Mohamed Barry referred to Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer as “the Godfather of the spread offense,” Tuesday night.
That line of thinking from the Nebraska sophomore inside linebacker, and that respect shown for the No. 9 Buckeyes’ leader ahead of Saturday evening, clearly trickles down from first-year defensive coordinator Bob Diaco.
After all, Diaco spent most of his availability Tuesday evening listing the ways Meyer makes life difficult for coaches and players tasked with defending the Buckeyes.
“He’s one of the founding fathers of spread, before people called it spread,” Diaco said. “I referred to it in the write-up for the players as not a spread offense, I wrote it as the spread offense, and I did that purposefully.