Football Captains Talk About Michigan – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/19/1998 12:00:00 AM | Football
November 19, 1998
Columbus, Ohio – The Ohio State captains talk about this Saturday’s game against the Michigan Wolverines.%^$
%^$Senior cornerback Antoine Winfield %^$
%^$What are your thoughts on Michigan Week?%^$
%^$”Michigan week is very exciting but we’re trying to keep everything the same.” %^$
%^$Who needs to make the big plays on Saturday?%^$
%^$”Myself, Andy (Katzenmoyer), Jerry (Rudzinski), Damon (Moore) – we all have to play big. But we have a lot of seniors out there and a lot of great players on defense. All of us need to go out there and make a play or two.” %^$
%^$What are your thoughts on the way Charles Woodson played last year?%^$
%^$”He’s was a great player. He won the Heisman, the Thorpe and he took all the major awards.%^$
%^$Did he step up and beat you guys last year?%^$
%^$”You have to remember, Charles was doing it all year. But when he returned that punt, he kind of broke us down and gave them momentum.”%^$
%^$Will your career be incomplete if you don’t beat Michigan?%^$
%^$”It would be very incomplete. This is my fourth year and unfortunately, I have three losses against them. This is my last game in the Horseshoe and I’m just trying to go out with a win.%^$”The last four years have really flown by. When I first came in, I was behind Shawn (Springs) and Ty (Howard) for two years and it was all fun. But now, its all business. This is my last game, and I’m going to do whatever it takes to help my team win.”%^$
%^$What has Michigan done special the last three years to win?%^$
%^$”I think it’s just make more big plays. Somehow when we get to the Michigan game, they take it to another level and make the big plays to win.”%^$
%^$Any thoughts on covering Tai Streets?%^$
%^$”He’s been around for awhile. I think he’s on a streak right now with seven touchdown catches in the last seven games.”%^$
%^$What will you do to prepare for him?%^$
%^$”Go in and watch film on him. See how he matched up against other corners. See what he likes to do in bump and run.” %^$
%^$Is preparing for this game any different from other?%^$
%^$”I don’t think it’s any different. We know what we have to do to go out and win. It’s basically the same thing every week. To go out and win we have to make plays. We’re studying film on them a lot and our coaches will have a great game plan come Saturday.” %^$
%^$Are you nervous at all?%^$
%^$”I’m relaxed. I know what I have to do. I’ll be matched up man-to-man. So if my man doesn’t have any catches, then I had a great game.%^$”It’s college football. They’re on scholarship too. They’re going to go out and try to make some plays and try to beat us. Who knows? But we will know around Saturday at 4 or 4:30.”%^$
%^$Senior Quarterback Joe Germaine%^$ %^$What are some of your thoughts on Michigan?%^$
%^$”From the last couple of years I’ve played against them, I already know they have a great defense that’s always running around and moving. Their linemen are slanting and their linebackers are blitzing, and their secondary does a good job disguising coverages.”%^$
%^$Have they done anything to surprise you the last couple of years?%^$
%^$”Whenever we play Michigan, its just a great matchup. They have great players over there that make great plays. That’s been the difference.”%^$
%^$Does the extra attention of this week’s game take away from the team’s preparation? %^$
%^$”There is obviously extra attention this week. But as far as preparation and the team getting prepared, we’re just going to go about it as we have every other week. We’re not going to make much of this game but obviously it is quote-unquote the biggest game of the year for both teams.” %^$
%^$What makes this game so special?%^$
%^$”It’s just a big game. It’s one of those games that’s fun to be a part of. It’s why you go to Ohio State or why you do go to Michigan – to be a part of something like this.%^$
%^$What has to happen for the Buckeyes to win?%^$
%^$”We’re going to go out and be ourselves. This entire season, we never felt we had to try and prove anything to anybody. And we will take the same approach this week. You won’t see us try to razzle-dazzle everyone – we’re just going to try to do what we do best.”%^$
%^$What makes Michigan so good?%^$
%^$”They just have a great defense that makes plays. It puts a lot of emphasis on the opposing quarterback to make good decisions and stay within the system. We have try and take whatever they give us and that’s the most important thing.”%^$
%^$Are you haunted by OSU’s record against Michigan the last few years?%^$
%^$”I won’t say I’m haunted by what’s happened the last couple of years. We’re obviously disappointed that we couldn’t win, but like I said before – this is a new year. Whenever you play Michigan, its one of those games where you throw the records out the window. It’s just a great matchup player for player and that’s what makes it a great game. %^$
%^$Senior linebacker Jerry Rudzinski%^$
%^$Why has Michigan had so much success against you guys the past few years?%^$
%^$”I know that Michigan and Ohio State go after the same players and they probably go after the same assistant coaches. We’re very close in geography and I can’t figure out why they’ve had the success against us. No one can figure it out. But we know we want to turn this thing around and hopefully we won’t have to answer this question in a couple of years.%^$
%^$”We have not lost to an average football team or even a mediocre football team. We’ve lost three years in a row to an excellent football team. I think it could have hurt us that we had a lot to lose in two of those three games. Last year, they were the ones undefeated and looking to roll into the Rose Bowl and they went out and performed well with all that pressure.”%^$
%^$What do you know about this year’s Michigan squad?%^$
%^$”They’re a great football team that’s up for the national championship every year and they have some big time players. We’re going to be playing a bunch of All-Americans and well coached athletes and we better be on top of our game if we want to win it.”%^$
%^$Did Charles Woodson beat you guys last year?%^$
%^$”It is a team performance. Woodson had the punt return and the interception, and they were big plays. But one guy can’t beat Ohio State just like one guy can’t beat Michigan. They controlled the ball at times and in the end, they had more points on the board. I give them credit for last year. I don’t think it was just Woodson that stepped up and beat us, I think they stepped up as a team.”%^$
%^$Is there less pressure this year?%^$
%^$”Ideally, every year, you want it to be just a football game, not a game that determines a national championship or a Rose Bowl. I think its going to help us that the Rose Bowl and the national championship are not on the line. That’s up to other people. The only thing up to us is trying to beat Michigan.%^$”In ’95 and ’96, I thought we were unbeatable. I thought if we had a decent day of football, we’d come out on top and Michigan proved us wrong. Last year, I don’t think we were intimidated, but we just didn’t perform the way we should of.”%^$
%^$Have you thought about Michigan all season?%^$
%^$”I think about Michigan all year. I thought about the Michigan/Ohio State game when I was in grade school. Now that I’m on the Ohio State team, you better believe I think about it every day.”%^$
