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Meyer fumes over defense
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Ohio State defensive lineman John Simon (54) closes in on two Hoosiers during the Buckeyes’ 52-49 win over Indiana on Saturday in Bloomington, Ind. Simon is a Cardinal Mooney High graduate.
Associated Press
COLUMBUS
Urban Meyer met with his defensive coaches and players on Sunday.
He wasn’t handing out compliments.
“I’m not happy at all with what’s going on on defense,” the Ohio State coach said a day later. “That includes players, coaches. We can all get better. It’s a team effort.”
The Buckeyes (7-0, 3-0 Big Ten) kept their record clean even though the defense was gashed for 49 points, 481 yards and a staggering 18 plays that picked up at least 10 yards in a narrow 52-49 win at Indiana on Saturday.
“To go out and give up 49 points against Indiana was just embarrassing to us,” cornerback Travis Howard said. “We all feel depressed about it.”
Meyer called it “absurd” how many big gainers his defense surrendered and vowed to get more involved on that side of the ball.
It sounded for all the world like an “or else” to both the current defensive starters — who may find themselves not playing unless the new head man sees change soon — or his assistants on that side of the ball.
“We’re going to demand 4 to 6 seconds of relentless pursuit and effort,” Meyer said. Then, he added, “If you don’t, I’ll be involved in that.”
Meyer declined to offer excuses, even though several players are out with injuries. The Buckeyes don’t have linebacker Etienne Sabino, sidelined for several weeks with a broken leg, and didn’t have defensive lineman/outside linebacker Nathan Williams at Indiana. He didn’t make the trip but is expected to return this week for the game against Purdue at Ohio Stadium.
Ohio State’s defense looked lost at times, repeatedly giving up yardage in clumps. Where missed tackles in the open field was a huge problem in past games, at times against the Hoosiers it was as if the Buckeyes didn’t have a clue how to stop the Hoosiers’ spread attack — which threw more down the field than flipping short screen passes.
Defensive coordinator Luke Fickell, the beleaguered interim head coach a year ago during a woeful 6-7 season, hinted at problems.
He said the Buckeyes lack a distinct leader of the defense along the lines of former players such as James Laurinaitis, A.J. Hawk and Matt Wilhelm. They were middle linebackers who called signals, made plays and were savvy enough to cover up mistakes by others. If a quarterback slipped containment, they could close the deal by bringing him down. If a back found a hole and appeared to have daylight, they might rush to the spot and slow him down until help arrived.
“Are we lacking a little bit of that? Yeah. Sabino went down and maybe that’s something that we don’t have right now,” Fickell said. “That’s one of the big things we’re trying to find: Who’s that leader, who’s that guy that doesn’t just worry about themselves but can make the others around him better?”
Meyer has said that of the last 10 linebackers Ohio State has recruited, only two or three are still playing due to injuries, transfers or other problems.