After listening to the press conference, I heard a lot about injuries of course and the fact that we must clean up the turnovers. The thing that was concerning was the statement that you want to be playing your best at start of conference. That may be, but we aren’t - mostly because of the previous 2 observations. He also mentioned his individual staff and total staff meetings to see if they can do things different in preparation for games.
He talked about playing 64 of the 74 players we took to Kentucky, which was the highest he could ever remember. Obviously, He’s looking for someone to step up to change the direction we’re seeing. I think he knows we’re vulnerable to lose a bunch of upcoming games if we can’t turn it around. Am I reading too much into this or not?
I think you are reading it about right. I would add that we have to keep in mind that Ohio has something like 50 players who are new to the system. This was a game that Ohio wasn't going to win anyway, especially in the second half. Thus, it was a good opportunity to play a lot of new faces and see what they could do against a good team. Hopefully, at least a few players did well enough to earn more PT in the future.
This is a very different season that ever before. In a normal season, Ohio comes in knowing who can do what, and only having to work the kinks out, so, after a game or two, they are pretty solid. With 50 new players, there are a lot more kinks to work out, and a lot more to learn about who can do what, and who performs best in what roles and situations. If the coaches do their job, and I think they will, this will be a season where Ohio gets a little better each week. Each week they will know more about what Ohio can and can't do, and they will be able to gameplan better, and execute better. Even as late as the Toledo and Ball State games, or even the bowl (if there is one), Ohio should still be improving.