Football Quotes (Sept. 12, 2006) – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/12/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 12, 2006
Anthony Gonzalez, junior wide receiver
On the team moving on past their focus on the Texas game
“The key to getting over the Texas game is to understand what the game means. It’s not much more than another win. We didn’t get a ring, we didn’t win a championship. There is no reason to sit back and think about it, as great as it was. It’s another victory. Now we have to get out there and win the next one.”
On his approach to games
“I take the same approach to every game both physically and mentally. Physically, I may adjust it slightly, but mentally I’m always where I need to be. I take care of everything I can, which is something you have to playing at Ohio State.”
On if Texas was the best game of his career
“I wouldn’t say it was my best – I would say it was my most productive. From a production standpoint, yes it was my best game. Same as a scoreboard can lie about how the game was played and stats can lie about how a player did. There were a few plays I could have done differently, but you never do as good or as bad as you think.”
On when he felt comfortable that Ohio State beat Texas
“At no point in the game did I feel relaxed with the score until there were two minutes left. Then I looked at the scoreboard and felt like we had the win.”
On Troy Smith’s performances this season
“Troy has continued down the path he’s been on – highly productive, highly competitive and highly successful. That’s how his career has been. It’s an exciting time to be around him.”
James Laurinaitis, sophomore linebacker
On the team’s win over Texas
“It was a dream come true kind of game. The win was a team effort and I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. No one ever has a perfect game; we did a good job on defense, but there is always room to improve.”
On the depth of the defense
“It is interesting to have as many guys rotating on defense as we do. It also is comforting. Any time a team has a lot of depth it fires up competition and makes everyone step it up during practice. On defense we have a lot of work to do to eliminate big plays and increase our confidence. We are all so young and feel we have to still prove ourselves.”
On the upcoming game against the University of Cincinnati
“The defense can not tone down our tempo for this game. We have to stay focused and know if we let our guard down it is the perfect time for the opposition to strike.”
A.J. Trapasso, sophomore punter
On being named the Big Ten special teams player of the week
“I am honored. It was a great pleasure and I didn’t think I’d get an award, so that was pretty cool.”
On his thoughts of the Texas game
“It was a good game. The air makes it easier to kick. There was no wind, or at least it wasn’t a factor. I got to play in the Texas game last year, with all the crowd noise and intensity of the game. I was ready for it this year.”
On Drew Norman
“He is an extremely tough guy – a good friend of mine and a heck of a snapper. He has to be tough. He has a lot of heart and cares about this football team a tremendous amount.”
On improving his punting
“It’s all about consistency. I want to have a 49 yard average. Net punting is what we are most concerned about. So is punt placement. Anyone can kick far, but it’s harder to put it in a certain spot that allows us to cover well.”
On the stature of an Ohio State punter
“I have huge shoes to fill and hopefully I will be able to do that. B.J. (Sander), Andy (Groom), the guys before me were tremendous kickers. I am just building on what I did last year and of course there is room for improvement. This season I have more confidence.”
On the upcoming game against Cincinnati
“I like playing in-state teams. I don’t look at this game to be too different. Texas was big, but if we lose to any other teams, it would be just as big of a loss. We need to be just as ready for Cincinnati, because it’s as important as Texas.”
Brian Robiskie, sophomore wide receiver
On the Texas game
“We knew we were going to get a lot of people involved in last week’s game. We know we need to keep getting people involved each week if we want to reach our goal of a national championship.”
On overall team performance against Texas
“Overall I think we did a good job. Their defense focused a lot on Ted (Ginn) and that opened up Anthony (Gonzalez). We did a good job of seeing that and a good job of catching the ball.”
On Cincinnati
“We have seen on tape they are very athletic and they like to blitz a lot. Their coach used to coach here, so our coaches have a good idea what he is going to do.”
On preparations for Cincinnati
“It is just another game. It’s game No. 3 for us. Each week brings one more game on the road to the national championship, which is our goal.”
On his game
“Our goal is just to play four quarters of football every week. I need to work on my third down plays. I had one drop because I went one step too deep on the route and it was a little low, so I had no excuse.”
On the thought of losing
“After every game we get focused and get right back at it. We can’t worry about any kind of let down.”
On Coach Tressel’s goal for the game
“It is definitely our goal to start strong and finish strong. As a team, we always want to be firing on all cylinders.”
Malcolm Jenkins, sophomore cornerback
On the rotation on defense
“We as a team just have to adjust to coming in and out. We have to stay in the flow all the time and always be prepared. We have to be ready whenever we get in the game.”
On the competition on defense
“Competition is always a good thing because it makes everybody better. You either have to step up and get better or stay back and let someone take your spot.”
Marcus Freeman, junior linebacker
On the defense
“Our major concern on the defensive side of the ball is tackling. We need to get better on our tackling – we are still missing too many tackles.”
On James Laurinaitis
“(Against Texas) James got a chance to show how good he can be. He got on big stage and had an excellent game.”
On the emotional effect of the Texas win
“It is very big for our confidence to beat a team like Texas. We know that each week we are going get the best out of each team we play.”
On Texas’ running game
“I was surprised they didn’t run more. Texas is an excellent running team, but the defense had a great day.”
On defensive improvement
“If there is one thing we need to work on, it’s tackling. Tackling will be key. We need to eliminate missed tackles.”
On James Laurinaitis
“He is an excellent player. He hasn’t had a lot of opportunity to show what a great player he is, but at Texas he showed everyone on a big stage just how good he can be.”
On Tressel’s plan to rotate players
“I think he will continue to rotate as long as we have players who are all able to play well. It keeps us fresh. When our players get tired there are other people who are ready and can be full go.”
On playing an unranked team
“You have to realize just how good Cincinnati can be. We have seen in films that Cincinnati is a good team. They are coming here to play the No. 1 team and they are going to be prepared.”
On team confidence
“I think our confidence definitely matches our ranking. Beating Texas was a big confidence builder. We just have to make sure we continue to work just as hard as we did before.”
Malcolm Jenkins, sophomore cornerback
On Cincinnati
“They are a tough team and they are going to come out and play hard. Their coach is a hard-nosed guy. We are going to be tested in upcoming weeks with opponents running the ball. We haven’t been doing a good job blocking the running game, so that is probably what they will do.”
On the Ohio State defense
“We learned we can fly around and hit people. With everybody rotating, each player got quality reps and everyone got better. Anytime we can gain experience it is going to be an advantage for the future. We grew up quicker than expected.”
On the pressure of maintaining the No. 1 ranking
“You hear from everyone when you beat a team like Texas. It’s not hard (to be No. 1) until you think about the season. We still have at least 10 more games to go and we must get better and play harder.”
Antonio Pittman, junior tailback
On defeating Texas
“We gained a lot of confidence with that victory. It was a big one and a hard battle to go down there and win. I think later on it will help us a lot. If we are down during any point in a game, we can think about winning at Texas and that will bring us back up.”
On preparation for Cincinnati
“We are preparing for this weekend like any other game. We take one week at a time and prepare for each game like it’s the last game on earth.”
On Anthony Gonzalez
“Anthony was a big factor against Texas. Texas put a lot of pressure on Ted (Ginn) and left a lot of one-on-one match ups for Anthony. He beat them nine out of 10 times and had a career day.”
On the thought of finishing the season as No. 1
“We prepare to win a national championship one week at a time. We prepare like we did for the last game every week. I’m confident we have the players and coaches to be No. 1. We went out there and proved ourselves.”
On changes the offense will make in anticipation of Cincinnati
“It’s very important to accelerate early and we haven’t been on target early in our game. We have to start moving earlier. There is a lot of fire power in this team and a strong offensive line. They give Troy (Smith) a lot of time.”
