Ohio State vs. North Carolina State Post Game Press Conference – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/13/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 13, 2003
TRESSEL: Well, what a great football game we witnessed today. Two teams went after it, played their hearts out and it ends on the half yard line. That was fitting for the effort given by both teams. We were extremely proud of our players and our coaches and our crowd was extraordinary and everyone out there played hard.
We made mistakes such that we allowed the game to be where it was. When you have a special teams turnover and a couple crucial interceptions, life is going to be harder for you, but our seniors did an extraordinary job leading and our kids kept playing, did what they had to do and we’re awfully proud of them.
REPORTER: Tim, what were you all thinking just before the fourth down play? What went on in the huddle or what were you looking for?
ANDERSON: Really, I mean, it was really no different than any other play. We obviously knew it was fourth down and, you know, this was the last play and we knew we had to stop them but there was no worry or concern or anything like that. Everybody knew what they had to do and we did it.
REPORTER: Coach, explain the difference in the effectiveness of your offense from regulation, 24 in regulation and then 20 in overtime.
TRESSEL: Well, they gave it to us on the 25 which makes it a lot closer, certainly.
REPORTER: You couldn’t score when you had it on the 12.
TRESSEL: We scored enough to win. I thought our guys stepped up and made plays and came up with just a little bit more protection. That extra half second, the quarterback made some great decisions, the kids caught the ball well and just kept coming after them. I think our guys had a better feel for them. We played against them all afternoon, and that gives you a little bit of an advantage as an offense, but they stepped up and made plays, which we’re awfully proud of them for doing that. REPORTER: Coach, you guys always find a way to escape, what do you attribute that quality to?
TRESSEL: I don’t know about always.
REPORTER: Well, recently.
TRESSEL: Our guys never stop playing, they never stop believing they have a chance. I think they care a lot about each other and don’t want to let the other guy down. Our coaches, I think, do a real nice job making adjustments and seeing what the other team’s doing and get our guys in good position and, you know, it helps when that crowd is behind you like that.
REPORTER: Michael, could you talk about the touch down catch at the end of the game and Craig, could you take it from your standpoint, the two of you talking about the final play?
JENKINS: That was just a kind of play we were running early, we were running slants on them. It was just the same play, Craig threw a perfect ball so I could catch it and score a touch down.
REPORTER: Craig, could you talk about this offense production when you guys get into overtimes the last couple years, you guys do such a good job getting it in the red zone.
KRENZEL: I think we do a pretty good job putting the ball in the red zone whenever we get it in the red zone. Today we had one, took a penalty, and started to go backwards. For the most time, we do a good job in the red zone all year long and when you start the ball at the 25, it definitely helps your chances out.
REPORTER: Craig, did someone alert you, as the day went on, you found Dan and —
KRENZEL: Not a bunch, just —
REPORTER: I’m saying, though.
KRENZEL: Some of the play calling we had, you know, we had some of the things if they wanted to go one on one to a twin side, we were going to work back side to a two tight end and run quick plays and try to move the ball. One thing we did not do a good job of today was running the football. Obviously that was something when you don’t run the football well, it’s hard to sustain a drive, it’s hard to keep a drive going, it’s something we need to work on and get much, much better at.
REPORTER: Would you address the momentum thing, they scored the last 17, they scored the last five straight possessions, what got it reversed.
TRESSEL: I don’t know how we got it reversed, but I know how it got started. I think it was — I don’t know what the score was then, 24-7, and we fumbled the punt which, you know, we talk constantly about hand the ball to the official and there will never be a question about whether you fumbled or you didn’t fumble and we didn’t hand it to the official.
That began the momentum change and then we allowed it to continue by throwing an interception and I think once over time began, everyone looked at it as a new game and I don’t know that that momentum, you know, was quite the issue because you always knew you were going to have a chance, even if they scored. I don’t know who got the ball first, did we? Yeah, we got the ball first in the first overtime and so when you get 7, you know, you feel like that turned it around and they regained it. College overtime I think is extraordinary, it’s great football.
REPORTER: Coach, what do you need to do to get the running game to be more productive? It obviously wasn’t there today.
TRESSEL: When we evaluate anything, we start with design, should we design things differently, then we talk about personnel, how should we use our personnel a little bit differently. You know, both up front and the running backs. And sometimes, you know, when things are lined up the way they are lined up, you have a hard time getting it going. But we certainly need to get it going better than it is.
REPORTER: How big a concern is the number of flags you had today?
TRESSEL: A big concern. Our last two weeks, I’ve never seen so many penalties. I think we had 69 all of last year, 14 games. We had to have 25 between these two games. You know, it’s a concern, but, again, we’re going to play aggressively, but, you know, we’ve got to do a better job.
REPORTER: Did you utilize Craig in the running game as much today? Was that planned ahead of time or —
TRESSEL: I don’t think so. We had hoped that both Mo Hall and Lydell Ross would share some time and we also planned to run from the quarterback position as well and I don’t know how many times we ran the quarterback play, maybe four or five.
It wasn’t an extraordinary amount, but we wanted that to be part of things. I think there was a question for Will.
REPORTER: Thank you. Get Will involved here. Do you guys feel like the past year and a half, I guess, 17 games in a row, you sort of have nine lives? I mean, you always find a way to pull it out somehow.
SMITH: Not really. We’ve just got to play hard. I think we let up and I think everybody got come place sent in this game when it was 24-7 in the fourth quarter, everybody said, oh, this game’s over. It started with the fumble in the punt return and defense was put in a situation it doesn’t really like, but we still have to step up and make the play, and work at getting a field goal instead of scoring the touchdown. I think the quarterback, he was getting in the groove as the game went on and I don’t think we were putting as much pressure on him and you know what I mean, he just got comfortable and everyone knows he’s a great quarterback and he just stepped up and played the game.
REPORTER: How do you explain always coming out ahead in these games? You’d think somewhere along the way you guys would lose one.
SMITH: I guess we just always work hard.
REPORTER: How important was your conditioning in playing triple overtime?
TRESSEL: Why don’t you guys answer that, I wasn’t that tired. You guys can answer that.
ANDERSON: I think defensively we were fine. You know, we — you kind of get through overtimes and you’re not really thinking about it as much, it’s more of your adrenaline starts to take over, that type of thing, but as far as — the way it looked out there, it almost looked like we were in better shape than they were. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but we just, you know, keep playing and I think it goes back to our practice tempo and how hard we go in practice.
REPORTER: Tim, were you surprised at the quarterback sneaks in their last four plays? Rivers has never really done that, most of the day, did that catch — did it catch you a little bit by surprise that that’s what they went to?
SMITH: I can answer that. We weren’t surprised at all. That’s what they did in the game we watched. We knew when they got to the goal line, they were going to do quarterback sneak and have funny formations and we just had to prepare ourselves.
REPORTER: Did you have a feeling it was going to McLendon on that last play?
SMITH: Absolutely. Every time he got in the game he got the ball so we knew that they were going to leave him wide open.
REPORTER: Jim, your impression on Philip Rivers?
TRESSEL: The question was my impression of Philip Rivers. He’s a good quarterback. He threw two costly interceptions, one we carried down to the 4. Is that the one we scored right after or was that the one we — field goal? Okay. And, you know, he had a couple interceptions that hurt. I think the one, Brandon Mitchell’s interception, I think we scored right after that, we got it at mid field. So we always evaluate our quarterbacks based upon turnovers and decision-making and whether you win or lose, but I’ll tell you what, Philip Rivers is a good player. A good player.
REPORTER: Would you talk about your performance today just in general how you felt out there?
KRENZEL: I felt a lot better than last week. I think offensively, as I mentioned earlier, we played in the pasting game, especially we played pretty well, we made some plays. There were some third downs that we’re going to go back and watch films, a couple times we need to convert, whether we missed a pass or didn’t see the right guy or protection wasn’t there. We need to come out and focus. We need to be able to run the ball better and, you know, to get that balance and help sustain drives.
REPORTER: Did you say anything at the start of the first overtime in the huddle or do you feel like you’ve done this enough that you don’t need to say anything?
KRENZEL: I think we’re a team that, not much needs to be said. We got in the huddle, you know, I just kind of looked at the guys and said, this is what you come to Ohio State for. When you’re going into overtime against a great football team like NC State, whether it’s early in the season or for a national championship against Miami, that’s a big football game. There’s a lot of excitement. That’s one of the reasons we come here, it’s the tradition and the type of games you’re going to play in and I brought that up and said let’s go do our job.
REPORTER: Was there a comfort level in that situation given what you accomplished in overtime at the Fiesta Bowl?
KRENZEL: I think there was a comfort level in our ability and our confidence, especially given the ball on the 25 that we were going to score touchdowns. Fortunately we went out and were pass protected very well. Had some great catches, receivers ended up making some great catches in overtime and we did what we had to do to win.
REPORTER: Did the close calls last weekend and this weekend indicate anything to be concerned about or do you feel good about your game because they were not able to lose either one?
TRESSEL: I feel good about our team certainly, I also know that we’ve got a lot to do to become a very, very good team. We have some goals and have the chance to reach any of those goals, we’ve got a lot of work to do but our guys are willing to do it. No one’s going to walk out of Ohio Stadium today saying, you know, everything’s perfect and everything’s wonderful and, but I feel good about how hard they played and, you know, we’re just going to go back to work on Monday.
REPORTER: Would you go over the last play? It looked like for a second that they were standing straight up and hit towards the north/south towards the goal. Will Allen made the big stop, right? From your advantage point, what did you see?
SMITH: I seen that they threw a toss play to McLendon and he drove. He broke one tackle and the next tackle, his knee hit the ground and he kind of spun and threw the ball up on the goal line. I guess the rest seemed —
REPORTER: Will you talk about the team’s confidence in overtime, what you guys have been able to dos last few years in overtime.
JENKINS: When we get the ball on the 25, we know we’re going to put it in the end zone. Some of the guys we have, they can do big things out there, we just have to go out there and do our job and we’re really confident we can do our job.
REPORTER: When was the last time you recovered a kickoff like that?
TRESSEL: You know, we’ve been talking to our kickoff team about the fact that we haven’t come up with that big turnover. I remember playing Boston University up in old Red Sox stadium where we had to catch one in the air and score with it and that was before these guys were born, so it’s been a long time.
REPORTER: What was the explanation you got on Fox’s interference when the ball was going —
TRESSEL: Into the band?
REPORTER: Yes.
TRESSEL: That it was holding. That was holding. That wasn’t interference. So holding, you’re not allowed to do it ever.
REPORTER: How big of a concern is your blocking the last two weeks?
TRESSEL: Big concern.
REPORTER: Any thought at end of regulation to take the ball down 30, 40 yards and get a couple shots at it?
TRESSEL: No, not with 20 seconds, we knew we were going to have a chance to line up and start at 0-0 on the 25 and we were okay with that. We didn’t want to make an error and put our defense on the field, you know, so we just chose to go line up and start over.
REPORTER: Craig, your last interception, did you get hit as the ball came up short or —
KRENZEL: You know, I should have either called a time out or just thrown the ball out of bounds. We were kind of in a hurry, had some signals, the play got in a little late. By the time we got to the line, we had a little — they showed a press on Mike and then they bailed and I saw them bail and the ball — I don’t know whether it was under thrown or overthrown or what, I was trying to — I know they were bailing, so I wasn’t going to throw it down the field, we were going to try to throw a go and out. I was going to try to stop Mike down the line. I got hit as I was throwing. That was the bottom line. The ball should have been in the band, seven rows up, and put our defense in better field position.
REPORTER: Was there a sense of frustration on the part of the defense when you weren’t able to stop them three or four times in a row?
ANDERSON: Not really. I mean, I think one of the reasons we’re successful in these tight games, like everybody’s saying, is because we forget about the last play. Once that play is over with, there’s nothing you can do about it to go back and change it, so it’s time to get ready for the next play. I think that was a common thought throughout the huddle tonight, not tonight, but today. Just, hey, that play’s over with, let’s get ready for the next one.
