Michigan State coach Mel Tucker talks 'challenge' of Ohio State football
Mel Tucker knows firsthand what it takes to win a championship with Ohio State football.
He was on coach Jim Tressel’s staff in 2002, helping lead the Buckeyes to a national title as the team’s defensive backs coach, later becoming the team’s co-defensive coordinator.
Heading into his next meeting with Ohio State as Michigan State’s head football coach, Tucker said he still has his 2002 national championship ring in his office, but never wears it.
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Tressel told him not to.
“He said ‘Don’t let me catch you wearing your ring or looking at your ring,’ ” Tucker said Monday. “It’s already in the book, right? What’s next?”
Through Michigan State’s first five games of the season, Tucker is focusing on what’s next.
The Spartans have lost three of their first five games, including both of their first two conference games of the 2022 campaign to Minnesota and Maryland. Michigan State returns home Saturday to take on Ohio State’s No. 3-ranked offense with the No. 100-ranked defense in college football.
“The challenge is that they’re very balanced,” Tucker said of Ohio State’s offense. “They’re extraordinary in the run game and also in the pass game, and they have, arguably, the best quarterback in the country. Everyone’s at the point of attack on every play.”
Tucker described Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud as a smart and tough quarterback, one who knows where to go with the ball in the passing game while showing elite efficiency and an ability to extend plays with his legs.
Defensively, Tucker said he sees an Ohio State unit that plays on the same page and knows where each piece fits, something he wants Michigan State to emulate.
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“They’re very decisive on defense and they play fast,” Tucker said. “They have a lot of speed and they flow fast to the ball. They’re going to make sure you can’t run the ball inside and want to make you run the ball sideways. And they want to use their speed to track you down and make sure they got good edges.”
Tucker said Michigan State’s focus isn’t on an upset against Ohio State. It’s something he said the Spartans believe they can do, stripping “the name off the jersey” and going to work to prepare for the Buckeyes.
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The Spartans' focus, according to Tucker, is not on the end result.
“Our focus right now on a Monday is the process: what do we have to do today in preparation,” Tucker said. “The required work, the unrequired work today to stack this day and then move forward to the next day in the process.
“And then, at the end, then we look at the scoreboard and see what it says.”
Ohio State football's 2022 schedule
Week 1: Ohio State 21, Notre Dame 10
Week 2: Ohio State 45, Arkansas State 12
Week 3: Ohio State 77, Toledo 21
Week 4: Ohio State 52, Wisconsin 21
Week 5: Ohio State 49, Rutgers 10
Week 6: Ohio State vs. Michigan State, Oct. 8, 4 p.m., East Lansing, Mich.
Week 8: Ohio State vs. Penn State, Oct. 29, State College, Pa.
Week 11: Ohio State vs. Maryland, Nov. 19, College Park, MD.
Week 12: Ohio State vs. Michigan, at noon Nov. 26, Columbus, Ohio
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Mel Tucker, Michigan State coach, talks Ohio State matchup
