COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The finger is no longer hovering over the panic button, but that doesn’t mean Urban Meyer is happy.
The Ohio State Buckeyes coach saw a couple too many misses on deep shots, a few poor routes and some issues with protection up front to even be close to satisfied with his passing attack.
But after initially calling the problems that popped up Saturday against Indiana “alarming” in the immediate aftermath of an otherwise comfortable win, Meyer dialed back on the level of concern for the No. 2 Buckeyes even after ramping up the level of intensity to get the aerial attack flying again.
“Obviously the struggles were in the throw game, and that's going to be worked on extremely hard,” Meyer said Monday. “Alarming is probably a little overreactive, but we've just got to get to practice and get it better.
“Yeah, there were a couple mishits that usually hit, and when we do hit we're dominating. If we don't hit, we have to work a little harder. If it's not [clicking], we have to find out why and get it fixed.”
The Buckeyes are obviously far from broken offensively, and they still racked up 38 points in a game Meyer’s team won by three touchdowns against a vastly improved defense. And the Hoosiers certainly deserve credit for the way they attacked quarterback J.T. Barrett and locked on some suffocating coverage in the secondary against Ohio State’s deep cast of wideouts.
But when a Heisman Trophy candidate only completes nine of his 21 pass attempts for 93 yards with a touchdown and an interception, there is naturally going to be a discussion about what went wrong. And since Meyer has made it no secret that he has emphasized greater offensive balance after last year’s bid to defend the national championship was partially undone by similar struggles in an upset loss to Michigan State, any sign of slippage is immediately going to get his attention.
Heading into a matchup with another ferocious defense that has the potential to slow down Ohio State’s vaunted ground game, the question is whether last week was an aberration or perhaps an area of vulnerability that might be exploited by a defense like No. 8 Wisconsin will unleash Saturday night.
“No, I think it was just this week,” Barrett said. “That was a good team that we faced, and I think our game plan was good, we just missed on a couple plays. It was everybody as a whole on offense, not just one particular group.
“There were times were we did have everybody on the same page, and that’s when we had more successful plays, of course. But we were in some good plays at times, and whether it be me messing up an assignment or a read or a receiver messing up or the offensive line, we just weren’t clicking on all cylinders with all units on offense at times.”
Even coming off that rocky outing, Barrett still ranks No. 1 in the Big Ten in passing efficiency. The Buckeyes still lead the conference in touchdowns through the air with 16. And through five games, an offensive line with three first-year starters has only allowed three total sacks.
All of that suggests the struggles against the Hoosiers amount to little more than an uncharacteristic off day instead of a reason for Meyer to set off alarms on the practice field. Beyond that, Barrett’s record-setting résumé provides plenty of evidence that he is capable of bouncing back in a hurry -- especially since both he and Meyer wasted no time trying to solve a one-week problem before it turned into a multiple-game issue.
“I think we just get back to the fundamentals of what we do,” Barrett said. “We did have our struggles in that game. Give credit where credit is due; Indiana is a good football team, so with that they exposed some things in us. But it definitely lets us reflect and try to fix those mistakes that we had.
“I do like the way the ball is coming out of my hand. I feel confident. Throwing the ball downfield, there were some shots and I missed it. That happens, and I’m going to do a better job of preventing that from happening.”
And that process for Ohio State doesn’t start by panicking over one game.