As fans and media throughout Columbus continue to dwell on Ohio State’s 24-6 loss in Miami on Saturday, Buckeyes’ coach Luke Fickell said he can’t and won’t.
“We have a 17-hour rule. After 17 hours, it’s over with,” Fickell said. “Doesn’t mean we forget about what happened or we forget the feeling of what happened, but we move on.”
With the team’s 17-hour period of reflecting on the loss over, Fickell said his team will only concern itself with present problems.
“Somebody asked, ‘What do you think this team is going to be in three weeks?’ I worry about today,” he said. “I’ll worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.
“(One thing) the team can’t do is worry about what’s going to happen in three weeks, three months … that will eat you alive.”
Junior defensive lineman John Simon, a captain for this Saturday’s game against Colorado, is eager to move forward with the season. He expects to learn a lot about his team after coming off its first loss of the young season.
“We’re fired up. It’s an exciting week for us,” Simon said. “These are the weeks you kind of look forward to. You never want to lose, but you get to see what kind of team you have this week, seeing how we’re going to react and rebuild off this loss.”
The other Buckeyes’ captain on Saturday will be junior fullback Zach Boren, who doesn’t plan to need rebuilding off of a loss again this season.
“We’re going to go out and try and win every game,” Boren said. “No matter if it’s by one point or 50 points, we don’t care, we’re going to go out and win every game. That’s our mentality.”
If the young Buckeyes can go on to win every game, Fickell said he believes it could leave Buckeye fans remembering the Miami loss as a mere bump in the road.
“It’s ultimately where you end and not where you begin. We want to see improvement. That’s what our focus is going to be,” Fickell said. “But you have to move on.”
“You still (have) to spend time on Colorado,” Fickell added. “We need to make sure we focus on what we’re doing, tackling on defense, ball security on offense.”
Fickell said moving on involves holding every player accountable for his play, regardless of the player’s tenure with the team.
“No excuses, whether they’re young or they’re old,” Fickell said. “We have such an incredibly high standard for those guys.”
Simon echoed his coach’s feelings.
“We’re not going to make excuses for ourselves. Miami came to play and got the job done. But our objective this week is Colorado,” Simon said. “We’re up to the challenge. Like I said, guys are in there this morning breaking down film, game planning, so we’re ready to go.”
