Football Quotes (Nov. 1, 2005) – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/1/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 1, 2005
Sophomore tailback Antonio Pittman
On facing Illinois
“Hopefully we can have a great game and come out running. We have to take Illinois seriously. We all have to calm down and play as a team and focus. Coach Tressel stressed being focused this week, especially because it is getting close to the end of the season and championship games.”
Sophomore flanker Anthony Gonzalez
On Santonio Holmes
“Holmes is an extremely consistent player. We are similar in speed and stature, so I can learn from him. I think he has definitely taught me a lot.”
On the Illinois defense
“Illinois does a lot with its defense. The coach (Ron Zook) has his own theory on defense and they throw a lot at you. They are not very predictable and it can be very different from what we have adjusted to.”
Senior center Nick Mangold
On Illinois
“We cannot relax this week, because any team can beat you. You have to always be at your best. I would like to see guys getting rotated in, but we need to make sure we can just play our game first. If we continue to play how we want to play we have the potential to finish strong and come away with the Big Ten title. We know destiny is in our own hands, so we have been working very hard.”
Senior offensive tackle Rob Sims
On Antonio Pittman
“Pittman has been good all year and has really come into his own. Everyone is getting very comfortable. He fought hard all year and it paid off last weekend when he had a big game against Minnesota.”
Donte Whitner, junior safety
On Illinois
“If they make some mistakes we will have to take advantage of them. Right now we just have to focus on what we do, and try not to get caught up in what they do.”
On the remainder of the season
“We have got a shot at a BCS bowl and the Big Ten title. We would love to do both and send this year’s seniors out right.”
On the attitude of the team since the second loss of the season
“We were down there for awhile after Penn State. Even for the first half of the Michigan State game and that got us in some trouble. Ashton (Youboty) got that big return and that really got us going again. We know everything happens for a reason and we just have to stay focused.”
On the defense against Minnesota
“We do have a chip on our shoulder, but if you take away those eight big plays for 280+ yards then they only had about 250 yards or so. We have to do what we do and not worry about them.”
On being defensive player of the game against Minnesota
“It really could have been anybody. You look at A.J. (Youboty) and he is going 100-percent all the time whether it is in practice or a game. Quinn (Pitcock) also had a big game, and Nate (Salley) could have got it for that big fumble late. It could have been any of us.”
Santonio Holmes, junior split end
On blocking downfield
“I feed off it a lot because I know if our running backs can get free for extra yards that can really jump start our offense.”
On quarterback Troy Smith bouncing back from a mistake
“He used to get down on himself, but he doesn’t do that anymore. Now when he comes off the field after a mistake he talks with the coaches about how to correct that mistake and get better. He watches film and studies a lot, too.”
On the Ohio State offense
“Our offense has been getting the job done. We’re just putting everything together lately and it feels like it’s coming together. We just have to keep sticking it out. The coaches never got down on us. They just kept believing in us.”
On facing an unranked opponent Saturday
“Coach has been talking about how much you need to want this game and that gets us going. We play a game every Saturday and we have to go out and be ready to go every Saturday. Every game is important and we have to keep fighting. We have three games left and all we can do is try to win out, but we have our hands full right now.”
On the last three games
“The national championship might be out of the picture, but we can still win the Big Ten title. That would be huge. The focus now is just to keep winning. We can’t worry about what might have been. We just have to try to win and everything will take care of itself.”
