Transcript From The October 14th Ohio State Football Press Luncheon – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/14/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 14, 2003
TRESSEL: Before we recap the Wisconsin ball game and talk about the challenge of playing Iowa at homecoming, Robert Reynolds asked if he could come with us today. We originally just had Dustin and Drew scheduled to be here from a class conflict standpoint. And Rob asked if he could have the opportunity to share with you his thoughts and feelings, and Steve Snapp and myself certainly felt that that would be a positive thing. And so I’d like to turn it over to Rob here for a minute and we’ll go from there.
REYNOLDS: I’d like to start out by apologizing again to Coach Alvarez and Jim Sorgi for my actions during the game. You know, it was uncharacteristic of me, and I lost my poise for one second, and, as a result, I have to sit out this next game. And I’d like to apologize to my teammates for my actions also, and to my family for having them had to put up with what I’ve done and just hope we can move on from this. And I’m positive that this will never happen again and is definitely not in my character to do this.
TRESSEL: You know, I would echo that I feel the same way. I’ve had a chance to get to know Rob for three years, and have watched many a practice and many a weight lifting, many a social situation, and it is also in my opinion that it was not something that is a part of who Rob is, and I respect the fact that he wants to be over here and stand in front of all of you and, with his wife, Jennifer, and while it was something that was unacceptable, it’s also something that’s tough to handle. And I think he’ll do a good job of handling it well.
We talked before that it would be an opportunity for any of you to ask anything to Rob before we go into what I would call our normal business at hand.
REPORTER: Rob, can you explain what came over you right there, at that moment? A lot of the e-mails we’ve gotten and a lot of the reaction has been it looked very intentional, like you knew exactly what you were doing.
REYNOLDS: I’d just have to say, like I said earlier, I lost my poise, and it’s something that I haven’t been taught, it’s just something I did, and I regret it. And it was one second that I wish I could take back, and I do regret it.
REPORTER: Was any of the frustration from the game, do you think, had any — just the way the game was going?
REYNOLDS: I wouldn’t say that, because I feel like, besides that one instance, I feel like I played with confidence and was under control out there, and it was just that one play.
REPORTER: Rob, why was it important for you to come to this press conference today and talk to us about it, because obviously it’s a tough move. Why was it important to address us?
REYNOLDS: Just for the fact that I want people to see me because I’ve been hearing stuff on the news that I’m a bad person. I wouldn’t say I’m a bad person. I’m not a violent person. I just got carried away out there during the game. You know, you play with your emotions, and I lost control of them for a second, and, as a result, I have to sit out on Saturday.
REPORTER: Were you trying to scare him or hurt him?
REYNOLDS: Really none of the above. Really, it’s a violent game. It just happened so fast, it was somewhat of an instinct, but it wasn’t. I should be able to control myself out there, and for the most part, I do, and, you know, I play hard. And what’s happened is not going to slow me down out there. I’m going to play twice as aggressive, I think, but I will play within the rules and I sincerely regret what I did.
REPORTER: It happened at the end of the third quarter, you still had another quarter to play. Were you aware you were doing something that was really crossing the line at that point?
REYNOLDS: No, I didn’t realize it was that big of a deal at the time.
REPORTER: Why do you think it happened that one particular play?
REYNOLDS: I was just — it just happened. You know, it could have happened any play, but there was really nothing that led up to it.
REPORTER: Were you worried that maybe this would be more than a one-game suspension?
REYNOLDS: I really wasn’t worried. I was willing to take my — take my medicine for what I did, and no matter what the suspension was, I was willing to take it, because I acted out of character, and, you know, it’s not Ohio State football.
REPORTER: What has it been like the last couple of days? You said you’ve seen some reaction and stuff, what kind of reaction have you gotten or noticed?
REYNOLDS: It’s just been real frustrating, having to deal with everything that’s gone on through my actions, and it’s affected my family, and that’s the last thing I want to do, is do anything to harm them. And I just regret what I did.
TRESSEL: Let me interject at this point. I had a chance to talk with Coach Alvarez again yesterday as we were talking about the situation. And like anything that’s very, very important, I think you need to invest the proper amount of time and consideration and so forth, and as I visited with him about it, it was very important for us at Ohio State that when we made a decision as to what was the appropriate next step, that that be something that, most importantly, would be agreeable from Wisconsin’s standpoint, because that, indeed, was the other party in the matter.
And Coach Alvarez, echoing for Jim Sorgi, said that we consider Robert’s apology to be genuine and to be — it was very appreciated, and as far as they’re concerned, they need to move forward, just like we feel as if we need to move forward, and they need to get ready to play Purdue and we get ready to play Iowa. In our case, it will be without Robert Reynolds, but that’s where it is. And I’d like to move into that at this point in time.
I don’t think we can move into Iowa, though, without talking about what we did and didn’t do at Wisconsin.
We talk a lot about what does it take to win a big game on the road, what does it take to win any game on the road, and we start with the fact that we feel as if we need to be superior in our special teams. You can’t go on the road if you don’t win the special teams battle, if you will.
We felt like we played solid in the special teams. B. J. Sander had a big day in the special teams, dropped four punts inside the 20 and set up tough field position for them on a tough night.
We did make a big error in the special teams, which turned into three points for them. They did make a big error in the special teams, which turned into three for us. And I wouldn’t say that we were superior to our opponent, the special teams, which is the first part of the formula we think has to happen to win.
We also say that you need to play relentless defense. I think we did play relentless defense. I thought we kept playing and playing, and we hadn’t faced that brand of attack. And so at the beginning, we struggled maybe a little bit, but I thought as the game went, our defense got a feel for the flow and so forth and handled things well. But unfortunately, we gave up the big play. And usually, the team that makes the big play in a tight game is going to win the football game.
Then we talk about the third part of the formula to win on the road is that you’ve got to have mistake-free and opportunistic offense. I don’t think we got that done, from the standpoint we had an opportunity with the ball in the red zone from the start after their error on the special teams, and we didn’t make it seven points. We made it three, but we didn’t make it seven. An to win a tough ball game on the road, I think you’ve got to take those opportunities and seize them and make it seven.
The other things was we made some mistakes, especially from a penalty standpoint. We had a couple linemen mistakes, where we were called for illegal alignment. Two different times they flagged us for not having a lineman far enough up on the line of scrimmage when we were in the shotgun. We had a couple holding calls. Yards and first downs were hard to come by without making errors, so if you take that part of the formula, I think there’s no question that we didn’t do what we needed to do from there.
And then the last thing that’s kind of all-encompassing, and in my mind, perhaps the most meaningful, is that when you go into a toughen environment, against a very good football team, it’s very important to make sure that we have poise and patience and that we understand that things are going to come hard, things are going to be difficult and that we’ve just got to keep getting better and better and better and when it comes down to it, we’ll have a chance to win at the end.
And I don’t know if we collectively — and I’m not referring to Rob’s situation solely, just collectively — I’m not sure we had the degree of poise and patience in an environment such as that, that gave us a chance to win the game.
So when you don’t do the things that you think you really need to do, you’re not going to win. We did have some opportunities. We kept talking about them on the sideline that we are going to have opportunities to pull this thing out, and we did; unfortunately, we didn’t win the game, and that’s what we live with as we move on to Iowa.
We did have some excellent performances, as I mentioned, B.J. Sander was the special teams player of the week. Will Allen had an extraordinary game, was the defensive player of the week. Drew Carter had an outstanding game, came up with some big plays and gets better and better and better every day and he was the offensive player of the week. Ben Hartsock was the offensive lineman. Will Smith had an excellent day as our attack force player of the week. We had good preparation. Anthony Schlagle was the scout player of the week. Reggie Arden went over and was the offensive player of the week. Antonio Smith did a great job as the defensive scout player of the week.
There were some people who had excellent performances and could well have contributed to a win, but we collectively didn’t get that done.
And now, as we come back home for homecoming, we have Iowa coming in, who’s an outstanding team. The thing that’s in my mind is so good about them is they know exactly what they want to do, how they want to do it. They play extremely hard and fast. Their success has been an upward trend over the course of the four or five or six years that they’ve been building their program. They have excellent players. I think an outstanding coaching staff. And it’s one of the things that makes the Big Ten a very, very good conference is teams like Iowa, and we’re looking forward to the challenge of playing Iowa at homecoming this coming Saturday.
Drew Carter is with us today, as I mentioned was the offensive player of the game. Dustin Fox is with us today. Dustin graded out extremely well, played in a whole different environment than we’d been playing in. We’d been spread out all over the field, chasing receivers around and so forth, Dustin was up there in the box, making tackles, doing what he had to do. He shifted gears into doing something that he hadn’t been doing for the last five or six weeks, and I think Dustin, who plays, in my mind, one of the most difficult positions in football, which is that boundary corner, continues to grow and is an outstanding member of our defense.
So for Dustin, Drew, and myself, both Wisconsin and Iowa, open for questions.
REPORTER: Jim, could you explain what you’re trying to do offensively.
TRESSEL: What we’re trying to do? Well, the first thing we’re trying to do is make the contribution offensively that our team needs so that we can win the game. That’s, above all else. You know, I’ve never wanted necessarily to say that I’m a run-and-shoot coach, and we’re doing that because that’s what I do.
Secondly, what we’re trying to do offensively is we’re trying to find out what it is that we’re best suited from the personnel we have playing, and that’s the ongoing study. That’s something that you study and study and study. We’ve said very often what we’d like to be. We’d like to be a team that can run and throw equally well and put pressure on a defense. All the while, not turning the football over, all the while, scoring when we get scoring opportunities and be as balanced and as effective as we can be.
I think as we went into this football game, this past weekend, we felt like if we could have established the past, that we were going to have a chance to then establish the run because of the makeup of their defense as opposed to pounding the square peg in the round hole, and we weren’t able to do that early on. I felt like if the conditions got better, we could do that. As they did, I thought they threw it a little bit better. But that’s what we would like to be in general, and that’s what we wanted to be this past Saturday. But nowhere, in the answer to that question, do I think that I’ve got all the answers as to what we will be.
REPORTER: Where are you in that search for what you can do?
TRESSEL: Where are we?
REPORTER: Yeah.
TRESSEL: In the midst of the chapter. You know, in the midst of the writing.
REPORTER: Based on your personality and stuff, what is it you’ve determined you all do best?
TRESSEL: Well, I would say this. If the personnel that we would like to have are all healthy and all available, I would like to think that with the maturity we have at quarterback, with the evolution that a guy like Drew Carter brings to the table, the challenge was put to a guy like Drew and all of our seniors, to have your career best year in your senior year, which I think Drew is on his way at the halfway point to doing that.
I think Ben Hartsock, we knew all along was an outstanding blocking tight end, and the challenge was given that he be able to really grow as a receiver. I think he’s done that.
I don’t think we have had continuity, if you will, from an offensive line standpoint. As we entered the season, we were challenging the veteran guys to have their career best years. It’s difficult when you’re a little bit banged up, as Alex has been. I think Nick Mangold has stepped in and done a pretty good job. But I don’t think we have offensive line continuity right now, and obviously, goes without saying, you know, we don’t have run game continuity at this point in time. We’re certainly searching for that.
REPORTER: Jim, without Robert Reynolds who fills in now?
TRESSEL: Well, Bobby Carpenter will be the SAM linebacker, and his back-up would be Jason Bond. Rob played a little bit of MIKE linebacker during the game, of which Rob really played football-wise, an outstanding football game. He shared that with Mike D’Andrea and Freddie Pagac. So Mike and Freddie will be at the MIKE position, and Bobby at the SAM, and A. J. at the WILL and Bobby will be backed up by Jason Bond and A.J. by Thomas Matthews.
REPORTER: How is Carpenter coming along because he has played some, but not as much as Hawk and those guys?
TRESSEL: Yeah, Bobby Carpenter is a good football player. Bobby Carpenter played very, very well on Saturday. He’s going to continue to get better and has done an excellent job for us on special teams as well. We feel good about Bobby.
REPORTER: What’s his strength, maybe?
TRESSEL: He’s strong. He’s physical. He’s got excellent speed and movement. Bobby Carpenter will continue to grow into being, I think, an outstanding linebacker.
REPORTER: Jim, I think you’ve said before you’d like to run for 200 and throw for 250, or maybe I’ve got those numbers reversed.
TRESSEL: Yeah, and score 40 points. That’s always the goal.
REPORTER: There’s this human cry out there with Krenzel and the wide receivers and tight ends, you’ve become this team that throws it all over the place. I wonder, what is, from your perspective, untenable about becoming a team that sets a goal of throwing for 300 and running for 100 as opposed to the 200/250 balance? In the midstream, how feasible is it to do that or why can’t you do that?
TRESSEL: You know, it may be my, I don’t know, archaic belief at times or whatever, but I haven’t seen a whole bunch of the “throw it for 300, run it for 100” teams be consistently challenged. I’m sure it’s happened. Someone can go back in the record books and so forth.
But I would like to seek to be the best on a consistent basis. I think the more we’re able to throw for 250, we’ll have a better chance to run for 200 without question, and so no one would welcome us doing an excellent job passing any more than someone working at Ohio State on the offensive side. But we’re certainly not opposed to that. But I don’t know that I would want to be as imbalanced, nor would I want to run for 350 and throw for 50. I haven’t seen too many of those teams be champions.
REPORTER: There’s this perception out there, though, that you’re capable of throwing for 350, that you have this pass offense that people can’t stop. And I wonder, you — obviously, the shortcomings in your running game are somewhat apparent. As a coach, what do you feel about your passing game? Do you think that’s overblown that you have this ability to throw it all over the place? You must see some weaknesses in your passing game, otherwise I assume you’d be pressing that a little bit more.
TRESSEL: I think you always do your planning in your passing game starting with your view of your protection, and I think we’re coming along there. In fact, we’ve said that over the course of time, that we’re making progress there.
I’m really happy with the way that Drew has come along. Michael Jenkins, I think it goes without saying, is real solid there. Ben is coming along. And, you know, obviously Craig missed a couple weeks there, but I thought Scott stepped in and did what we do very well.
But as far as — I don’t know about the human cry, and whatever — my human cry is this, I’d like to be a balanced throw-and-run football team so we can make a contribution to be an outstanding football team.
REPORTER: Question for Drew. There’s been a little bit of a hit-and-miss with the long ball between the quarterback and receivers. Is that timing? Is that an issue where maybe Craig is not seeing you in time? Or is it route running? What’s the situation there? Because clearly you have the speed and so does Jenkins to bust a long run on almost any play.
CARTER: I think that the deep ball is — we talk about it in practice, it’s a big play, but it’s not a good percentage play. So you’re going to have a deep ball, and we want to connect as much as possible, but we don’t always want to go deep all the time because it’s not a high-percentage play. You go first and ten, and you’re second and ten, if you don’t complete it. I think that’s the main reason.
It’s not like we’re off or I’m not running right routes or Craig’s not throwing it, it’s nothing like that. It’s just not a high-percentage pass, so you’re not going to get every deep ball, you’re not going to catch every ball.
REPORTER: Coach, where does aggressive, hard-nose football end and dirty football begin? And philosophically, how do you encourage one and discourage the other?
TRESSEL: Oh, that’s written in the rules. Hard, aggressive football starts when the ball is snapped, and it ends when the whistle blows, and that’s the way it should be.
REPORTER: But do you find that players have a hard time sort of knowing when — you know, what officials will let slide by and what they’re going to flag?
TRESSEL: You know, I suppose you’d have to ask the individual, but it’s pretty cut and dried. When the whistle blows, the hitting stops. And I guess one of the hardest lessons that everyone has to understand is, even if the hitting doesn’t stop by this guy, it’s got to stop by me, because all I can control is me. And that’s not an inference that that’s what led up to any problem we had, but that’s a reality out there. But the rules were made, the rules are for everybody, but I can only worry about how I take care of the rules, and when the whistle blows, I stop hitting.
REPORTER: Can the players talk a little bit — everyone’s talking about how all this stuff happens at the bottom of the pile all the time, it’s tough at the bottom of the pile. Have you ever had any similar experiences where someone has tried to twist an ankle or something on one of you under the pile?
FOX: You know, that’s just something that kind of goes with the game. Referees don’t always see it. It happens. You know, it’s happened to me. It happened to me in high school. It’s happened to me in college. Nothing that serious, it just goes without saying, that those type of things are going to happen. You just have to keep your poise about it and deal with it and not react to it in a violent manner or something that would — because it’s always the second guy that gets caught in a situation like that, so you have to, like I say, keep your poise and just deal with it.
REPORTER: So would you say it’s common at the bottom of the pile for things like that to happen, or is it —
FOX: Yeah, I would say some of those things are common. I mean, especially in a league where it’s this aggressive and guys are playing hard and stuff like that. Things like that do happen. But like I said, you have to maintain poise, and the second guy always gets caught, so you have to remain to keep your poise.
REPORTER: For both the players and also for coach, you guys have kind of led a charmed life over the last year and a half, winning all the close games, and now you have one that could have gone either way that goes against you. Does anything change? Do you think that helps an opponent think that they’ve got an opportunity now, or that there’s doubt in anybody’s minds? Players first.
CARTER: The only thing that’s changed is we have a loss. But I know for an opponent to think they have something up against us is wrong. I think they have something to look out for because when you lose, it’s not like you’re down, you want to win again.
So Iowa, we’re going to prepare for Iowa really hard. So they should really expect us to come out, and it’s homecoming, so expect us to come out really hard. So I don’t think any opponent would think they have the upper hand against us.
FOX: Yeah, I definitely agree with Drew. It would be wrong for an opponent to look at your upcoming opponent as being down because they lost a game or something like that. Us, as a team, we looked at NC State when they lost to Wake Forest coming in, them losing to Wake Forest was probably the worst thing to happen to us because they were going to come out and want to bounce back, and obviously they played hard. So hopefully we’ll come out and play hard and bounce back and be resilient.
REPORTER: Jim, could you address that, please.
TRESSEL: I don’t really understand what a charmed life means.
REPORTER: Well, you’ve won so many games, you hadn’t lost games.
TRESSEL: Oh, okay. I think every team, when they began their preparation this spring and then restarted it in preseason, certainly had their eyes on Ohio State. That’s just the way that it is. I don’t think the fact that we’ve lost a ball game will lessen that, and all of a sudden it’s not quite as important to play Ohio State as it was, or I don’t know that it will enhance that.
We are always going to get people’s best shot, as we talked about many times preseason, people are going to play against us better than they are. And we need to understand that, I think we do understand that; and, therefore, we know how challenging it is.
REPORTER: Jim, do you think you’re still in the National Championship picture with the one loss considering how many wins there have been?
TRESSEL: You know, we asked that question. That question was asked last year when we had no losses, and it was irrelevant, because if we don’t win this week, it becomes less of a chance, if you will.
We’ve got to go out and practice every practice and play every play and win every game, and then worry about where we are and so forth.
So I thought our guys did a nice job a year ago of not succumbing to that question and keeping their eye on what’s going on this moment, this practice, this biology class, whatever, and I’d like to think that they’ll be able to do the same thing.
REPORTER: Jim, when Iowa played Arizona State, it appeared they got pressure on an Drew Walden, just the four guys. Is that typically what they do playing defense?
TRESSEL: I think they have outstanding defensive people, and they did put pressure on them. I think the reason they were able to put good pressure on them and just lay their ears back and go is because Arizona State didn’t run it very well. And you have to be, in my mind, a team that can do both or there can be ways to gang up on you. They have great strength and play so well with their hands up front on defense. Their technique is excellent. They play low and hard and they get into the battle. Usually, if you get into the battle with your hands inside, you’re going to be in control of the situation, and they did that certainly that ball game, and they seem to do it every ball game. They’re just a good, sound defense.
People talked a little bit preseason about how many players they lost. As I watched that defense and watched their film from a year ago, there are a lot of familiar faces there, and they’re very, very good.
REPORTER: Jim, does that throw a red flag up for you? You just said Iowa was able to pin their ears back because they were playing against a team that couldn’t run the ball very well. Obviously, you guys have struggled there. So is that a red flag for you this week, realizing that’s their strength, that’s what makes them better?
TRESSEL: There’s no question about it, if we don’t run the ball effectively, it will be a harder situation to throw it, there’s no doubt about it.
Iowa is the type of team that many of the teams in the Big Ten are, and that is they’re first going to come out and establish that you can’t run on them, just like our team wants to do and every team in the league wants to do — any good team in the league wants to establish the fact that you can’t run on them. So I’m sure their focus, obviously, is going to be to stop our run and disrupt our pass, disrupt pass protection.
And, again, the key to the passing game is protection. And they do both of those things very well, and our guys can see that when they watch film, and our coaches can obviously see that. There’s no doubt it’s a great challenge.
REPORTER: Just for the two players, Drew and Dustin, last year you guys tied for the title, and there was talk about who would beat whom. Is there a little bit of a feel of a grudge match at all going into this one about maybe setting the record straight or whatever you want to call it? I know last year is last year, but you guys are kind of tied now, you know.
CARTER: Right, last year is last year, like you said. But you want to go out there and win, basically you want to prove that you are the best team in the Big Ten. And the fact we didn’t play last year, you kind of want to come out and show you are the best team in the Big Ten, and we hope to prove that this weekend.
FOX: You know, I don’t think there’s a grudge or anything that holds over from last year. I think we’re excited to play Iowa because we haven’t played them in two years. That’s maybe one of the biggest things we’re excited about. Iowa was very successful last year, so we know they’re a good football team, and they present a big challenge for us. So that’s going to be something we’re looking forward to.
And any game in the Big Ten is going to be a great challenge, especially when you’re playing a team as good as Iowa.
REPORTER: Jim, could you update us on Darrion Scott and Alex Stepanovich.
TRESSEL: I’d like to think that Alex and Darrion will be much better this week. As I listen to the trainers, they feel that that will be the case.
But just like many of you, we got back at 5:00 in the morning Sunday and had a light workout and looked at film and so forth on Sunday, and yesterday was their day off from football. So I’m sure they were in for treatment, because that’s what the injured guys do is stop into the training room. As I listened to the trainers, they think that Alex and Darrion will be much, much better this weekend.
REPORTER: Jim, how did Craig come out of the game? Any problems?
TRESSEL: Well, like any Big Ten game, when you get banged around, you come out sore; and on Sunday, you are very sore; and on Monday, you’re sore; and you hope by the next Saturday, you’re feeling good again.
But just from his elbow injury standpoint, there was no ill effect there. He plays a tough position. You know, there’s not many tougher positions than quarterback, and we’re fortunate that we’ve got a pretty tough guy there.
REPORTER: Given Iowa’s offense, has there been a change in what they’ve entrusted Nathan Chandler with doing as the season has gone on? They appeared early to be kind of slow with what they asked him to do, and then they came back from 14th against Michigan. Can you see a change in him as the year goes on?
TRESSEL: I asked our defensive coaches the same question, from the standpoint of how different are they as their quarterback has changed. And they don’t think there’s much schematic and strategic difference. Like any first-year starter, there’s going to be an evolution. I think Iowa, you can just tell by watching film, does an excellent job teaching, and there’s a teaching progression. And they’ve been moving forward as they go.
They were thrust into that situation, being behind, and I think it was really the first time that they were in a similar-type situation, because the Michigan State game was more of a back-and-forth tight battle than it was a wider margin, and they responded well in the Michigan situation. And I think as every day goes, I’m sure Chandler is going to be more and more comfortable.
I think they’ve had some receivers injured. I don’t know this for sure, but that will be back, is what I hear. And obviously that will enhance who they are and what they do.
I think the — I don’t know if the other back is coming back too. There was — he’s not?
REPORTER: How much of a special teams battle might this game be? They basically won the Michigan game on special teams. Do you see that possibly involving with the way they play on special teams?
TRESSEL: They’ve blocked four punts. They’ve returned punts for touchdowns. Their punt returners ranked ahead of the guy we just faced, who we thought was pretty darn good. Their coverage units have always been outstanding.
They had the top-ranked kickoff coverage team. I don’t know where they are in the Big Ten statistics and so forth.
Their punting game, net punt, which is what it’s all about, is up there as high as anyone, and so there’s no question. I mean, this — from a special teams standpoint, this is going to be the biggest overall challenge that we’ve had all year. I think they do a good job teaching it. I think they believe in it. You can tell by the way their players attack it.
They’re physical guys, that’s what you need on those long-distance collisions, and they’re very, very good at it.
REPORTER: Coach, will there be a change at any point in philosophy with the run, last year with Maurice Clarett, pretty much he was the number one guy. This year Lydell has been a little injured. But it’s kind of gone shared carries between Mo Hall and Lydell. At any point, not just for this year, but for next year, do you start to focus in on one guy, to get maybe a different kind of thing going just so that one guy can start to work a little bit?
TRESSEL: You know, I’ve always felt that we’re going to be very good if we can have multiple guys. That doesn’t mean there won’t be one that will have more yards than the other. I thought one of the luxuries we had a year ago was we had a guy with 1200 and a guy with 600 or 700, another guy with 4 or 500, then you’re going to get that number of yards perhaps you’re shooting for.
As I mentioned, when we talked a little bit about the inconsistency in the offensive front, there has been similar inconsistency in the running back situation, more based on health than anything, and that’s a part of — as I’ve said many times before, practice time is as important as anything and I know it goes unseen, but that is crucial. Missing game time obviously is crucial.
I really thought going into the game that Ira Guilford may get some time as well. We just didn’t feel as if there was the right time in that particular situation, for both his good and the good of the group. But I don’t pretend to know that, yes, we’re going to feature one guy and here’s who it is.
REPORTER: Coach, Chris Gamble had a rough night the other night and he hasn’t been able to make a lot of the big plays he did last year. Can you talk about the season he’s having? He hasn’t been coming out for the interviews and just what you look for his second half of the year. Are you still considering him on offense?
TRESSEL: Well, Chris has been put into a lot of, I think, great challenges — hey, Drew, you’ve got to go to class. Go. I know you’re enjoying yourself, but you’ve got class. Sorry about that. I just thought of Drew when I was thinking of Chris in offense.
You know, we’ve asked Chris to do a lot of different things, and I’m sure Dustin could speak to it better than I from a defensive standpoint. We’ve asked a lot of them on special teams. He’s been knicked up a little bit during this year, which doesn’t help develop what you’d like to do. There will be a day where he is involved in the offense a little bit and I don’t know exactly when that day will be, but there’s no doubt about it.
As you look at the ballgame last weekend, I think he played pretty well, but it’s overshadowed by a big mistake. But that’s football, and that’s what we all have to understand. The most tenuous position on the field, in my mind, is that of a corner. You can play 71 good plays, and if the 72nd one isn’t good, it doesn’t look like a very good day.
And that’s not true for a right guard. Right guard might play 72 plays and 59 of them are good and no one knows the difference. So we’ve put Chris, I think, in some challenging positions.
And, Dustin, why don’t you speak about Chris a little bit?
FOX: You know, Chris is just a tremendous player, I think. A lot of people kind of look at this past weekend and think he had a bad game. In all actuality, we graded the film out and Chris did his job, like Coach said, every play. When you play cornerback, it’s a tough position. People only remember the bad plays sometimes and then sometimes they remember the good ones. But it’s tough when one play can overshadow that, but Chris is a resilient guy and I think he’s having a great year.
He hasn’t had the numbers because people are kind of staying away from him and he’s done a good job. He’s done his job. We talk about it all the time and we’re happy with him and I don’t think anybody thinks he’s having a bad year or a bad game or something like that. And definitely this week, he’ll come out and have a great game.
TRESSEL: Don’t take it personally him not coming out for interviews. And that’s Chris. He has a 5:30 or whatever.
REPORTER: I mean after games too.
TRESSEL: Oh, after games, I don’t know. Chris is hard to keep up with, whether you’re trying to cover him or whatever.
REPORTER: Dustin, when a team only throws a ball 10 times, is that sometimes even tougher on a secondary or is it harder to get them to flow that way and make you more susceptible to a play like they had at the end of the game?
FOX: You know, that’s possible. We’re used to playing teams that throw the ball 40, 50 times. And then we come out here and they only throw the ball 10 times. It’s different. You have to be on your own heels sometimes about what they’re going to do.
For the most part, we’ve got to adjust to the situation, which was they were going to run the ball and that’s what they wanted to do and that’s what they were going to do. And we did a good job, you know, against the pass.
We did a pretty good job, I think, except for we had a breakdown in coverage one time. But that’s how the game goes and it’s one of those things that just happens, and I don’t think that was the reason we lost the game by any means. There’s lots of things that go into a football game, but as far as being off balance and stuff, that’s just something I think we got used to as the game went on and we’ll have to get used to as the season goes on because a lot of teams in the Big Ten do run the ball a little bit more than some of the nonconference opponents.
REPORTER: Jim, just procedurally on Robert Reynolds’s suspension, does that mean he can’t play and practice or will he practice? And also, I wondered if in formulating the length of his suspension if you factored in if Jim Sorgi is going to be out one or two games. Does his condition play into your one-game suspension for Robert?
TRESSEL: Let me answer the first one first. Rob will practice on our scout team and be a part of the group and he’ll be with us on Saturday, not in uniform.
As far as what went into factoring the decision, like all the decisions we make, there’s lots of discussion, lots of sitting and talking about what’s the right thing, which is, to me, what’s most important. And I had additional conversations with Coach Alvarez before we released yesterday what we were going to do. And I thought it was important for us at Ohio State to make sure that the folks at Wisconsin were comfortable and that there wasn’t something that we didn’t know from that standpoint, because like any decision, you try to make it right for everyone, if that’s possible.
So there was a lot of discussion, a lot of factoring and that’s — discussion with the Big Ten, all of the above.
REPORTER: What do you say to the critics who say one game is not enough?
TRESSEL: Well, you have to make decisions. You have to accumulate the data. You have to tie in what you feel that you know about the situation and you have to make decisions knowing that there’s no decision that’s going to be universally agreed upon. Not unlike the critics who say, you know, there shouldn’t be any games or whatever it happens to be. You have to make decisions and you have to feel as if you’re doing it with the right information and for the right reasons and that we’ll have the right future impact. Because I read something this morning that a writer said that high school is for teaching and college is for learning and that might be the same thing from a high school football standpoint and a college football standpoint. Our guys get to learn in a very magnified environment, which sometimes is great, sometimes is not.
REPORTER: Jim, you were an assistant here when Keith Byers was a player. I seem to remember him making a comment one time that he had to learn the difference between being hurt bad enough to leave a game and being just banged up and playing with pain. I wonder if that’s a lesson that you feel Lydell needs to learn or not.
TRESSEL: Well, Lydell, when I went out on the field, when he was laying there, had no feeling in his left arm or left leg. About a quarter or so later, the doctors came to me or the trainer came to me and said, he’s cleared to play. But it was my opinion that it not be the thing to do to put him back in the game.
That wasn’t Lydell’s opinion, that was mine. So I guess the long answer to your short question is, I don’t know that I can feel what’s inside his body, but I haven’t felt that he was a guy that could have been in there at times when he, himself, chose not to or whatever.
REPORTER: Discounting Saturday then, in that he couldn’t feel, it just seems since he’s been there he’s had a long history of nagging injury problems. I think this game he’s only had one game of over 15 carries. Has it gotten to the point where you can’t count on him to be part of that rotation, he is what he is, he’s going to get his 7 to 10 carries and that’s about it?
TRESSEL: I don’t know that we go into the situation thinking that’s what it is. We never want to clamp a limitation on someone as to what they’re capable of doing. Obviously you study what people have done and I suppose you sit and think about what they may do, but I’ve never clamped a limitation on what a guy might be able to do.
And I think Lydell Ross, since he’s been here, has had excellent contribution. And I think he’ll have a lot more contribution. So, no, I don’t — I guess I don’t have the perception that he’s let us down, per se.
REPORTER: Jim, there was a clip on one of the TV stations last night supposedly taken after the game where the official was screaming at Simon Fraser. Was there some kind of an incident there? I’ve heard from the Wisconsin people that there was an incident between Simon and one of the officials.
TRESSEL: I don’t know about with one of the officials. I know at the end of the game when we were killing the clock — or they were killing the clock to end the game, there was pushing and shoving going on. And as far as Steve had mentioned to me that there was — it being discussed of an official saying something to Simon, but I have not seen a tape or heard, so I don’t know much beyond that.
REPORTER: Is the Big Ten looking into that at all, Jim?
TRESSEL: I don’t know. Steve, do you know? SNAPP: They’re aware of it, yeah.
REPORTER: Coach, the NCAA says they will not recertify Ohio State’s athletic department until they finish the investigation into the football program. Do you think they’ll find anything in your program in the way of institutional control that extends to the entire athletic department?
TRESSEL: I don’t think so. I know we went through last spring our certification steps. And obviously since then, we’ve had some issues. But, no. Do I think it will be affected? No.
REPORTER: Jim, there was a play, also, in a game where Maurice Hall went out of bounds and was slung into the chain link fence. Did that come up at all in any discussion?
TRESSEL: The thing I hope we do, both on things related to the games and things not related to the games, is that we keep our focus on what we do and I don’t think that there’s any merit in discussing what someone else does and I think we’re responsible for evaluating what it is that we do and how we can do it better and maybe where we didn’t do it as well as we could and take care of us. So, no, that discussion never came up.
REPORTER: I guess what I was getting to, though, did you sense at all things getting chippy in that game at all?
TRESSEL: Oh, it was an aggressive game and it was an electric atmosphere and all of the above. But again, that’s not something that we can do anything about other than make sure we do what we need to do. And that’s all — that’s all we can worry about. We can’t worry about what someone else does. We can’t worry about what someone else says. We can’t worry about what someone else might be thinking. We have to worry about how can we be the best us we can be.
REPORTER: Coach, given the celebration that was going on on the field there, you weren’t able to get to Barry at the end of the game. There was no lingering ill-will from that?
TRESSEL: No, I didn’t know why I couldn’t find him, but I couldn’t find him. I didn’t think much about it because, quite honestly, I didn’t know anything to be ill-will about and it was brought up by one of the guys in the post-conference about Rob’s situation, and from where I was standing, I didn’t know anything had occurred or there was no flag thrown. Usually when there’s a flag thrown, they come over and say, here’s what happened. So I really didn’t know — didn’t really know, know, until about noon on Sunday when I had a chance to watch the TV copy.
So one of the first things Barry did say to me when I called him was, hey, Coach, I’m sorry I couldn’t get to you, they whisked me off to so and so. So I guess the answer to your question is, no, I don’t think there was any ill-will there. I think Wisconsin has been more than fair in how they feel and their reactions and how they’ve handled a difficult situation. Thank you.
