games. This will be, 'We have to find a way to win a game.'" There is no conversation like that in the Woody. "The good news is our players are smart. I'm sure they don't even know when the playoff committee comes together. It's 'Beat Penn State,' that's it.”

What types of solution has Urban put forth to prevent teams from rushing the A and B gaps? "We're a little soft in there." They don't have the depth right now, but Urban Meyer notes the last two games opponent RBs have had "minimal yardage" against them. Rather, it's been the QBs doing the damage.

The defensive line rotation "hasn't worked out" like Meyer has hoped. The backup linemen like Hill, Munger, and and Hale need to "continue to get better." In recruiting, if you can grab a defensive lineman you "have to take them and develop them," and the last two years they've "come up short." 

Every offensive series is scripted but "it doesn't always work out that way."

How much does he pay attention to Michigan? "There's alittle bit of a myth" to the idea Woody Hayes and Earle Bruce practiced "year round" for Michigan. "I was here... we didn't do that." He isn't surprised in the least, however, because they've always had great players. "We know what they're doing, but we're not working on them right now." Maryland is the only crossover opponent.

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