After an impressive first week opener, the Ohio State Buckeyes remain the No. 5 team in the country, and former head coach Urban Meyer told a national audience he’s impressed.
Justin Fields and the Buckeyes ran out to a 28-point lead after 15 minutes of action, cashing in touchdowns over their first four possessions in Ryan Day’s head coaching debut.
“They had great energy, great enthusiasm and big plays man, 50-yard run and three touchdown passes … the Buckeyes look really good,” Meyer said during a live game-break with FOX Sports.
Ohio State’s new-look defense was unstoppable before intermission, limited the Owls to negative yardage at a lively Ohio Stadium.
“It’s amazing Joel (Klatt), you played quarterback, how cyclical how this game is, Cover 3 zone became a dinosaur and everybody got away from it and all the sudden it’s back and no one can attack it,” Meyer said. “I remember every time you had man coverage, you felt very comfortable after awhile. And seeing Ohio State playing a soft zone, it’s been a long time since we’ve done that.”
After the win, the Buckeyes remain ranked behind the usual suspects – defending national champion, Clemson, followed by runner-up Alabama, Georgia and Oklahoma.
Teams ranked in the AP Poll went a record-setting 24-1 over the first full weekend in college football, which produced the lack of movement among the ranked.
Ohio State is still joined by six other Big Ten teams with Michigan (7), Penn State (15), Wisconsin (17), Michigan State (19), Iowa (20), and Nebraska (25) with all but Iowa appearing on Ohio State’s 2019 schedule.
Here is the poll:
The Buckeyes face Cincinnati on Saturday in Ohio Stadium.
Paul Finebaum predicted early Saturday morning on SportsCenter that he expected the Buckeyes to come out hot in Fields’ much-anticipated first start.
“(The expectations) are pretty high (for Ohio State),” Finebaum said. “Justin Fields really was in competition with Jake Fromm at Georgia and Fromm is considered one of the best payers in the SEC. I think the transition will be very smooth. We saw Ryan Day last year, remember, win three games with Urban Meyer in the penalty box. I think it’s all going to come down to one game for Ohio State, the game at Michigan against Jim Harbaugh.
“We’re about 3.5 months away from that, but other than that, I think the Buckeyes are in for a really big year.”