Postgame Press Conference Transcript (No. 18 Ohio State vs. Minnesota) – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
No. 18/17 Ohio State (6-2, 4-1 Big Ten) 38, Minnesota (4-4, 2-3 Big Ten) 7
Ohio Stadium
Columbus, Ohio
Oct. 24, 2009
Attendance: 105,011
HEAD COACH JIM TRESSEL – POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
COACH TRESSEL: Well, I thought we put some things together, special units-wise, offensively, defensively, everyone, I thought, picked up their game and as we talked about in the locker room just now is that we all got a little bit better. We really have to focus in this coming week. Sometimes when you leave your conference schedule, when that’s really paramount in your mind, you can have the tendency to lose that focus a little bit. But if we’ll keep taking steps and so forth we can see if we can compete for the Big Ten. And some guys came up with some plays. We made it a little harder on ourselves by missing a field goal and having a turnover down there at the end of the second quarter if it was even, which, we’d be sitting here talking about, well, that was the difference. It just so happened we made some plays and they made some mistakes and we’re not sitting here harping on what we didn’t do in the first half. But that was at least six maybe 10 points that we could have had on the board before the intermission.
So anyway, we got better, need to get considerably better as we move forward, but it was a good step and good to be back home and we get to play at home next week which is a good deal.
REPORTER: Coach, could you talk about 500 yards of total offense today and Terrelle for 300 yards total offense or above 300 yards, could you talk about what was the difference in the second half with the entire offensive unit and sort of assess his performance today?
COACH TRESSEL: I thought the first half we played fairly well on offense, but came up short, whether it was the missed field goal or the interception there and I thought we moved the ball okay against the wind. That was a significant wind. But to me what the difference was in the second half was the special teams provided that spark and all of a sudden you’re against the wind and we went into the third quarter saying, hey, look, we’re going to give them the wind and we’re going to have to survive the third quarter. And we kick off, they mishandle it, now we’re against the wind. We were supposed to be just surviving and we’re on the plus whatever, 30-yard line and that gave the offense a little bit of confidence and I think the fact that — I think we got it in right after that, with 13:43 to go, bang, we scored and all of a sudden when you’re up 14-0 and your defense and special teams are playing the way they are, that sure gives the offense confidence.
REPORTER: How about Terrelle?
COACH TRESSEL: I thought he did a good job making decisions. The one interception, he really feels it was a poor decision. I couldn’t tell from where I was, it looked like the ball was just a little bit behind Dane and perhaps if it was thrown on the line it was good, but he feels like he shouldn’t have. He wishes he had that one back. But I really thought he made some good decisions on checkoffs and throwing the ball. He wasn’t under duress quite as much, you know, maybe as we were a week ago, and obviously he can make things happen with his feet. He had 104 yards, so he had a good ball game.
REPORTER: Jim, you lose Brandon Saine, looked like a concussion, Jordan Hall, then Jermil Martin steps in, how critical is the running back situation now from your vantage point?
COACH TRESSEL: You never have enough tailbacks because tailbacks take a pounding unlike any other position. There’s multiple people hitting them, running full speed, they’ve got to protect the ball while they’re getting splattered. You know, it has hurt us not having Boom. We obviously weren’t excited about the prospects of playing the second half or whatever without Brandon. Jordan stepped up, which we think Jordan has done well since he’s been here, and Jermil did a heck of a job. So right now if we had a game this moment it would be Jordan, Jermil, and probably K.C. Christian and Joe Gantz, but you never have enough guys that can tote the ball.
REPORTER: You had Jim Cordle start at left tackle and then when did you know that Mike Adams was going to play?
COACH TRESSEL: Well, Wednesday at the beginning of practice it was bothering him and after practice we assumed that he might have a problem but we didn’t know for sure. They told us to wait to see if he could do anything Thursday, which he couldn’t, so Thursday after practice was kind of when we knew for sure that Mike wouldn’t be playing. But Andrew Miller was ready and Jimmy Cordle was ready and fortunately we got those guys back because they were gone there for a while. We’d have been really in trouble if that would have happened two weeks ago. But you have to live with injuries and we’ll have to see. But I think those — both those guys did okay at left tackle.
REPORTER: Jim, given everything that Terrelle went through this week with all the criticism, did you learn anything about him that maybe you didn’t know or weren’t real sure of before today?
COACH TRESSEL: Probably nothing that I didn’t know. There were some things affirmed that I did know, which, it’s very, very important to him to do well for his team. Not many guys that feel any worse than he does if he doesn’t provide what the team needs. We’re fortunate we’re filled with a team full of all of those guys and a coaching staff full of them. Whenever any of us does something that we’re not sure it ended up being what the team really needed, whether it’s physically or decision-wise or whatever, our people feel like they’ve let some people down. Terrelle is the same and I thought he just went to work this week and knew that the criticism was there, that’s the position he plays. When you turn it over, you’re going to get criticized, just like when you don’t win games, the coach is going to be criticized, that’s part of the deal. The longer you’re around it, the more you’ll know that’s just the way it is, but keep working to get better.
REPORTER: Jim, how do you — would you comment on, like, LeBron being a confidante of Terrelle’s, and also Shaq, when the Cavaliers played down here, it’s like a circle of celebrity that’s a little unusual in football.
COACH TRESSEL: I think in this day of cell phones and Twitters and Twotters or whatever, everybody knows everybody and everybody talks to everybody, but I’m sure it was a good public relations move on all parts to support one another. Those guys that are in that celebrity status know when things don’t go right, the celebrity status isn’t that much fun and to support other people in it and to support their local state university and so forth, that’s the kind of people they are. LeBron’s always been a great booster of Ohio State and Shaq’s an LSU guy, but he likes us in the Big Ten, I guess.
REPORTER: Coach, there seemed to be a few more deep balls thrown today. Was it something you guys just saw or is this a sign that you’re going to be more aggressive on offense?
COACH TRESSEL: We felt that we needed to push them deep, we just felt that the way they played defense, the way that they sit on some things, that that was the way to go and of course when we came out and the wind was the way it was, we were thinking, oh, my. And then the first one was against the wind and it was up there, like, forever. So, yeah, that was part of the plan was to — as long as we could hold up protection-wise, we felt like we wanted to chase them deep.
REPORTER: Jim, kind of along those lines, where do you see DeVier progressing as a player and obviously in big-time play ability, but what is he doing to put himself in the spot to make plays?
COACH TRESSEL: We felt like DeVier was always going to end up being a good player and he’s steadily done that. He had a little bit of a hamstring or something in preseason where he missed a bunch of time and didn’t develop quite like we’d hoped early on there, but DeVier’s going to be a good player. He’s got a long way to go, but he’s a learner. He studies it. He’s an explosive guy. He wants to be good. He’s going to end up being a good player, he’s just got to keep working on it.
REPORTER: Jim, what was your level of concern at halftime given last week’s offensive struggles and then the first half not scoring, were you concerned mentally that your team was still a little fragile?
COACH TRESSEL: No, not really. The thing we thought about in the first half or at the halftime was that we did move the football and we had a turnover, so we better have a remedy for that, and we felt we could move the ball and that we were going to have to do it the third quarter against the wind, so you are really going to have to be good. But we wanted them to have their win in the third quarter, so if it was a knockdown dragout even game, then in the fourth quarter we would have been the ones with the advantage in the kick game and field goal and passing and all the rest.
So I don’t know that we had a level of concern because we felt like we could block them. We felt like we could protect. We felt like we could move it. And we had — I don’t know how many yards we had at halftime, I don’t think it says here, what was it? 270? Shoot, I’ll take that every first half, so we felt like we just needed to do things a little bit better.
REPORTER: We didn’t talk about the defense at all because we were talking about the 500 yards of total offense, no touchdowns allowed by first team defense. Talk about your performance out there today against Minnesota. Until they ran against your back-ups, they didn’t threaten you very much, can you talk about the performance, Doug?
WORTHINGTON: I think we did a good job this week in preparation. We knew what we had coming in, and coming off a loss, we had to execute even more and I think it goes to practice and whatnot. And as a team we communicated on the field. Linebackers were giving great calls and helping the defensive line out with what they seen and I think it started with practice and whatnot and we wanted to get out there and when you’re in the ‘Shoe, that’s the 12th man, so we play as hard as we can in front of our fans.
COLEMAN: I think we did a great job preparing for this game. We were mentally prepared, physically prepared. We came out with a lot of aggression. I think the first drive the first series, Eric Decker got hurt or sprained his ankle and I think that hindered what they were trying to do which made it harder for us to get after the QB, stop the game and force them to make the plays. I think once Decker went out, it was easier for us to hone in on what they were trying to do.
SPITLER: Just to reiterate what those guys said, obviously last week was a tough one for us. We had to get back out on the field and I thought we did a heck of a job as a defense preparing for Minnesota. And the other thing was the pressure on the quarterback. Our D line did a heck of a job pressuring the quarterback and that results in picks and a lot of pressure and making him scramble and he makes bad decisions, so I thought they did a great job.
REPORTER: Kurt and Austin, these guys were using Weber and then using MarQueis Gray looked like a little bit of a wildcat or whatever you want to call it, how did you adjust to that? And number two, how much does it hurt to lose the shutout at the end?
SPITLER: We knew coming into the game that Number 5 was going to be at quarterback position within the first 12 plays of the game. We prepared for it all week. We knew he was more of a runner, but he is a back-up quarterback, so he has the potential to pass the ball. I thought we did a good job of recognizing it. We played well against it.
COLEMAN: We prepared for it really well, so it wasn’t a surprise to us, but he ran hard and I think after a while they started using him just pass plays, they started using him for everything including running so we tried to just play a base defense and just allow him — treat him as a regular QB. And for the second question, it hurts a little bit, but it’s all right. The guys needed reps, they need to learn and it’s a good learning experience for everybody.
