Ohio St.-Minnesota Preview

(AP) — – Fresh from his biggest win as Ohio State’s coach, Urban Meyer says he won’t have any problem with his team looking back on last week instead of preparing for this one.”The good thing is I’ve got nine good coaches and, more importantly, I have players that understand we didn’t play as well as we could on defense and we expect to play much better,” he said of the eighth-ranked Buckeyes’ 49-37 win at then-No. 8 Michigan State last Saturday night. ”There’s plenty to work on.”Despite a glittering performance by several players, a game-turning 28-3 run in the second and third quarters and scoring almost at will, the Buckeyes figure to be in for a hard week of practice.It runs counter to the impression that coaches work their players harder after a disappointing loss than they do after a signature win.But when Ohio State was steamrolled 35-21 at home by Virginia Tech on Sept. 6, Meyer used a softer approach he learned from his boss for one year at Notre Dame.”That’s the thing that Lou Holtz would always say – and this is where I think coaches make a lot of mistakes – you don’t just go blow the whole thing up when you lose a game,” Meyer said. ”(They’re) fragile. You coach them really hard when you win. You lose that game (at Michigan State on) Saturday, it’s really difficult. Now you’ve got problems. Now you’ve got motivation problems. So it’s all the way we handle it.”It won’t be all sweat equity this week for the Buckeyes. With no school Tuesday because of the holiday, the players got a little break. But that doesn’t mean everyone believes the hard part of the season is over.The Buckeyes (8-1, 5-0 Big Ten), winners of seven in a row since the debacle against the Hokies, will get a big test at Minnesota (7-2, 4-1) in cold conditions at TCF Bank Stadium on Saturday. …

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