COLUMBUS: After watching Ohio State’s record-setting day against Bowling Green on film, coach Urban Meyer came away with one overwhelming impression.
Meh.
That’s after his offense racked up 776 yards and beat Bowling Green by 67 points with J.T. Barrett earning Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week after he set a school record for most overall touchdowns (seven) and tied one for passing touchdowns (six) in a game.
“I think it was good,” Meyer said at his Monday press conference. “It wasn’t great. It was good. Some disappointments that — I think [Buchtel graduate] Corey Smith should be better than he is. I think he didn’t play great. He’s dealing with some injuries.
“And I don’t think that the technique of our wideouts was where it needs to be, even though they did make some very good plays. I thought our tailback played good. Offensive line, obviously when you only have one guy grade champion [Pat Elflein], they didn’t play very good. So they have to get much better.”
To put it in perspective, Ohio State torched the Falcons for 417 passing yards, which ranks fourth in school history. The 41 first downs were second in school history with Barrett accounting for 349 yards through the air and another 30 on the ground.
“Oh, sure, one lineman graded out a winner,” Meyer said. “Our starting receivers did not grade out a winner, I believe. There’s some great teachable moments in there.”
Smith didn’t have a catch, but nine others did, including Curtis Samuel (177 yards, two TDs) and Dontre Wilson (37 yards, two TDs). K.J. Hill caught a touchdown pass as did Noah Brown and Demario McCall with Mike Weber picking up 136 yards on the ground.
“There were some times when we had some missed assignments out there, which we could have scored,” Barrett said. “It was kind of like — I guess it was bad timing. So when they had their MAs, there were opportunities to score when those times happened.”
Even the offensive line found fault in its game.
With three first-year starters, there could have been excuses made for returners Billy Price and Elflein. None were given even though they weren’t needed as the offense averaged 8.3 yards per play and didn’t surrender a sack.
“You’re always chasing perfection,” Price said. “That happens in all facets of life. You can’t limit it to football itself. Being a business student, we always talk about always wanting to improve a process.
“Any time there’s slack or waste, you have to improve on it. You have to improve that process and in the grand scheme of things improve the offense.”
With Tulsa rolling into Ohio Stadium on Saturday afternoon, film study from Bowling Green has been filed away with an eye toward the Golden Hurricane and weathering the storm.
“It’s easy stuff to clean up,” Price said. “From there, you have to start focusing on the next opponent. They had a big win against San Jose State. We’re looking forward to getting after it.”
Two-minute drill
Massillon graduate Gareon Conley graded out as champion. The cornerback joined Jalyn Holmes, Chris Worley, Joe Burger and Malik Hooker on defense.
On offense, Weber, Terry McLaurin, Hill, Samuel, Elflein and Barrett picked up honors. … Meyer listed St. Vincent-St. Mary graduate Dante Booker as questionable for Tulsa with an MCL strain. … Meyer confirmed that defensive tackle Tracy Sprinkle had patella tendon knee surgery on Sunday and is done for the season.