Ezekiel Elliott Apologized to Urban Meyer for Criticism, Will Not Be Suspended

Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott apologized to head coach Urban Meyer for publicly venting his frustration about his lack of touches in Saturday's 17-14 loss to Michigan State.

Meyer addressed the situation Monday and indicated Elliott won't face a suspension, per Sports Illustrated's Pete Thamel. Ohio State on BTN had video of Meyer addressing the media:

"He came to see me. He's great and he apologized," said Meyer, per Thamel, adding, "He's been a good student, loyal. Selfless.

"Just an emotional week.... Obviously we don't condone that and encourage it," added Meyer in speaking of Elliott's postgame rant, per Bleacher Report's Ben Axelrod.

Elliott also wrote about the incident Monday on Twitter, expressing excitement for the Buckeyes' regular-season finale and apologizing for declaring his intentions to leave Columbus for the NFL when he did:

"

pic.twitter.com/n2UYS4dCHO

— EzekielElliott#⃣1⃣5⃣ (@EzekielElliott) November 23, 2015"

While he had run for over 100 yards in every contest of the season, Elliott was limited to 33 yards rushing against the Spartans on 12 carries—and he only had two rushing attempts in the second half.

Following the game, Elliott was blunt in his assessment, saying, "I deserve more than 11 carries," per Dan Wolken of USA Today. "I really do. I can't speak for the play-caller. I don't know what was going on."

Elliott continued, saying the "coaching staff didn't put us in position to win," via Rick Pizzo of the Big Ten Network. "That's a team [Michigan State] we should beat."

SportsCenter provided more of Elliott's comments:

Although he took issue with how the sophomore handled the problem initially, Meyer saw where the 20-year-old was coming from, saying, per Thamel,"I couldn't disagree with him. His comments. He should have gotten the ball a little bit more."

The quarterback situation that was supposed to be so advantageous for Ohio State has actually contributed most to its offensive woes. Instead of leaning heavily on Elliott as they have all season, the Buckeyes attempted to run QB J.T. Barrett more often and couldn't get a perpetually stagnant passing attack rolling.

Neither Barrett nor Cardale Jones has played at a consistently high level in 2015, leading to turbulence rather than dominance at the most important position.

Devastating as the loss to Sparty was for OSU, it at least won't make the mistake of not feeding Elliott again. Its next contest is this Saturday against a stout Michigan defense, and to set the tone in Ann Arbor, the Buckeyes would do well to let Elliott chip away at the Wolverines.

Elliott has been the primary reason Ohio State is 10-1 at the moment. The team got away from its Heisman Trophy contender and wound up losing to a backup QB at home. The Buckeyes may as well get the most they can out of Elliott since he likely only has two games left in a scarlet and grey uniform.