Postgame Transcript From No. 12/11 Ohio State vs. Purdue – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/11/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
No. 11/12 Ohio State (6-1, 3-0 Big Ten) 16, vs. Purdue (2-4, 0-2 Big Ten) 3
Ohio Stadium
Columbus, Ohio
Oct. 11, 2008
Attendance: 105,378
COACH TRESSEL: A Big Ten victory that began with special units and I thought our special units stepped up and obviously the punt block for the touchdown and our kickoff coverage was excellent and A.J. Trapasso buried them at a key point in the game down on the 4 yard line or whatever and defense fought all day long and made them take the long path to the goal line and kept them out of the end zone. And offensively we didn’t get near as much done as we’re going to need to get done, but we didn’t turn it over, and that’s critical in a Big Ten battle and we all know we’ve got a lot of work to do, but we also know that we need to come up with wins especially as we’re in conference play.
REPORTER: Is there one word you can use to describe the offensive performance today, if you had to use one word?
COACH TRESSEL: Probably hit and miss. There was a moment where you looked good and there was a moment where you went backwards and we’re not consistent at all and it will be interesting to watch the film, but from where I was, we certainly didn’t control the line of scrimmage, that’s where it starts.
REPORTER: On the offense as well, do you tip your cap to them for their play, although they came in struggling, rushing D and they did fairly well today, it goes back as you said to the line of scrimmage, is that it?
COACH TRESSEL: Obviously they did pretty well. We usually base our evaluations on how we feel we did and we didn’t feel we did as well, but we certainly give them the respect to the fact that they did what they had to do to keep us from getting in the end zone.
REPORTER: Coach, how did your team grow today?
COACH TRESSEL: I think anytime you get in a good battle, you grow, and every time you have experiences of what does it take to win a football game and you have a little proof that, hey, if you make a big play in the special teams and if your special teams are good all day long and your defense doesn’t give up any big ones and your offense doesn’t turn it over, you have a chance to win. So how did we grow? Maybe with a further understanding that those are really primary things. Went into the game saying that the offense’s number one role must be to secure the football because if we started turning it over to Purdue back in our end or giving them plays where they run back to the house, we’re not going to be successful, so maybe just a little more proof of what it takes, but I think also that everyone in the room knows that we’ve got to get better.
REPORTER: As frustrating as it was on offense, on the other side they scored no touchdowns and really you kept them out of a dangerous situation for most of the day. Can you talk a little more about the defensive effort today?
COACH TRESSEL: I thought the defense did a great job with their plan. I think our defensive guys prepared very well. You could tell that they diagnosed things and broke on the ball, anticipated, knew the formations, the way that Purdue does things, and just kept coming, just kept coming and coming and coming and Purdue made some plays, but I think our defense never got flustered. They tried a couple over-50 field goals, was as close as they got, which that’s pretty good, plus we came up with takeaways. REPORTER: Were you close to putting Todd into the game at any point today and what would the conversations along those lines have been like?
COACH TRESSEL: We were probably less concerned or less discussion about that as we were talking about how could we gain control of the line of scrimmage and become more consistent. There was one drive I remember that we knocked off about three straight plays that were 12 to 15 yards and all of a sudden three straight plays that we just didn’t get it done, so there weren’t any huge discussions about that.
REPORTER: When you’re talking about the offense, do you feel like it’s a long way away from where you want this offense to be competing down the road in the Big Ten or are there places where it’s not that far?
COACH TRESSEL: I think as we watch the video this week, we’ll feel as if we’re a long ways away because we just didn’t do things consistently and didn’t come up with plays and didn’t come up with explosive gains and those types of things, had a couple deep ones open and didn’t quite get them and those kinds of things, but we’ve got to evaluate ourselves and also recognize that the things that we need to do well like securing the football, we have to make sure we continue that.
REPORTER: Jim, Beanie, did he look a hundred percent to you today? He obviously came off last week a little sore and was sick in the middle of the week and you put him back in there on that last possession, was that looking for a 100-yard gain at that point because he was 10 yards away at that point?
COACH TRESSEL: I didn’t know how many yards he had, so, no, we didn’t do it for that reason. He missed a little practice this week, but I thought he ran hard. There were some times where he broke two and three tackles on a play and there were also some times where he couldn’t even get his feet to the line of scrimmage and banged in there as hard as he could. So he did miss a little bit of practice time, but I don’t think it was significant.
REPORTER: Do you want to talk about Malcolm’s game today? Not only on the field, but off the field he was a leader for you today and making some huge plays that turned the game.
COACH TRESSEL: That’s the great thing about having guys like the ones up here. They’re unselfish. All they care about is how well the team does and they want to do whatever they can to make plays for the team. And Malcolm, he’s instinctive and studies and prepares and knows what they’re going to come with out of certain looks and has got great ability and you’ve got help up front, people putting pressure on, sometimes guys have to let it go when they’re not quite ready. So I thought we played good team defense and obviously your leaders, Malcolm and James, when they’re playing well, it really helps.
REPORTER: When the offensive line is struggling like it was today, is it easy for a young quarterback to try and do too much and were there times when Terrelle kind of got caught in that catch there?
COACH TRESSEL: I think anytime there’s some penetration and people pushing back the line of scrimmage and so forth, it makes it difficult on a running back to be able to have his proper steps and vision and so forth and I think it’s tough on the quarterback and we’ve got to have a little bit more experience to be able to ignore those things, but we couldn’t stand there all day today, that’s for sure.
REPORTER: Was this a better performance today with the defensive line and also how’s Lawrence Wilson?
COACH TRESSEL: Lawrence is going to have an MRI tomorrow, so we really don’t know. As far as — I thought the defensive line came after it and good to see Todd Denlinger back in there again and Nader Abdallah coming up with a sack and Thaddeus and Cameron and Rob Rose and all those guys, they were getting after it, and that quarterback was interested in getting rid of the ball pretty quickly and he’s been back there throwing it for five years. So no matter how long you’ve been doing it back there, if people can get in your face, it makes that position a little more difficult.
REPORTER: What does the offense need to do to be more productive in the red zone?
COACH TRESSEL: Score touchdowns. I hate to say that. We had first and goal twice on the nine and didn’t get in, not that that’s the easiest place to get in from, but we have to be able to gain a little bit more on first down. We were getting two or we got one on second down and had some penetration that knocked us backwards when we were in there and you’ve got to know that the field has shrunk and they’re going to be coming harder and you’ve got to break some tackles and complete some tackles and we just didn’t get that done.
REPORTER: I want to ask you about Michigan State, obviously you know Mark Dantonio very well, Don Treadwell and the challenge they’re going to bring for you next week, they’re on a real roll, and just how difficult that’s going to be coming off of this game.
COACH TRESSEL: I’m assuming they won today.
REPORTER: They were up 34-17.
COACH TRESSEL: That means they’ve won six in a row and they’ve got a veteran team, they’ve got a great leader in Javon Ringer and Hoyer, the quarterback, and defensively they’re tough and, yes, we do know those guys that coach over there and we know they’ll have them tremendously prepared and we’re going to their house, which is difficult in the Big Ten to go away, and we know we’ll have our hands full and we need to be ready for it. Thank you.
REPORTER: Malcolm, what did you see on that punt block and how free did you come? Describe your feelings as you were busting through there.
MALCOLM JENKINS: I saw my teammates run into the end zone. It was not about me. There was a play called and the Coach was calling it and we knew we were going to go out there on at least one of the punts.
REPORTER: Brian, is the passing game right now just not sync? Is it frustrating out there? What do you see from Terrelle?
BRIAN ROBISKIE: I think obviously it’s frustrating when you’re not executing and I think that’s the biggest thing because I think we know what we’re capable of and we know how hard we work and how much goes into this so for us to come out here on Saturday and to not execute like we know we can, I think that’s the frustrating part.
