Just a day after the announcement of the first-ever College Football Playoff rankings, Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said he hadn’t done anything more than glance at where the Buckeyes stand in the playoff picture.
Meyer also gave an update on the health of redshirt-freshman quarterback J.T. Barrett — who suffered a sprained MCL in OSU’s Saturday win against Penn State.
- When he checked the College Football Playoff rankings, Meyer said he “looked down to see where we’re at, that’s it.” OSU — despite being ranked No. 13 in both the Associated Press top 25 and the USA Today coaches’ poll — checked in at No. 16 when the rankings were announced Tuesday night.
- Meyer said the Buckeyes’ goal is still to simply “compete for championships in November.”
- After redshirt-senior running back Rod Smith was dismissed from the team earlier this week, Meyer said no other players on the roster are currently facing suspensions or disciplinary action.
- On Barrett’s status at Wednesday’s practice, Meyer said: “He went — I wouldn’t say quite full — but he’ll be full tomorrow, they’re telling us. He did good, real good.” On Monday, Meyer said he expected Barrett to be “full go” by Wednesday.
- Current senior quarterback Braxton Miller suffered the same injury as Barrett last season, but Miller missed multiple games. Meyer said Barrett won’t miss any game time, and added that he believes the injury is simply less severe than the one sustained by Miller.
OSU is scheduled to play Illinois on Saturday at Ohio Stadium. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m.
