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Why is this news?: Urban Meyer questioning everything, Dallas Lauderdale to Hornets

All the big Ohio State news in one helpful place.

By Luke Zimmermann

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Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

"Maybe it's the playcalling. Certainly I think we've been a little conservative just with who we have in there, but I think we're beyond that now. I don't have the answer. If I did, I'd tell you what exactly we're going to do. We're researching it and we've got three days to figure it out."

-Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer on the Big Ten teleconference this afternoon

Urban Meyer knows the Buckeyes have gotten off to slow starts lately, in part culminating in three losses in the Buckeyes' last four games. But he's pulling out all the stops to figure it out. "I am looking at everything," Meyer added.

Amongst the other topics broached in today's press conference:

  • Meyer said the Buckeyes were "anxious" to get Noah Spence back in the mix. Though Spence is listed as the backup to Steve Miller on this week's depth chart, it's not hard to see why Meyer and the team can't wait to welcome him back. Meyer had previously mentioned that Spence could've potentially made a difference against Virginia Tech.
  • "it's a little too early to tell," Meyer said of how good this last few recruiting classes have been. "No, I'm not disappointed. But these next two weeks, and this season, is how we evaluate it."
  • The Buckeyes' head coach said "I think keep recruiting. There's no easy answer," in terms of what the Big Ten can improve its performance nationally in high impact out of conference games and reputation as a whole. Understandably, Meyer attributed his lack of solutions to being too consumed with his own team to be able to address the league as a whole's issues.
  • Meyer didn't mince words when it came to freshman kicker Sean Nuernberger's two missed field goals. "The two field goals were major hits," he stated as to his disappointment.
  • On LB Joshua Perry, "He's important in a lot of areas. He's taken major steps. He's a leader. He's a great kid ... He's a big part of who we are." Spoke to the team's respect overall for his work ethic and intelligence.
  • Meyer also addressed the surprising news regarding Penn State's sanctions being lessened. "It's like an anchor around your neck when you ... don't have enough spots," he said. "It's a big thing to have the restrictions over."

"Herman was at the top of the list of hot coordinators during last year's coaching carousel. The 39-year-old offensive coordinator is an Ohio native, but has plenty of experience in Texas."

-Patrick Vint, SBNation.com

For the second time in as many days, a prominent, national college football outlet has connected the dots between Buckeyes offensive coordinator and the surprisingly now vacant SMU head coaching position.

Though Herman is a natural fit in many ways, it remains to be seen how much mutual interest there might be. In spite of the unusual timing of the opening, there shouldn't be any reason to worry about Herman ducking out of town sooner rather than later.

As outlined by Football Scoop, the timeline would probably involve the individual who ultimately gets the gig being named as such around November and probably not leaving their current role until season's end, depending of course on postseason circumstances and the like.

"Urban Meyer wasn't kidding when he said that the offensive line had the most to work on this offseason."

-LGHL's Chad Peltier at Football Outsiders

In a surprise to basically no one who watched the Virginia Tech game, our own Chad Peltier names the Buckeye o-line to his list of demerits for Week 2. In fairness, both OSU head coach Urban Meyer and our own Christopher Jason didn't think the line was entirely responsible for the barrage of sacks on Buckeye signal caller J.T. Barrett, but everyone is on the same page that there's definite room for improvement.

Chad also drops the Buckeyes down to 23 in his weekly power rankings, a bit of a departure from the far more forgiving AP and Coaches Polls.

Great to hear about another former basketball Buckeye getting a shot in the Association.

Though training camp flyers are anything but a sure thing, here's hoping DL sticks with the Hornets -- or at the very least gets an invitation to suit up for their D-League affiliate, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants.

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