Postgame Transcript From No. 13 Ohio State vs. Troy – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/20/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
No. 13/14 Ohio State (3-1, 0-0 Big Ten) 28, Troy (2-1, 1-0 Sun Belt) 10
Ohio Stadium
Columbus, Ohio
Sept. 20, 2008
Attendance: 102,989
COACH TRESSEL: It was hot out there! That was a physical game. Both teams played hard and both teams expended a lot of energy and I was proud of the way our guys took the challenge, after they scored at the end of the first half to bring it to be a four-point game, I thought our guys did a great job of rising up. And I think two of the big plays in the second half was when AJ Trapasso knocks them down on the 4 and the 5 two different times because it’s different when you’re playing from your own 4 just like when we had to in the first half, our defense swarmed, shut them out the second. Offensively we’ve got a ways to go but we did some good things, had some new guys in there that hadn’t been in there all that much before, so it was a very valuable game.
I think the biggest reason it was so valuable, it was tough. Troy’s a tough team and we had to rise up and play tough and our guys did that.
REPORTER: Coach, could you talk about your decision to play Terrelle for the bulk of the game and also about his performance today of four touchdown passes?
COACH TRESSEL: Going into the game, we knew that we were going to start him as long as the situation wasn’t back on our own 3 or something. And we also felt as if there were some things that Todd had been doing better in practice that we wanted to get him in there early for and he went in there for an early one and had to check out of it because the look wasn’t right and a little bit later he went in to do something that we had planned for and just didn’t execute it, and it was feeling to me like Terrelle was having some rhythm, making some plays with his feet and wanting to get to throw the ball a little bit. And I like to ease guys into those things. I don’t like to practice on game days, if you know what I mean, but I thought he did a good job and I just — like we do all the time, we feel the situation and make decisions accordingly.
REPORTER: Jim, you indicated earlier in the week that it would be more of a 50/50 split and maybe you just answered that.
COACH TRESSEL: I thought I just answered that.
REPORTER: I was just checking if there was any other reason.
COACH TRESSEL: No, no, and I wish Todd would have got to play more. In fact, I showed him my sheet I had written out and I had a whole column of Todd things that I wanted him to be able to do today. We were talking, he and I, in the third quarter and I said, hey, I wish we would have been able to do these, but didn’t feel like that was what the team needed at that point and that’s why on that last drive we felt the right thing to do was to put in Joe and go from there.
REPORTER: Is Terrelle the new starting quarterback?
COACH TRESSEL: Weren’t you at the game?
REPORTER: It sounds kind of obvious, but from this point moving forward.
COACH TRESSEL: That’s past tense. As long as we progress, but you have to keep on doing the things you need to do and the thing about Todd is he works like crazy and he’s going to be there leading the football team as well, so I don’t know that you ever say ever or forever.
REPORTER: I was just wondering, does Terrelle have a better presence in the pocket than you thought maybe he even had as you watched him in high school? How does he impress you in that regard?
COACH TRESSEL: I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t watch him all that much in high school because it only took a few plays to know he was very talented. The one game I saw, he had a lot of presence, but as he came in, the smartest thing he did is he came in and he latched on to Todd at the start and learned a lot and learned it fast and I think you can have a little bit of presence when you know what’s going on and he did that in the summer and through preseason. He roomed with Todd and soaked up things and I think the more you know, the more relaxed you’ll be.
REPORTER: Coach, I just want to ask about the importance of starting the Big Ten conference off the right way next week. Minnesota is coming here 4-0 with all kinds of confidence, just what do you expect out of that next week?
COACH TRESSEL: As I looked at the schedule, I thought that probably was going to be the case, because Minnesota was coming along and it’s the second year in their program and the expectations and all the things, the coaching staff coming in is trying to get established, so I thought they would be 4-0 coming in, so how important is it for us to play well? Tremendously important, because nothing’s more important than game one in a Big Ten race.
REPORTER: Ray Small came into the game as your leading wide receiver and didn’t play until the reverse. What’s his status moving forward?
COACH TRESSEL: When we have two receivers on the field, it’s usually been the two Brians. When we have three, it’s been the two Brians and Dane. Ray’s been our fourth guy. He wasn’t our fourth guy today. We opted to go with Posey and Taurian Washington. How do I think he did? The whole group got a little tired because they were hyped up. Whenever you’re excited about the game and all those things, you have that first little burst that you get tired and then I thought we picked it up and obviously I think B. Hart had two touchdowns or Robiskie one or vice-versa, et cetera, they stepped in and played well.
I think Dane has played very solid. You don’t have to look at statistics all the time to look at how solid a guy plays. He was where he’s supposed to be and I think Posey and Lamaar and Ray and all those guys, we’ve got to have a large corps.
REPORTER: Coach, two things.Nicol, you went to him —
COACH TRESSEL: Rory Nicol, okay.
Yeah, that was a short-yard situation that we had reversed and we wanted to show a power look right after that corner of the defense and Rory ran a nice route and Terrelle threw the ball out there and that was a big play for us. I think that was our first touchdown.
REPORTER: And also Coleman.
COACH TRESSEL: Kurt Coleman’s a player. Kurt missed early season a little bit. He was banged up and he flies around, he adds energy to a fast defense and we’re better when Number 4’s in the game. One more and then we’ll turn it over to the guys that deserve it. Lori?
REPORTER: I didn’t hear the answer and the question about Ray Small. What’s his status going forward?
COACH TRESSEL: Fighting for playing time.
REPORTER: Does he have the car keys back?
COACH TRESSEL: He got in the game today.
REPORTER: Okay.
COACH TRESSEL: I’ll go with one more. That was a repeat. Phil?
REPORTER: What would you say was the best thing Pryor did and what do you wish he could have a do-over on?
COACH TRESSEL: There was one time when we were out there getting ready to start a drive and he wasn’t in the huddle on the side line. We couldn’t find him. He was back there counseling somebody. So I would like him to be up there. That’s one do-over I’d like to have.
As far as what did he do well? He pays attention. You hear him talking about what he learned in the summer from the older guys. You hear him talking about what he learns from Siciliano and Coach Daniels every day in the meetings and Todd will tell you he’s always saying, explain it to me, what are you talking about. I think it’s a good thing he wants to learn. I’m sure he’ll look at the film and learn a lot from today’s game.
TODD BOECKMAN: First off, I thought this was a good football game for us. Coming out, we played hard. Troy’s a good football team and I think after that first drive, scoring that touchdown, that was key for us. Our guys, we played hard. We didn’t make too many mistakes today, which is key and I think our defense did some good things out there also, and special teams with A. J. punting them down inside the goal line a few times, that was key for us also, kind of a momentum swing for us. Overall, we have a lot to learn, but we played a good game.
BRIAN ROBISKIE: I’m going to agree with Todd. Obviously Troy, that’s a good football team that came here. We knew that they were going to be a tough football team. I think just looking at their offense. Our defense was prepared for something they’re not used to seeing a lot, spread and that, but I thought they did a good job defending that. And on offense, I thought we did some good things like Todd said, like Coach said. Terrelle got a lot of time today and you could really see him getting more and more comfortable as the game was going along. And I think that all of us around him continue to just improve our play to help him out and make it easier on him, and that’s receivers, running backs and the line, but I think overall we did a good job taking a step forward.
JAMES LAURINAITIS: We realized real early that Troy was a big threat to us and we knew that they were a terrific ball club just like Todd and Brian said. Their offense is a fast-paced offense and to really hold them to 10 points, we’re happy with that because we knew they would get some yards, which is the way their offense works, and hurry up and stuff like that, but we kind of stressed all week to keep up with their toughness and keep them out of the end zone. The one bad play where we missed a few tackles, but I’m proud of the way the guys handled it, people weren’t pointing fingers, weren’t frustrated, they were just saying, we have to relax and play football and that’s part of the maturity of our defense out there.
We finally gave the offense some good field to work with, put them in some good positions, on the 10 yard line in the coming out situation and that’s what we’ve got to do, get the ball on the plus side of the 50, and when we do that, we have good positive field position and I thought it was a good win and we have to definitely look forward to Minnesota and the Big Ten.
MALCOLM JENKINS: Definitely was a good win. Troy is a good team like they say. And to hold them to 10 points is a good accomplishment for defense. I think our offense just got back to playing football. We were able to run the ball, throw the ball for some deep balls and things like that, so it was just fun for us, a good game for us to just get back out and play, have fun. Coach Tressel challenged us at halftime to come out and step it up a little bit and I think everybody did, so it worked for us.
REPORTER: For the defensive guys, they were in a lot of third and shorts and can you talk a little bit, you guys were on the field a lot and there were some missed tackles, but you did face a lot of third and shorts, just your thoughts on that.
MALCOLM JENKINS: Probably when they got the first down and second down on the 20 when it was third and short. They’re going to nickel and dime you and take what they can do, pretty much that’s what they did all day. We did a good job in the red zone, keeping them from getting some good turnovers and Kurt Coleman helped us out a bit.
REPORTER: Defensive guys, how fast did they play? Did that wear you down or how hard was that to adjust to getting ready for another snap?
JAMES LAURINAITIS: I think the most important thing is just trying to get a call in, when you have a defense called, teams try to hurry up like that, the worst thing that can happen is guys running around, not getting lined up. So if we do that, we’re prepared for it.
We figured they had an average of a play every 22 seconds. They like to get an average of 81 plays a game. We knew all that stuff going in. You tend to get tired, but we made some plays, even though we were tired and things happened, every time you play a team with that kind of pace, that’s what Malcolm said, they’re trying to nickel and dime you, we did a good job getting lined up and just trying to play football.
REPORTER: For Todd and Terrelle, I know the offensive line was kind of moved around a little bit, can you kind of talk about their play and how they performed in the fourth quarter?
TODD BOECKMAN: We noticed — all noticed Rehring was out and I thought Brewster did a very good job at center. He had a corner right by him that helped him out a little bit. I know they opened some holes up, gave Terrelle some time and I guess you have to give them a lot of credit for what they did out there.
REPORTER: Was this enough of a step for you to feel like you took a step in confidence and maybe got some of that bad taste in your mouth out from last week? Brian, why don’t you answer for the offense.
BRIAN ROBISKIE: I definitely think so. We know we have a lot more we need to work on, but just going forward and starting the Big Ten conference play, I think that we did take a big step against a really good football team and I think that for a lot of people looking at our schedule, looking at this game, we had a lot of different opinions about it, we knew this was a really good football team and we knew it would be a challenge to come in here and get a victory. We knew we were going to have to come out and play four quarters. I feel like we did that, coming out of halftime, like Malcolm said, Coach Tressel really got us challenged to get us started and I thought we did a good job.
JAMES LAURINAITIS: We knew how good Troy was and people had their own opinions about this game, it was on our schedule, but we knew that Troy was a good football team. You watch back on film and you see the way they played Georgia down in Georgia, the way they played Florida in Florida, they put up 30 plus points in both those atmospheres. So to hold them to 10 points is something, regardless of how many points they get, 10 points, obviously we missed some tackles and have some things we can get better at, but I think it’s a good step forward to preparing for the Big Ten because we know we’ve got to be ready each and every week in conference play.
REPORTER: Can you go over what happened on the pass over the middle? Was it just out of your reach?
BRIAN ROBISKIE: I dropped it.
REPORTER: What did you say?
BRIAN ROBISKIE: I dropped it, yeah.
REPORTER: Was your right shoulder a problem there?
BRIAN ROBISKIE: Over my left, but, yeah, I dropped it.
REPORTER: Everybody saw that part.
REPORTER: Hey, Todd, I just wanted to — today, is this a tough day for you, bittersweet? Obviously, like Coach Tressel said, you took Terrelle under your wing when he got here and stuff, how are you dealing with that aspect of things?
TODD BOECKMAN: First of all, after getting a win like this against a great team, that’s great, and I’m really excited about that. I’m happy for Terrelle, he had a great day. He did some great things out there. He’s getting better every time he’s out there and he made some great plays out there. I’m excited for this team and for him.
