Ohio State Football: How Urban Meyer’s return helps the team
By Alex Shobe
Urban Meyer’s presence on the practice field certainly made a difference in how the Ohio State football team performed last Saturday against Rutgers.
The return of Urban Meyer will have significant implications on how the Ohio State football team will play. Of course, a head coach with record of 73-8 at OSU has a lot to bring to the table.
The difference between week one when Meyer was not allowed to be at practice, and in week two when he was at practice is a small sign of his influence. The Buckeye’s defense tightened up from week one to two and the result of cleaning up their play was worth 28 points.
The team has struggled with discipline in games one and two. They have committed 17 penalties for 170 yards in that time, which includes back to back plays with both offsides and pass interference.
Urban Meyer’s presence on game days will help to solve those discipline problems. If their sloppy play isn’t fixed during practice before TCU this week, Meyer will catch it from the sidelines when he is back.
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Another place to find a positive effect of Meyer’s return is in Ryan Day focusing on his true responsibility again. Not that he hasn’t done everything that’s been asked of him as interim head coach, but Day is excellent at what he does.
It is clear that Ohio State has exciting quarterbacks right now, and coach Day being able to work more closely with them will pay off in their further development. If he can guide Dwayne Haskins to perform the way he has against the stronger Big Ten programs, Haskins will be NFL ready by the end of this season.
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Ryan Day still needs to lead the team to one more win though before he hands the program back to Urban Meyer. And that may prove to be quite a challenge.