Post Game Quotes From Ohio State vs. Michigan – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/18/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 18, 2000
Recap| Box Score| Notes
Head Coach John Cooper
“In big ball games like this, obviously turnovers will cost you. We fought back, we dug ourselves in a hole, gave ourselves a chance and then didn’t make plays down the stretch when we had to. “
“Steve (Bellisari) sprints out the one-time and got (Ken-Yon) Rambo behind everybody and we couldn’t connect on that. Then we had a fourth-down play and we gambled. My thinking was if we don’t get a first down, we’re not going to get the ball back. So we gambled and weren’t able to get the first down. After that we put a lot of pressure on our defense and of course they (Michigan) scored on fourth down when their quarterback (Drew Henson) made a great play.
On the Michigan scoring game and screen: They are going to screen you when you blitz as much as we do. They did a nice job with the screen play. I thought they hit (Anthony) Thomas with the quick screen. We knew Henson was a good QB and if you give him that much time it’s difficult to cover a good wide receiver.
On the Ohio State seniors:
I’m proud of those seniors. I’m disappointed we didn’t win the ball game. It would have been great to close out their careers with a win against Michigan and we couldn’t win the ball game for them.
On Cooper’s record against Michigan (2-10-1):
No one wanted to win more than myself, my coaching staff and particularly our senior football players. With what we had riding on the outcome of this ball game, we had a chance at a BCS Bowl Game and no one else in the league had a chance to do that. My record against Michigan speaks for itself. Obviously, I’m disappointed.
Michigan Head Coach Lloyd Carr
“It was a hard-fought, hard-hitting football game, which is always typical of Ohio State/Michigan. I’m extremely proud of our team and the way they fought. We came into this great, old stadium in front of that many people and found a way to beat a very good football team. Especially based on some of the really difficult moments this team has had, our expectations are always high. When you meet the kind of adversity that we have, it’s pretty easy to fall apart and blame somebody, make excuses and point the finger or quit trying. To their credit they never did that. At the same time, Ohio State played very hard.”
On faking two field goals
“One of the things I felt going into this game was, I was not sure how we were going to play defensively. I felt good, I felt very confident, and yet, what I wanted to try to do was steal a couple possessions. One of them worked and one of them didn’t but that was my thinking.”
On going down, 9-0, in the first half
“I told our team on Sunday that this game is one of those games where you’d like to come in and take control and at least get ahead so you can negate the crowd. I told them, regardless of whether you get ahead or get behind, you have to play one down at a time and keep your poise. Normally, unless someone really self-destructs, this game is going to go down to the last two or three minutes. I was tremendously proud that when we got down, 9-0, we answered.”
“The reason I felt good coming into this game is that we had not played our best football game. Certainly we didn’t play perfect, but whether anyone thinks we played great, we played hard. We played as a team. If you take offense, defense and the kicking game, when I look at that film, I’m going to think it was our best game of the year.”
On being named Big Ten co-champions
“Any time you can be the Big Ten champions, you should be awfully proud of what you’ve done. It’s always a struggle. I don’t remember a struggle as hard as this one, but I’m tremendously proud that they kept fighting and found a way to win.”
QB Drew Henson
“There are just so many emotions. With how hard the season has been at times, to be able to come back and finish the way we did and win the championship probably makes it more gratifying.”
“I’m pleased with our performance. We got the win, which is the most important thing. We made some big plays when we had to. It was by far a team effort. The defense played outstanding and made some big stops when they had to to give us a lot of possession time.”
“Ohio State is a great football team also. We knew that the game was never over until we put it away. Even 16 points up in the fourth quarter was by no means a done deal. We knew we’d have to go down and score again to win.”
