COLUMBUS — The Ohio State Buckeyes didn't waste time dwelling on their 31-16 loss to Oklahoma. They have devoted all their time since Saturday getting ready for a unique opponent: Army.
"We put that (loss to bed)," coach Urban Meyer said Monday. "We met. We watched it. Then it was — even last night — right on to Army. You need to spend every waking moment from until the foot hits the ball to prepare against the wishbone."
The Golden Knights' chances of upsetting Ohio State at 4:30 p.m. ET Saturday are slim. Army has not defeated a team ranked in the Associated Press poll — Ohio State dropped from No. 2 to No. 8 this week — since knocking off No. 15 Air Force in 1972.Even Army coach Jeff Monken recognizes how big of an underdog his team is, while at the same making sure his team has some hope.
"Nobody outside of this room is running around saying, 'Man, Army is going to beat the heck out of Ohio State,'" Monken said. "Everyone is saying we're going to get our butts whipped. I'm not walking in here telling the guys to start preparing for Tulane because we're going to get our butts whipped. That's not the way we're wired, and I don't know a team or a coach in the country that would prepare that way. We've got to look at their team and find the things we can do to be successful on offense, defense and special teams, practice them and try to go execute."
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Army beat Fordham 64-6 in its opener and rallied from a 17-7 deficit in the final quarter to beat Buffalo 21-17 last week. It's the first time it has started 2-0 in back-to-back seasons since 1979-80.
Army presents a different challenge than Ohio State's first two opponents. Indiana threw for 420 yards against Ohio State. Oklahoma threw for 386. The Buckeyes rank last among the 130 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision in passing yards allowed per game (403).
Army has only attempted 10 passes through two games.
Monken would like to eliminate the passing game all together.
"We've got to run the ball if we're going to be successful," he said. "We're not going to win a bunch of games if we chunk it all over the place. We've got to pick our spots. We tried to pick them on Saturday, but we had a couple of opportunities that we missed. No one feels worse about it than Ahmad (Bradshaw) does. But we're going to hit some of those too sometimes. We'll keep taking our shots every once in a while."
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Army has a long history of playing teams from the power conferences. It beat Wake Forest 21-13 last season. In 2015, it lost 31-21 to Rutgers and 20-14 at Penn State. Next season, Army plays at Oklahoma.
This is Army's first game against Ohio State.
How does @OhioStateFB recover from the program's largest home L since 1999?@TIM_MAYsports has seen it all, and he joins @BTNDaveRevsine: pic.twitter.com/xa5eohHvXQ
— Ohio State on BTN (@OhioStateOnBTN) September 13, 2017
"It's an unbelievable opportunity for our players," Monken said, "and I think, like everybody who probably plays football and has aspirations of playing college football, they dream of playing college football at the highest levels, in front of the biggest crowds, against the country's best teams. This is one of those opportunities. It's really a great privilege and honor for us as a program, and it gives our players a unique experience, which I think is really special."
This article is written by David Jablonski from The Dayton Daily News and was legally licensed via the Tribune Content Agency through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.
