COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State has lost just four times in Urban Meyer’s four seasons here. That means any Buckeye defeat is enough to churn a news cycle for a few days. After Ohio State’s 17–14 loss to Michigan State on a last-second field goal on Saturday, Ezekiel Elliott’s postgame outburst somehow managed to overshadow the loss. So on Monday, when Meyer addressed reporters prepared to answer “64 questions” about Elliott, it offered some insight into what just went wrong on a night when the Buckeyes mustered a pathetic 132 yards of offense. “I couldn’t disagree with him,” Meyer said on Monday. “He should have gotten the ball more.” • THAMEL: Michigan State stuns Ohio State on last-second field goal While a debate raged about whether Elliott was being petulant or honest, Meyer made his opinion on the topic very clear. He complimented the sweat equity Elliott had built up in his three years in the program and said he agreed with the observations, just not the forum in which he made them. Elliott said he deserved more than 12 carries (two in the second half) against Michigan State, which Meyer said should have been a private conversation. “We don’t condone that,” Meyer said. “We squashed it as a team.” Elliott issued a statement via Twitter on Monday afternoon apologizing for “all the controversy and unrest” his comments called. But he also made clear, to borrow from Keyshawn Johnson, that he still wanted the damn ball…
Continue Reading: Elliott controversy rages, but fixing offense is Ohio State’s bigger problem
