Urban Meyer: Luke Fickell did not interview for the Florida Atlantic job

Matthew Mithoefer
Thu, 07 Nov 2013 05:07:13 +0000
Football, Sports, Buckeyes, Luke Fickell, ohio state, Urban Meyer

Junior linebacker Ryan Shazier (2) sacks the quarterback during a game against Purdue Nov. 2 at Ross-Ade Stadium. OSU won, 56-0.
Credit: Shelby Lum / Photo editor

Ohio State defensive coordinator Luke Fickell did not interview for the head coaching vacancy at Florida Atlantic University, OSU coach Urban Meyer said Wednesday.

FAU is currently searching for a new coach after former coach Carl Pelini resigned because of illegal drug usage.

Meyer told the media Wednesday after practice, “there’s absolutely no interviewing going on during this time.”

Meyer said a mid-season interview would be disruptive to the team’s pursuit of a national championship. He also said he would have had to grant an interview.

OSU is on its second bye week of the 2013 season, but still faces an important weekend in its push for a national title. Three other unbeaten teams that sit alongside OSU face off against top-15 opponents, including No. 3 Oregon who is set to take on No. 5 Stanford Thursday at 9 p.m.

Meyer said rooting for certain teams to fail isn’t on his weekend agenda, which includes recruiting Friday night and watching his daughter play volleyball Saturday.

“For us to waste energy on that, that’s not fair to the players we coach,” Meyer said.

Junior linebacker Ryan Shazier said he plans on taking in college football’s entire landscape this weekend, and even admitted to having a rooting interest Thursday night.

“I just want to see everybody this weekend, to see where everybody’s at right now,” Shazier said. “I would be lying if I said I won’t be pulling for (Stanford).”

Shazier said he believes everything will fall into place on its own at the end of the season.

Junior defensive linemen Michael Bennett said his squad can’t focus on things out of its control.

“Personally, it’s not that frustrating to me, ‘cause if I can’t control something, then I’m just going to not worry about it,” Bennett said. “All we can control is how much we beat the teams that we’re playing right now.”

Bennett said a bye week this late in the season is “really, really helpful” in getting key pieces of the team back to full strength.

Even with the additional time to rest, a banged-up OSU, with both sophomore right tackle Taylor Decker and junior linebacker Curtis Grant suffering from injuries, will depend on its developing depth to step up when it returns to action against Illinois Nov. 16.

“We’ve been fortunate enough the offense has been putting up points on people so we can get younger guys in there,” Bennett said.

Shazier said while the bye week will help himself and his teammates heal, he almost wishes there were a game this weekend.

“I kind of wish I was playing on Saturday, (because) we’re in a good groove right now on defense and offense,” Shazier said.