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Meyer doesn’t deny revenge could be factor

By Thomas Schlarp

For the Mirror

As Penn State heads to Columbus this weekend, the Nittany Lions face the complete opposite side of the narrative that surrounded their game against the Michigan Wolverines.

Fresh off a bye week with one of the nation’s top offensive weapons — while hosting ESPN’s “College GameDay” — the Nittany Lions were looking to avenge a loss from the season before. Now, Penn State encounters a hostile Ohio State campus accommodating the ESPN show after a bye week with J.T. Barrett entering as one of the country’s hottest quarterbacks. The Buckeyes are seeking to top the Nittany Lions after a 24-21 defeat a season ago.

“Sure, revenge is a motivator,” coach Urban Meyer said. “Yeah, it is. I’m not saying this will be it, but there’s times where we’ve used it and we look silly using it. There’s other times that worked. It’s about execution of a game plan and focus.”

After a slow start to the season, that included a less than stellar opening half at Indiana, and a 31-16 loss at home to Oklahoma, the Buckeyes have gotten on track failing to score over 50 points in only one of their next five games.

Key to Ohio State’s five-game winning streak has been an explosive offense that is averaging 619.0 yards and 53.1 points per game in that stretch. Quarterback J.T. Barrett has piloted the high-flying offense completing 72 percent of his passes for 1,351 yards, 18 touchdowns and no interceptions during the same span.

With the bye week in the rearview mirror, Meyer says Barrett and his teammates have been practicing the best that they have all year, a likely indication for success on the game field.

“We’re so practice-oriented here,” Meyer said. “I love when I hear our players talk about J.T. Barret. The reason we played well is we’ve been practicing the best we have in several years.”

Providing obstacle to the Ohio State offense will be the nation’s top scoring defense that has yet to yield a single first quarter point. Led by linebacker Jason Cabinda, Ohio State expects an aggressive bunch unlike any it has seen this season.

“They just come after you,” Meyer said. “They’re very aggressive with their defensive line, and they menaced the team up north. They were all over the place. The combination of (Cabinda) and that defensive line, like any very good team, is the explosiveness.”

On the other side of the ball Ohio State defenders have a riddle of their own to solve. Saquon Barkley and one of the most versatile offenses in the country that just dropped 506 yards on a respected Michigan defense present a unique challenge for a defense that has only allowed six touchdowns in the last five weeks.

“(Barkley is) the best all-purpose guy we’ve probably faced in my career,” Meyer said. “He’s obviously a great running back, but they do a good job using him and creating matchup issues.You have different ways of bottling up great running backs. It’s hard, especially this guy, really hard. But the fact that they motion him out and create matchup nightmares, that’s what makes this guy as good an all-purpose running back we’ve seen.”

For Meyer who is 37-3 in Columbus since beginning his tenure in 2012, he hopes his Buckeyes provide the same level of play that they did in a 2014 season that brought Ohio State a national championship.

“We’ve had templates when our team played their very best against the best opposition, Meyer said. “The most obvious one was 2014. That’s leadership, that’s toughness, that’s coaching, that’s power of the unit.”

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