Ohio State is 3-0, but players far from happy with their performance thus far

At the conclusion of Ohio State’s ugly 20-13 win over the Northern Illinois Huskies on Saturday, six players spoke to the media postgame. Of the six players, five were from the defense, which speaks volumes about which side of the ball played well in the win.

Even with the struggles with the “discombobulated” offensive, the defense stepped up as they did a week ago against Hawaii. The Silver Bullets even had the winning touchdown, when sophomore linebacker Darron Lee picked off a Drew Hare pass and returned it 41 yards for a touchdown, giving the Buckeyes a 20-10 lead late in the third quarter.

“I really just read it and knew we needed something. I just tried to make something happen,” said Lee of his pick-six. “When the offense needs a minute to find their rhythm we know we have to go out there and do our job, have fun and stop them.”

Considered one of the best secondaries Meyer has ever coached by the head coach himself, junior safety Vonn Bell raved about the play of the secondary following the game against Northern Illinois.

“I think we’re playing phenomenal,” said Bell. “We’re playing at a high level so hats off to those guys. We’re not giving up anything deep and we’re being disciplined which allows us to make plays down the field.”

Allowing just 80 yards through the air, and less than 100 passing yards for the second consecutive game, it was a whole defensive effort to prevent each team from gaining many yards through the air. Sophomore cornerback Eli Apple, who had an interception on Saturday, made it clear what the secondary’s goal is for every game.

“My goal and the whole secondary’s goal of course is to limit their passing yards. I’m glad we did that,” Apple said.

While the defense has played very well, the offense has struggled over the past couple games. One of the many reasons why the offense hasn’t played up to their potential? The offensive line. They may have finished 2014 playing very well, but they have underwhelmed so far in 2015. Junior offensive lineman Taylor Decker talked about how frustrating it is because the offensive line knows that they are playing well below their potential.

“It is very frustrating because I know we’re capable of executing much better,” said Decker. “Our offense is being held back by us but at this time last year we weren’t playing at that level. Year-to-year we keep getting better and I have all the confidence in the world in our line.”

The Buckeyes may be 3-0, but Lee admits that it’s not all fun and games in the locker room.

“We’re happy to win, but we’re not blaring music down there right now. As a team, we want to be going on all cylinders so we just have to get things corrected and be better next week.”