Ohio State coaches evaluate their players after every game, and those getting top grades are designated as “champions.”

Eight players on offense met that standard from the 52-49 win over Indiana on Saturday. But as coach Urban Meyer and his staff reviewed video of the defense, they couldn’t find anyone worthy of that distinction.

Quarterback Braxton Miller, running back Carlos Hyde and left tackle Jack Mewhort were named offensive players of the game. But the coaches opted not to pick a defensive player of the game for the first time this season.

The Buckeyes gave up a pair of touchdowns and a two-point conversion in the final 1:40 against the Hoosiers. But even before that late collapse, the defense was being gashed by the downtrodden Hoosiers.

“We’ve got to eliminate big plays. … It’s been absurd how many big plays we give up,” Meyer said at his weekly press luncheon Monday.

“Right now, we’re putting an APB out for tough guys.”

Meyer said the three remedies are to play full speed for four to six seconds every snap, eradicate missed tackles and get leverage on the ball — meaning not getting caught out of position.

“I’m not a big believer in screaming and yelling and throwing Gatorade bottles against the wall,” he said. “Case in point was Ohio State had a real issue with throwing the ball down field to a receiver that could catch it. We could have just screamed and yelled and complained and whined. There was a little bit of that, but there was a lot of work on trying to get efficient in throwing the ball down the field, and now we’re much better.”

OSU has been depleted by injuries and played without starting defensive end Nathan Williams (concussion) and linebacker Etienne Sabino (fractured leg). But Meyer said: “Excuses are unacceptable here. The good thing is when you talk to a team that’s 7-0, you have their attention.”

The Buckeyes are ranked eighth in the Big Ten in scoring defense (24.6 points per game), 10th in total defense (400.0 yards) and last in pass defense (277.7).

The unit didn’t have much turnover in personnel from last season but has gotten dramatically worse. In 2011, the Buckeyes were sixth in scoring defense (21.0), fifth in total defense (323.5) and fourth in pass defense (182.0).

Meyer has managed to transform the offense this season into one of the most prolific outfits in the nation. But he knows the Buckeyes can’t count on winning shootouts every week.

“At some point, you have to play some really good defense. The top two right now are Alabama and Florida, the two best defenses in America. That’s not by accident they’re 1-2 (in the BCS standings),” he said.

“The great teams we’ve had over the years, yeah, we scored some points, but at the end of the day, defense wins games.”

Meyer vowed after the IU game to take more control of the defense, and he immersed himself in that side of the ball during Sunday’s meetings and workouts.

“I’m not happy at all with what’s going on. That includes players and coaches,” he said. “I think we can all get better. It’s a team effort. We’ve got good coaches and good players, and we’ll move forward and get better.”

Notes: The Ohio State-Purdue game Saturday is scheduled to be televised locally by ABC (Ch. 22) and carried throughout the country by ESPN2. The Penn State game Oct. 27 has been moved up to 5:30 from 6 p.m.

• Senior running back Jordan Hall (knee injury) is jogging now, but “he’s not healing well,” Meyer said. Hall is expected to be sidelined at least another week.
• Meyer said freshman defensive end Noah Spence showed some promise while playing in Williams’ absence, and the coaches are devising ways to get them on the field at the same time. Williams could possibly move to linebacker.