CHICAGO — When Urban Meyer arrived in Chicago for Big Ten media days on Thursday morning, it was supposed to be for a celebration of Ohio State’s 2014 national title and to preview the Buckeyes’ upcoming 2015 campaign. Instead, the Ohio State head coach will find himself facing questions about the suspension of four of his players, a list that includes All-American defensive end Joey Bosa. And with what could be one of the Buckeyes’ toughest games of the year falling on their season-opener, those suspensions could prove to be costly for the defending national champions. When Tim May of the Columbus Dispatch initially reported that Bosa and H-back Jalin Marshall would each be missing Ohio State’s opener with Virginia Tech due to a “violation of athletic department policy,” the suspensions seemed significant, but likely not enough to cost the Buckeyes in their showdown with the Hokies. After all, Ohio State is loaded at defensive end and wide receiver, especially with Braxton Miller’s recently announced transition to wideout. But when the OSU athletic department announced that wide receivers Corey Smith and Dontre Wilson would be joining Bosa and Marshall on the sideline for the season-opener for what ESPN.com’s Joe Schad reported were issues with academics and marijuana moments later, the threat of the Buckeyes being upended in the first game of their national title defense became all the more realistic. Because for as stacked as Ohio State is at nearly each position on both sides of the ball, it was just a year ago that Virginia Tech handed the Buckeyes their lone defeat of the 2014 campaign. Playing underneath the lights of Ohio Stadium in the second week of the season, the Hokies flustered quarterback J.T. Barrett, as the Ohio State receivers struggled to make plays on a consistent basis against Virginia Tech’s cover-zero defense. Running back Ezekiel Elliott (32 yards and one touchdown on eight carries) also found himself bottled up by the Hokies defense in a game where Meyer admitted to being out-coached by Frank Beamer and his staff. Paul Vernon/Associated Press “First time I’ve seen that,” Meyer said of Virginia Tech’s defensive scheme, which essentially sold out to the Buckeyes running attack and dared Barrett to pass it downfield in what was a 35-21 Hokies victory. “It was completely hours upon hours of game-planning, including in the spring we started looking at Virginia Tech, and they just completely played bear zero, which was a high?risk defense, but obviously it worked.” And while it remains to be seen whether Virginia Tech will try to attack the Buckeyes in a similar fashion in their rematch on Sept. …
Continue Reading: Ohio State Football: Week 1 Suspensions Crucial Blow to Buckeyes
