Post Game Quotes From Ohio State at Minnesota – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/3/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 3, 2001
Recap| Final Stats| Notes
Minnesota Head Coach Glen Mason
“Today was just a good Big Ten football game. It was one of those games that was so close that you can look back at single plays in the game that could have turned the tide for us. Credit Ohio State. They had a player that stepped up that had been under a lot of criticism. That’s one good thing about college football. It can bring out the best in some athletes and today Steve Bellisari showed what a fighter he was.”
“When a game like this is this close, it all depends on whose eyes you are looking through about the end result of the game. From my perspective, the one play that sticks out in my mind was when our freshman cornerback had the chance to intercept the ball in the corner of the end zone and it went off his fingertips and Ohio State caught it for a touchdown. If he makes that play, it’s a whole different ball game.”
On the defense:
“Today, we did not tackle very well. Ohio State was tough up front and they really exploited us with their controlled passing game. What was most disappointing about the play of our defense is that we weren’t able to contain the quarterback draw. We knew Bellisari was going to run that so it wasn’t a surprise. We just did a poor job of stopping it.”
On team’s chances for a bowl:
“In all my years of coaching, I have never looked at the season in terms of how many more games we need to win to become bowl eligible. My philosophy is that if you can’t get fired up to play Big Ten football, then you have something wrong with you. I would hope my players are playing because they love the game, just as I am coaching for the love of the game. I hope that’s the way they look at it as we close the season.”
Ohio State Head Coach Jim Tressel
“Our kids played hard. This is a tough place to play and our offense was proud that they had no sacks. We did have a few plays that could have hurt, but our kids played hard and that made this game probably the best one all year. This could have been a tough loss, and we were in a tough spot. We could have fallen but we stayed strong and won the game.”
“We always have talk of a Big Ten Championship and this win will help us get closer to that. I’m not going to say how close, but close. I was very impressed on our ability to answer to being down. Being away from home, it is even harder to comeback when you are down, but we held strong and were able to pull out a win.”
“I’ve known Glen [Mason] for a long time and we are good friends. People think we hate each other, but we’re nothing but good friends. When he came up to me after the game, we just shared a few some good words. I don’t hate the man, he’s a real good friend.”
Defensive end Greg White
“While playing Murray State, we knew we had a problem with the quarterback draw – Ohio exposed that today. We knew they were going to come out and play. We made a few mistakes, and they took advantage of our inexperience, but I felt we played well enough to win this game.
On reaching a bowl game:
“We play each game to win it and see where it takes us from there.”
Offensive tackle Matt Anderle
“We were disappointed. We know how we can play. Every team in this conference can beat another on any given night. We’re still in the hunt to go to a bowl game.”
Safety Jack Brewer
“I think we can take away some positives from this game. We’ll face the same kind of offense at Michigan, so I think that can help us.”
Quarterback Asad Abdul-Khaliq
“We’re very disappointed with tonight’s game. Ohio State came with big plays. That deflected touchdown – how lucky was that? We think about going to a bowl game a lot. It would be great to go and finish with that.”
