Buckeyes know Cats can play regardless of series record

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Attentions have turned to Northwestern and the rest of the Big Ten season for the Ohio State Buckeyes. Sure, Urban Meyer's team cannot afford to lose focus of what went wrong last week to Penn State and knocked Ohio State from the ranks of the unbeaten but conversely the Wildcats from Northwestern are a different team than the Penn State Nittany Lions. Too much focus on what happened last week will not help the team for this week.

And what do the Cats bring to the table this week? They are a very different team than the one that dropped three of their first four games including their first two of the season, one to a Division 1-FCS team.

"Defensively they have played pretty well the entire year," Meyer said on Wednesday during evening media availability. "Offensively they really struggled early in the year but the quarterback is much better, and their offensive line. They found a little bit of a rhythm. You look early in the year and it does not look like the same team. Defensively they are pretty salty the entire year."

Northwestern has run off three straight Big Ten wins over Iowa, Michigan State and Indiana and while all of them have been close in their own right, they are three straight wins over conference foes, two in the Big Ten West.

Pat Fitzgerald's team has given up an average of 28.3 points per game in those wins but don't take anything away from a defense that has been led by the likes of Ifeadi Odenigbo and Anthony Walker, Jr.

On Odenigbo: He is an excellent player, I can tell you that. I don’t know his background very much, I have not had time to really research it but he is an excellent player and one of the top players on their team.

On Walker: What really stands out to me is the size, they are a very big defensive line, very physical guys and because of that they just cave in the guards and let the linebackers run. He is a hell of a player but it is a very schematic, very heavy alignment, there is not much movement and that gives linebackers a chance to roll on you a little bit. He is very good.

The Buckeyes will have their hands full with a team that may be better than most people are willing to give them credit for. Meyer's team on the other hand will be playing as an angry team, for whatever that may be worth. Has Meyer seen that kind of focus and determination out of his team this week during practice, at least through two days?

"I feel like I do. Especially like the guys who have been here a couple of years, I think the new guys are still trying to figure it out but we have an exceptional group of leaders," Meyer said. "I think Tuesday and Wednesday are more just execution and game planning and Thursday and Friday is more of the motivational and you will see more of that."

Even with six wins under their belt and still being ranked either No. 6 or No. 8 (depending on which poll you pay attention to) is the fact that the Buckeyes have managed to score a grand total of three points on opening drives through seven games this season. That almost seems to be impossible to believe for a team that it scoring an average of 45.3 points per game on the year.

"Obviously with that stat, (our starts are) not great," Meyer said. The Buckeyes have scored only 50 points in the first quarter over the span on the season, by far their least productive quarter of action. "That is being evaluated and making sure that we have the right scripted plays and put those guys (in places) to have some success. That is something we are changing up a little bit and make sure we have 12 good scripted plays."

Meyer's team is happy to be back home at Ohio Stadium for the next two games and three of the last five. A home crowd, a familiar routine and not having to deal with more travel than walking over from the Blackwell Hotel all play in Ohio State's favor as they try and right the ship.

"Just (to) get back into a little routine," Meyer said. "It blew up on us a little bit getting home at 5:30 and then the next week at 3:30 so we are getting back on our routine and players love routines, coaches love routine and it does feel good to be back home the next two weeks."