COLUMBUS – Ohio State coach Urban Meyer admits he worries about everything and, this week, he has the Oklahoma Sooners on his mind
“This one’s real,” he says. “Real real.”
(3/4) Ohio State (2-0) at (14) Oklahoma (1-1), Oklahoma Memorial Stadium (7:30 p.m. ET/FOX)
Near the top of the list of his concerns is how the Buckeyes are going to run the ball Saturday against Oklahoma.
After breaking school records for offense in its first game, Meyer’s team started slow last week against Tulsa and he knows they can’t afford a sluggish start against the Sooners, especially when it comes to establishing the run against their heavy, run-stuffing defensive linemen
“You have to be really on your target to run the football on them,” he told reporters at his weekly news conference Monday. “They’re big, gigantic guys inside….They played the odd four-I defense which is going to negate gaps and makes it very difficult to run.”
The front in coach Bob Stoops’ 3-4 scheme are Charles Walker (6’2”/304 lbs.), Jordan Wade (6’3″/311 lbs.) and the diminutive Matt Dimon (6’2″/270 lbs.).
The defensive alignment is also new after Stops abandoned his 4-3 defense.
“You have 40 days to prepare for each other and they went to a lot of 3-4, and they’re primarily a 3-4 team now. That’s one of those sick feelings on the sidelines,” Meyer said.
The Buckeye offense struggled against the Golden Hurricane and didn’t get the train back on the tracks until the second half, thanks in part to a weather delay that kept both teams in their locker rooms for an extra-long halftime break.
Meyer says his coaches and players used the time to make needed adjustments.
“I’ve been on teams where you’d be, ‘Oh, gosh, what’s going to happen now?’ But they were very professional,” he said. “Our staff was outstanding, and we played our best football in the second half.”
Meyer says he’s already talked to Tom Herman, the former Ohio State offensive coordinator who’s now the Houston coach, about how to attack Oklahoma.
Herman’s Cougars upset the Sooners in the opening week, 33-23, which dropped Oklahoma out of the top five in the AP media poll. Meyer says the discussions centered on Oklahoma’s defensive personnel.
Extra points:
-Ohio State and Oklahoma are meeting for the third time and for the first time since 1983. Both teams have been ranked in the Top 15 each time, including this season. This is the first of a home-and-home series that will conclude in Columbus next year.
-Ohio State has won a school-record 18 consecutive true road games — games on an opponent’s home field — the longest such streak in the nation.
-Ohio State ranks second in the FBS in scoring (62.5 ppg), third in first downs (30.5) and fifth in total offense (596.5 yds/gm) and total defense (216.0 yds/gm).
-Ohio State’s defense has allowed zero touchdowns through two games, while scoring three of their own.
-Sophomore safety Malik Hooker leads the FBS with three interceptions through two games.