Postgame Press Conference From No. 4 Ohio State vs. No. 2 Texas – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/11/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 11, 2005
TRESSEL: I think you have to start with the fact that our kids played their hearts out and played hard and fought hard and played against a very tough football team in Texas, and tip the cap, their kids played extremely hard. It was a well-fought football game. Disappointing that we had many opportunities and didn’t cash in on enough to win. We’ve got great seniors and excellent leaders like the ones sitting here and we’re going to have a good football team, but obviously we have to be much more consistent than we were this evening.
REPORTER: Jim, what led to the decision to go with Justin on the final drive in the fourth quarter? Second final drive, I guess.
TRESSEL: We had discussions throughout the course of the whole evening as to who would have opportunities and I can’t give you one particular reason for it. We just thought at that moment it was the best thing to do and I’m not exactly sure which drive you mean, but — oh, on the fumble? We just thought that was the way to go right at that point.
REPORTER: Coach, can you talk about the first quarter, they were up 10-0 and Troy almost throws the interception, but you battled back down, and can you talk about the importance of that drive during that particular play?
TRESSEL: We knew that it was going to be a long battle. Our guys, even when we were down 10-0, we knew we were going to fight our way back in it and putting that drive together and scoring that touchdown, that gave us the proof that we needed that indeed was going to happen, and I thought throughout the whole course of the game there was a belief factor there that we were going to get it done, and we didn’t come up with some of the plays to do it, but it wasn’t because our kids didn’t prepare and it wasn’t because they didn’t fight because they did both those things.
REPORTER: Did you ever feel like you had Vince Young figured out or it seemed like from time to time you had him stymied. TRESSEL: Our guys did a good job mixing things up. They did a good job at times. I thought the fact that we caused the turnovers we did, if we would have done a better job of making touchdowns, it would have come out a different way. I thought our defense did a good job and fought like crazy and came up with things that we needed, such as field position and turnovers and we didn’t get it done.
REPORTER: Could you assess the play of the two quarterbacks, just one at a time?
TRESSEL: Oh, probably not. You’d have to go back and watch the film. There were some times where we didn’t do what we needed to do and there were other times where we did, and a little bit too close to the situation without the luxury of watching it to be able to go back and do it play-by-play.
REPORTER: Is using both guys one of those things where if you win, it looks genius, and if you don’t, people are going to second-guess it a lot more like many things in coaching?
TRESSEL: I suppose like anything, when they work, it was a good idea, and when they didn’t work, it wasn’t. I think what you have to do, whenever you make decisions, is always go back and talk about why you made the decisions and where they were right and where they perhaps weren’t right and same thing when you call a play or when you call a blitz or whatever it happens to be, but that’s what we do. We go back and work to get better, evaluate ourselves.
REPORTER: Jim, not to take anything away from Texas, but as you leave here tonight, is this a game that will haunt you, that you let it get away, that this is one you should have won?
TRESSEL: We think we’re capable of winning every game. I don’t know what haunt means exactly, but it disappoints me because of these guys sitting at this table right now and those guys that are seniors that have done such a great job of getting us prepared for this game. We didn’t come through for them, but I don’t know about getting haunted, but it’s disappointing.
REPORTER: How damaging is this loss? It is just one game, I mean, Michigan lost today, Iowa lost, it looked like, hey, the runway is clear, if they win this game, they can set sail; how do you look at it?
TRESSEL: The runway is full of games. We didn’t get this one done and that’s the facts and we have to get after it next week and we have a lot we can accomplish and I know our guys know that.
REPORTER: Coach, could you talk a little bit about the factors that led to Ted not being a bigger factor in the game?
TRESSEL: Oh, not exactly. I could sit here and I suppose we could put a film on. I can’t think of any times where you’re sitting there saying, gosh, Ted was wide open or whatever it happens to be. Ted’s the guy who’s going to go out there, he’s going to run his route or run his block or do what he has to do. We’ll see how he graded out. I think he did fairly well. We were looking for ways to get him the ball and Santonio and Tony and everyone else. It obviously wasn’t by design we wanted him to have less, that’s for sure.
REPORTER: Talk about your defense in particular, A. J., Nate, with the turnovers, fumbles.
TRESSEL: They were hitting like crazy. They were playing as hard as you could possibly play and I’m sure the guys from Texas will tell you it was a physical game. Both teams were physical. And again, I tip my cap to Texas because they fought for 60 minutes too, but Nate and A. J. and Bobby and all those guys, they were playing their hearts out. You don’t really know how much we appreciate that. They’re extraordinary people.
REPORTER: Do you think the last field goal by Josh could have put the nail in them or not?
TRESSEL: I think it would have been big, but it’s like I told Josh, I’m not as disappointed with a miss there as we didn’t get them closer. I don’t ever worry too much about what someone else didn’t do. We didn’t get him closer, and that’s what is as disappointing to me as anything is. If we weren’t going to score a touchdown, we needed to make it a lot closer field goal and we didn’t, and I feel bad about that. Josh Huston should feel good about his performance.
REPORTER: Jim, defensively, did you expect or maybe some people who have seen Vince Young play before wouldn’t have expected him to throw for 270 some odd yards, they would have expected most of that to come on the ground; was that something you expected this week?
TRESSEL: Well, I think when you have to put people into the box to stop his run, there are times when the pass is going to be a little bit vulnerable, and they have good backs and that type of thing and so I thought he did a good job throwing the ball. He’s a good football player. He played hard, and you could see he was getting hit and beat up and kept coming back, and I just have a lot of respect for him, and his team won tonight.
