'Hungry' Buckeyes turn up energy, attention to detail after loss
COLUMBUS — Ohio State was clearly serious about the top-to-bottom evaluation of the program.
Before worrying about schemes or personnel, the Buckeyes started with the absolute basics.
Ohio State looked at the way it was stretching. It was making sure everybody was huddling up the right way. After perhaps letting complacency set in after a long, monotonous training camp, the Buckeyes were checking the juice levels to make sure every rep was counting on Wednesday at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
The four-time defending Big Ten champions are well aware of the standard they are held to, and the stunner against Oregon has served as a de facto wakeup call for the Buckeyes.
“We’re hungry,” left tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere said. “This is a learning experience for a lot of us because it hasn’t happened in a while here. Coach [Ryan] Day took it in stride and said this is a learning opportunity for all of us — coaches, players, everyone. Learn what we did wrong and how to improve, fix the mistakes that we made so we can become a better team. … It’s about the small details in practice, for sure. But it’s also about the energy and the hunger that we have as a team.
“There’s a great hunger with all the players on both sides of the ball, and we’re ready to compete again.”
The Buckeyes made the most of that on the practice field over the last two days, workouts that a couple upperclassmen called the best of the year so far.
That might be hard to truly evaluate, and the evidence still has to show up in the Horseshoe on Saturday against Tulsa. But it was a sign of renewed focus for the Buckeyes after the system shock that came from the upset loss to Oregon, the first regular-season loss for the program in nearly three years.
There is obviously big-picture evaluation going on as well, and the offensive players made available after practice hinter there were some new looks being thrown at them from the much-maligned Ohio State defense. But it’s the tiny details that have been under the microscope for the Buckeyes with the expectation that they can build from there.
“We learned a lot about doing the small things right, a lot about the details when it comes to practice,” Petit-Frere said. “Things you wouldn’t even think about. … All those small, little details are things we’ve done for so many years. That’s why we’ve won. When you lose track of some of those small details, things like this can happen. We’re getting back to the basics. We’re making sure we do all the small details right. Correcting all the small mistakes and never letting anything get taken for granted.”
The Buckeyes paid the price for it on Saturday.
And it was a lesson they took straight back to work on Wednesday.
