Ohio State head coach Ryan Day coaches the team through warmups before the game against Penn State Nov. 23. Ohio State won 28-17. Credit: Cori Wade | Assistant Photo Editor
Urban Meyer knows what it takes to win big games.
The former Ohio State head coach and three-time national champion turned FOX broadcaster has stared down the long barrell of college football’s toughest competition before.
His first key to unlock victory against No. 3 Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl isn’t limiting the mobility of sophomore quarterback Trevor Lawrence or establishing the run or matching up in the secondary.
“I know what Ryan Day is worried about: the first seven minutes of the game,” Meyer said. “Let everybody settle down, get their feet on the ground, and the environment’s gonna be incredible.”
Ohio State and Clemson have mauled their respective schedules like a Tiger feasting on deer.
The only two teams to inch within 24 points of the Buckeyes were then-No. 9 Penn State during Week 13 and then-No. 8 Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game. Ohio State still won both games by double digits, even if the latter victory required a 27-0 second-half run after taking a 21-7 deficit into the locker room.
Clemson nearly faltered against North Carolina in Week 5 when it scratched out a 21-20 win, but in the eight games since, the Tigers’ closest contest was a 45-14 drubbing of Florida State.
“Imagine now, I’m used to playing someone I’m better than the entire year. Now I’m playing against someone who’s as good as I am, and this guy’s as big and as fast as I am,” Meyer said. “Same with Clemson. They aren’t used to playing teams that aren’t near what they are.”
Before Ohio State took the field for practice Wednesday, Day stood before the team and delivered a fiery speech with a stated desperation for the season to go on one more game.
The difference would be preparation, he said. The Buckeyes need to prepare a little better than Clemson in every practice.
“When you have a mature team, you give them what we think is gonna happen in the game, and you play it out so that they can prepare for that,” Day said.
There’s a process to get ready for any football game, but Day said it’s not as simple as film and repetition: There are emotional and spiritual elements to secure on such a stage.
“That’s a part of this, is understanding the electricity that’s gonna come with the game,” Day said. “It’ll be on hyperspeed there for the first quarter, and [the key is] preparing for that and understanding that that’s the way the game’s gonna go down.”
Failing to match an opponent’s “hyperspeed” phase during a high-end, talent-equated bout can be the one- or two-score difference that decides the game in the end.
Meyer said his strategy would be to do whatever it took to pick up two first downs on offense the opening drive, flipping the field and opening it to deep shots.
“What you can’t do is be backed up,” Meyer said. “You can’t be backed up.”
On defense, Meyer said the secondary should start in zone and keep plays in front of them until it adjusts to the speed. Then, it can play more press-man coverage.
Regardless, Day said the Buckeyes will come out in an aggressive mindset.
Football is a 60-minute game.
“We always want to start fast. That’s important, we’ve had great games where we start fast this year,” Day said. “That’ll be important. But at the same time, it’s four quarters, and in a game like this, you have to be willing to play four quarters.”
