Weekly Football Press Conference Transcript – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/13/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 13, 2011
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COACH FICKELL: Obviously thanks for coming. We are definitely excited to obviously get out of last week with a win. Probably the most important thing.
But I really don’t know that I said it enough after the game that I really want to give a lot of credit to Toledo in the way that they came in and played and the job that they did preparing. I think they did a heck of a job. But we’re excited to move on, get back kind of here this week, Tuesday, Wednesday, make sure we focus back on the fundamentals, getting better offensively, defensively, special teams, making sure that’s the key each and every week we get back to practice on Tuesday, but we are excited obviously to travel, to go down to Miami. Obviously they present some new challenges but I think our guys will be excited for the challenges that they present. So open it up.
Q. What’s the status of Hall, Howard and Brown and why do you think last week last Tuesday, that they would be able to play against Toledo?
COACH FICKELL: That’s what I was pretty much informed, that they would be. And don’t want to get into a whole lot but then I was informed on Friday that they would not be. So right now we are still pending and waiting. We are not going to make any jumps to conclusions I think maybe right now. But we’ll wait and see and hopefully we’ll hear something soon.
Q. How hard is it to not know and have this indecision?
COACH FICKELL: I guess it’s a part of the game. I can’t let that affect us, and we just have to continue to move on and deal with it however it comes but hopefully we’ll hear something soon and just so that we can most importantly prepare ourselves mentally, those guys mentally and everybody else as far as team wise.
Q. If y’all look back on Saturday, the decision not to play Braxton, was Braxton actually maybe even dinged up or was that part of the deal or do you all regret not getting him in the game and does he figure in your plans this week?
COACH FICKELL: We don’t have any regrets. I don’t think we are going to look back and regret it. Obviously you look back every week, and try to find ways that you can get better, but Braxton was dinged up a little bit, practiced more so on Thursday and a little bit on Wednesday, but you know, we had a plan going in that maybe it didn’t quite happen exactly how you do.
You’ve kind of got to adjust on the run. And you know, we are not going to look back on it. We know that most importantly, we’ll make sure that those guys mind are right and they understand the situation we are in. We communicated with them so that there’s no guesswork involved and to me the most important thing is that they can stay focused and move forward and not dwell upon the past.
Q. What is Nate Williams’ status for this week? Do you expect to have him back for this game?
COACH FICKELL: We still don’t know. There’s obviously a few guys we are not positive on. We’ll find out a little bit more hopefully today. See how he can move around and run around today. So you know it’s still a little bit too early to tell.
Q. Corey Linsley, will he definitely be back this week?
COACH FICKELL: Corey is back this week, and you know, hopefully we’ll get him back in the mix here real soon and create some more competition up front there offensive line wise and give us some more depth.
Q. Just to clarify on Braxton, his health did play a role in the decision on Saturday?
COACH FICKELL: I didn’t say. That I said that he was dinged up a little bit early in the week and we had a plan going in, maybe we adjusted the plan a little bit, but most important thing is that, hey, we’re all moving forward with it. We understand it, those guys understand it. You have a plan going into the game and as long as you communicate with them, we’ll make sure we all handle things the right way and most importantly we have to do what’s best for the team.
Q. And when you looked back at your run game offensively, did you see things, were you pretty happy with, did you feel like Toledo was maybe making things difficult inside on you guys or how do you think you dealt with Toledo’s difference with your run game?
COACH FICKELL: I thought they did a good job of twisting and doing some things, that’s something that they have done in the past; and maybe knowing that they wouldn’t just stand there and beat you up physically at times. But keep you on your toes and keep you off balance a little bit.
Obviously we have to do a better job. We have to block it better. We have to run it better. But sometimes it is like pounding your head against a brick wall when there’s ten guys in there. So there’s a lot of things that we have got to do better and I that’s one of the hard on ourselves and critical of ourselves in every aspect. There’s ways that we can get better improvements and eventually you just have to be able to do it at times, too.
Q. With freshmen quarterbacks, especially, there’s always that time of it needing to click, the game needing to slow down. How comfortable are you with where Braxton is with that, with the progress mentally with team things and making reads? Secondly, how will that play going forward this week in terms of playing time?
COACH FICKELL: You never know exactly how until once you get in the game. He’s done a good job. He prepares well. I think he’s had a very good attitude about everything. I think he understands the situation, and is obviously excited about his opportunities to become more and more. But you know, we are still going to focus on what’s best for this team and what’s best for this program.
But getting him involved and getting him more in there is something that we want to do and we are going to have to just see how that happens as the whole next few weeks unfold, and a lot of that goes with preparation and I think each and every week, hopefully we can get a little more preparation, see a little bit more and have a little bit more confidence in everything that we are doing offensively with him or without him.
Q. How difficult has it been to not allow the suspensions to be any kind of a distraction?
COACH FICKELL: We are not going to. We can’t allow our guys to. I don’t know that it is, really I don’t. We don’t talk about it. We don’t dwell upon it. When things come up, I think, you know, they can be a distraction for a minute. I think when you get things late, it makes it harder on you, but that’s no excuse and we understand that.
We hope and we think that this is what the game is all about, to be able to handle adversity and we believe it’s going to make us stronger in the long run, and as long as we continue to handle it in the right way, and communicate better in every aspect that we can, but it comes from the top down. We can’t let it affect me so that we can’t let it affect them, as well.
Q. How do you assess how do you assess how Joe played in the game and where do you need him to grow at the quarterback position?
COACH FICKELL: Ultimately that’s a position that gets criticized and critiqued the most. I think maybe eventually he’s going to have to do some other things and maybe take some more shots and everybody can look back at plays and say, oh, we gave one away, there he was open. But I thought Joe did a pretty good job in the things we asked him to do. You know, he didn’t take some chances in some situations where maybe the people in the crowd or even as you look back and think, oh, he really could have taken a chance and try to snake it in there. Maybe that’s something he’s done in the past that sometimes we think throwing the ball up there in the sixth row stands is not always a bad decision.
We know there’s things we are going to have to do moving forward, but I think Joe did a lot of the things we asked him to do. He was careful with the football. We are always going to be hard upon ourselves in that room over there behind those walls to find ways that we can get better. But I think he’s still continue to go grow. The offense is continuing to grow. And I think he’s still making good decisions for us.
Q. When you evaluate including the starting quarterback, how do you take in studying that tape, knowing it may not reflect what you see in the game on Saturday?
COACH FICKELL: You do the best you can. You have to obviously assume some things and try to do your best at figuring out at what might change for them and what they have and what they don’t have.
But how much time can you spend doing that? You know, you take a peak at some of the spring stuff maybe they did and things like that. But you know, there’s one game they have got for us to see on film with the new staff.
So there’s a lot of different ways you can try and go back and search and look around for what you think they might do, where the other guys have come from and different things. Sometimes you’ve just got to make sure you’re better at what you do fundamentally and sometimes we are not going to know exactly what to expect.
How will they change? I don’t know. Only they will know that. But we have got a plan. We have got an idea, and we are going to continue to prepare in the best way that we can.
Q. Jamal came back last week from his hamstring injury. Where does he factor in the plans at tailback going forward?
COACH FICKELL: You know, again, the thing about that is we are always going to have tailbacks and they understand that, and the more you do outside of just playing tailback, the more opportunities you’ll get probably at playing tailback.
So the more Jamal does on kick return and the more he does on special teams will be the more opportunities he gets on the field to show things, the more opportunities he’ll get at tailback.
So we know that we have got a few guys, that we have to have the ability to get them the ball and give them some opportunities, but you never know you never know when your opportunity is going to arise and you have to be ready to handle it and take full advantage of all the opportunities that you get.
Again, we’ll continue to move forward and he’s still an option for us, and you know, I think the most important thing is how he handles it and when he does get those opportunities, he’s ready to take them.
Q. There’s been a lot of second guessing of the on field communication with Braxton when he’s not on the field. How do you address those second guessings, and what is the lessons learned for the coaching staff after game two?
COACH FICKELL: I’m not sure what you mean by “second guessing.” I haven’t
Q. Well, the communication does
COACH FICKELL: I haven’t second guessed anything.
Q. As far as communicating, listening to the realtime play being called as a strategy
COACH FICKELL: Are you I’m not sure what you are speaking of. The communication with Braxton I think has been good. I think the way he’s handled it has been readily good. Did he not have a headset on in some situations? Yes, because we want to just give him the play, as opposed to him hearing all of the other mumbo jumbo that’s going on at times.
You know, to me, I think it’s important for Braxton to grow. He’s continuing we want him to be visual inches anything on the sideline. To me, that’s how most of those guys learn, the more you can stress them to be a visual learner. That’s what I think they are used to. We are really trying to push them along visually to see what we want them to see, as opposed to just listening here and sometimes when you listen here, you know what’s going to happen, so you stop paying attention at times and really processing it in your head.
It’s a lot of that. I think his growth is still continuing. The attitude has been good. The opportunities didn’t arise. And you know, I think how he handles that is a big factor and how he continues to glow.
Q. And then the players always learn things between week one and week two. What are the lessons learned for the coaches after the second week of the year?
COACH FICKELL: Again, it’s about fundamentals. I think that’s the most important thing. We learned something about our guys, that they regardless if things are happening good or bad, you know, they are going to fight for us and they are going to continue to battle. They are not going to hopefully allow the outside things to really affect them, and allow them to make excuses.
That’s probably the thing that we come away with in this game as much as anything. Things were tight, things were you know, hairier there in the game, but afterwards we didn’t have anybody making any excuses. We didn’t have anybody that had their head really down. We are continuing to learn from it and I think that’s we have got a young team, and you know, I think this is a great learning lesson, so we’ll see how all of those lessons pay off here in the next few weeks.
Q. First road game, you’ve seen ten years of how it’s done here, if you could supply specifics, what are you going to do differently, how are you going to do it differently, and a follow up would be, what’s the most important thing in your estimation of going on the road, accomplishing what?
COACH FICKELL: I think it’s our focus. I think that’s probably one of the things when you go on the road, it is different. Your surroundings are different, all of the the hotel is different, your routine is different.
You know, but you can’t allow those things just like we said, all of the little things we have had in the past few weeks, things brought to you at 4:30 or 5:00, you can’t allow those things to affect and you that’s the same thing going on the road; whether the plane is late, whether the meal is different, I think that’s probably one of the biggest things that we are just going to talk about is, hey, when we go on the road we talk about having great focus; we need even greater focus. Because there are going to be things that come up. Maybe the plane is late, different things like that. And you have to be able to handle those situations.
Q. What about routine? Anything that you’re going to do differently than Jim Tressel did?
COACH FICKELL: I mean, I don’t know that we could rebuild the planes or anything like. That I think those are pretty much set way in advance. A lot of the plane times are pretty much locked in a year in advance.
There’s not a whole lot difference. You know, there will definitely be some little things for the team internally that we do different that we might not have done in the past. But nothing that’s earth shattering that’s going to say, hey, I’m going to put some special stamp on what we are doing. We are going to continue to preach to them about being focused and make sure they are rested up and well ready to go come 8:00.
Q. Can you talk for me preparation, defensive standpoint of the defensive challenges of playing two different quarterbacks in a different week?
COACH FICKELL: You mean for us this week?
Q. No, for last week and for this week.
COACH FICKELL: Again, it’s all those little things that sometimes if you think they are two different people, then you have to have maybe a little bit of two different ideas of how you play them. You know, obviously if you’ve got the threat of a running quarterback at times, you have to be much more aware of where he’s at. If you’ve got a pocket passer, you’ve got to be much more aware of the different things that he can do.
But it definitely causes some preparation, just like some different tailbacks can cause different preparation, different personnel groups cause different preparation. So all of those things I think can add into it, can be a factor as a defense and how you prepare.
Q. Is your experience coaching the defense, does that make you lean towards not being afraid to do it?
COACH FICKELL: Again, I think the most important thing is we are trying to figure out what’s best for us in this program, and how that offense pretty much can come together. As you move along, if you can handle, Toledo has done a pretty good job where they were at handling two quarterbacks and I’m sure people will ask and guess them it about whose quarterback it should have been at the end of the game but I think it’s a part of the game. If we have got two guys that we think are very capable, we are going to continue to try to see how we can make that part of our system.
Q. Last year, against Miami, you guys gave up two returns for touchdowns and then last week against Toledo gave up a lock punt, how much emphasis are putting on special teams?
COACH FICKELL: We always put emphasis on special teams. That’s where we know we have to get better. We are going to focus each and every week. We want to see improvement. I think that’s our guys understand that’s how we go about it and we want to see improvement from week to week. And sometimes you don’t see the improvement, because you see missed tackles and some different things, but there’s improvement. And you know, there definitely is, and we are going to continue to do that.
Is special teams a focus? More so on the road but we have to do a much better job of making sure that fundamentally we know what we are doing so that we can go out there and play relaxed and play fast.
Q. What’s the status of Philly Brown (ph), do you think you’ll get him back this week? And following that, have you been what’s been your take on the rise of those other receivers? Verlon Reed and Chris Fields and now you’re leaning on those guys a little bit. And then following that, since I won’t get it back, just what’s your general view of Jacory Harris, what does he bring to the table?
COACH FICKELL: I’m not positive on Phil yet, it’s Tuesday, so hopefully we’ll have a better understanding after today. I don’t know that he looks great right now but we’ll see.
I think that the young receivers, you know, obviously they are being thrown in the mix. They really have to step up. I think sometimes you don’t see the little things that they are getting better at and understand the scheme and what we are asking them to do, not just catching the football, but all of the other things we are asking them to do, the different things each week that they have to be able to identify.
I mean, nobody plays the same defense from week to week, and those are some things I think as a young guy, maybe in high school, you didn’t have a whole lot of those. You were pretty much told to either run a post or run a dig or do some different things like that.
So understand how you fit in the run game is every bit as much as important as how you fit in the passing game. I think they are doing a good job. They are going to continue to get better and that’s one of the things we are talking about as a young team, we need to see improvement each and every week and the things that we are talking about improvement wise are not the things that come up in the stat book and that’s what we are going to continue to focus on.
Q. And then Jacory Harris, what do you remember about him in preparation for last year and what does he bring that makes him unique?
COACH FICKELL: I think he can do it all. Not that he’s out there running around and doing some quarterback run stuff but he definitely has the athletic ability to do. That he can definitely spin the football. He throws it very good down the field as well. So he’s a guy that has been there for quite a while, and has taken a lot of snaps. I’m sure he’s well in tune to what they need him to do offensively. Any time you have a fourth year guy starting or playing a lot, there’s a lot of positives that he brings to the tables. Obviously getting him back is something that I’m sure the whole team and offense will be able to rally around.
Q. How concerned are you about Drew Basil’s struggles on field goals?
COACH FICKELL: You know what, I would be more concerned if I thought Drew wasn’t handling it the right way. You know, obviously we have got to get him one. I think just get his confidence back completely. But in practice and camp, Drew had done a great job, and then when Drew misses one, you know, it’s not like he’s mentally seems to be in trouble.
So obviously we want him to be able to put him in a situation where hopefully he can have one and get a little confidence underneath his belt. But his head, his mind is right. I think it’s just a matter of time. So hopefully he’ll find that little stroke here.
Q. When you look at the kicks, is there anything technical he’s doing wrong?
COACH FICKELL: I’m not going to sit here and speak a whole lot technically on what the kickers are doing. Everybody has got a little bit of opinion. But it’s not going right down the middle. It’s a little bit probably he knows what he needs to do. He can do it. He’s done it every day in practice. He’s done it in the kick scrimmages and through camp and stuff.
I think it’s just a little bit of that confidence factor, just making sure he’s comfortable with where he’s going.
Q. Back in the 80s and 90s, Miami was probably one of the most dominant programs in college football and they were very polarizing, people either hated them or loved them. You were a player during that era, where did you fall in this? Did you think, wow, that’s really a cool program or, boy, I like the way those guys act or what did you think?
COACH FICKELL: I would probably like to watch them, I really did. I can remember a little bit about it, but you know, probably not a ton. Again, I might have been watching and thinking about the programs that had both wrestling and football, so I don’t know that it was something that was quite as polarizing to me.
But definitely liked watching the stories and seeing the uniqueness to how they did things in the 80s and 90s. I remember as a g 8 playing them when they were first coming back and probably on more of their second run there in the late 90s.
Q. You and Al Golden are both in similar situations in that you’re first year coaches who are dealing with some things off the field that happened before you became the head coach. Can you just maybe add some understanding or empathy for what he’s going through, because there’s probably not a lot of coaches in the country who could understand that as well as you do right now.
COACH FICKELL: I’m sure if I sat down and had the opportunity to sit down and talk with him, we could share some serious ideas, but I don’t imagine he’s got a whole lot of time to spend on worrying about what’s going on here at Ohio State, and I really don’t have a whole lot of time to sit down and think about what’s going on there. Obviously we have to take care of our own programs and hopefully here in the off season we can make share some ideas on how you go about handling some of those situations.
Q. Just another question. Tyler Moeller is a guy we have seen in the past be a playmaker on defense. He doesn’t seem to have had maybe many opportunities or just has not maybe been as explosive the first two games as we have seen in past years with him. Do you see anything with Tyler physically or anything, or is he on track in your mind?
COACH FICKELL: No, he is. I think that obviously last week was a situation where you know, we couldn’t do some of the things we have done with him and I think we have got to do a better job of making sure we are getting him involved in some things that, you know, can be a spark. I think that’s as much of game planning and coaching as anything.
But you’ve still got to be able to do what the team will allow you to do, and last week was probably a more difficult time to have Tyler do some of the things that he’s done in the past.
So I see him coming along. He’s going to be fine. And you know, I’m sure he gets frustrated with those things, but again, we are not just focused in on just those little stats or those big stats that come up. There’s a lot of little things that he’s doing that is a lot better in his game than maybe as a young guy he didn’t do.
Q. I know that you’ve been asked about how nice it was to see your team tested last week, but did you also have to show a little bit more than maybe you wanted to heading into the Miami game? Did you have to tip your hand at all because of the close score?
COACH FICKELL: No, we don’t hold things back. It’s not like we are sitting here waiting on some things. We are going to go out this is a young group, we need to make sure we are getting better each and every week and to sit back and think we are going to hold something special, no, that’s not who we are. We are going to continue to focus on what we can continue to do to get better.
Q. What do you expect to see from Miami this week that you have not seen in your previous two weeks?
COACH FICKELL: I would imagine you are going to see some bigger bigger more physical guys up front. I’m not saying they are that much bigger than what Toledo has been. You are going to see some more speed at the wide out; not that not that Paige (ph) was every bit as fast as we needed to see, but I think maybe you’ll see more depth at those things.
I think you’ll see a very mature quarterback that has been playing a long time. And the other thing I think you might see more than anything is a big, physical offensive line, that to me, it might be one of their strengths of their entire team.
Q. You talked after the first game about having only one turnover. And then last week, one turnover as well obviously is that a bit frustrating, or is there something you can to do kind of grease the wheel and take the ball away from other teams?
COACH FICKELL: Again sometimes they come in bunches, and you know, we need to just find that bunch. But no, it’s something that we thrive on defensively. And just haven’t got as many as we need to get. You know, I mean, am I going to sit here and harp on it and say we are not putting focus on it? No. Are we going to over emphasize it?
Sometimes you’ll do things that you over emphasize and sometimes you’ll start missing more tackles. We will just continue to do what we do and keep talking about it and harping on it and we have those opportunities, because you look back in the game and there are some opportunities for us to get a few more, we just have to make sure we get those plays.
Q. You’ve recruited pretty well in Florida, will the ten kids can they have an impact talking to the other guys or just having a feeling for what Miami is all about?
COACH FICKELL: I think that it’s going to be an emotional thing for them. I think that was one of the things, obviously, when you go down there and recruit them, that you had those guys on the schedule, and it was something that they had been excited about for a couple years knowing that they had a chance to go home.
Even in a home at home it will be an emotional time for those guys and it will be important for them to control their emotions so that they can handle and go out on the field and play football and make sure their actions and what they do on the field that people remember.
Q. Tyler, we know obviously both Ohio State and Miami have been forced to deal with some off field things this season. What’s your sort of understanding or what do you know about the Miami stuff that you’re just a guy on the outside looking in, what did you think when you heard about what happened down there and what do you think it’s like for them trying to deal with off field stuff knowing that you guys are doing kind of the same thing in some ways?
Tyler Moeller: I think with the suspensions, you kind of compare it to what we are going through, they are losing some guys and us losing some guys now for what was involved and how they got the suspensions, you know, it’s two different things. You can’t really compare them.
But at the same time, you can look at our suspensions, look at their suspensions, and you know, kind of have a feeling of what they are going through a little bit in that sense, in the suspended sense.
You know everything that happened in the preseason I think got us prepared for things that happened in the season, like the three guys that are suspended last week and we just always been saying to each other, next man up. Those three guys couldn’t go, so three guys stepped up and they did a great job last week, and that’s whatever else happens to us, guys are going to come up and step up and do a great job.
Q. Through two games, how do you think you’ve played so far, and Luke was just talking about maybe last the game plan against Toledo didn’t put you in as many positions to make plays; do you feel like maybe this week you’ll get a few more opportunities?
Tyler Moeller: Hopefully I’ll get a few more opportunities to make a couple turnovers and you guys will start liking me again. (Laughter).
But I’m still the same player I was last year, and the year before that, and the year before that, and you know, plays will come my way, and I need to start making the plays that come my way.
Last game I missed a few plays. I didn’t get very many plays my way and the ones I did, I didn’t do a great job on them. You know, my problem I think I’m trying to make the plays, instead of just playing it. And I need to do a good job of just calming down and just playing my game.
I’ll be fine. Once they start coming my way again, I get a little more comfortable in that position, I’ll be fine. You guys will like me again.
Q. You’ve been in a lot of road environments before, just what kind of environment are you expecting out of Miami Saturday; and two, you’re a veteran, but there are a lot of younger guys on both defense and offense. What do you tell them? Is there any way to prepare guys that are not used to that environment they are going to see?
Tyler Moeller: Personally for me I love those environments. I love going to stadiums and fans just booing and you hating you. I love going in there and disappointing them. For the younger guys, I would just tell them, just to play their game. You know, it’s just like last week, more people, and more hype if you want to call it. But it’s still a game. Just play your game and you’ll be fine.
Q. What do you remember, obviously you got after Jacory Harris, he through a few picks, quite a number; do you remember rattling him and what’s your impression of him as a quarterback?
Tyler Moeller: I think he’s a great quarterback. He throws the ball well. I think last year, defensive line did a great job of pressuring him and getting him rattled a little bit I guess you could say. And put a big emphasis on doing it again this year. We talk about affecting the quarterback is one of the biggest things as what we want to do and last year they did a great job. We need to make sure this year we do a great job also.
Q. I’m interested in whether ESPN had that 30 for 30 on Miami, did you see that?
Tyler Moeller: Yeah, I thought it was pretty cool.
Q. What were your impressions of that era and what they did during that time?
Tyler Moeller: I think the biggest thing that I took out of that is just a confidence level they had. You know, they went into every game and just, you know, had that swag, I think that’s what they called it, just going in there and knowing they are the best. I think, you know, that’s the biggest thing that I took off of that 30 for 30 is just the confidence level that those teams had and the players they had. They had some great players on those teams.
Q. Miami and Ohio State have the classic National Championship game, nine years ago, whatever it was, eight years ago. What do you think the national perception of this game is coming up?
Tyler Moeller: I would have to say people are paying a little more attention to it just because of the adversities that both teams have gone through.
I think for us, how I look at people from the outside look at us, people want to kind of see us fail. That’s what I kind of take out of it, and you know, I don’t know I don’t really pay attention to the media too much to know what everyone is saying about them or whatnot.
But I think that’s the national attention that everyone is going to be watching, the adversity and things that both teams have gone through and how are they going to react to those things that happened and what they are going to do about it.
Q. Did you watch Miami in their game against Maryland and do you think you’ll see a different team this week than maybe the team that was out there in week one?
Tyler Moeller: I think I think they played pretty well during the game. They had some turnovers that didn’t go their way, some plays that didn’t go their way. But you know, I expect to see some of the same formations and plays that they ran against us, against Maryland, doing it against us.
You know, they ended up losing the game, but you see some things out of their players that happened, like the running back, No. 6, he’s a great player. I was actually watching him this morning and just some of the plays that he made and his burst out of the line of scrimmage, it was pretty impressive.
Q. It’s the first night game, first road game and you’re a senior and you’re named captain, what does that mean to you?
Tyler Moeller: It means a whole lot. To be thought of by the coaches and to have them make me a captain tore this game, you know, this team means everything to me. This program means everything to me. The things I’ve been through with these guys, it means a whole lot, and this year, with everything that we have been through and everything that I’ve been through, it means everything to me. So you know, I’m happy to be here. I’m happy to be healthy and be able to play in these games.
Q. You seemed to have an understanding of how some people on the outside may view this game; people are going to talk about the NCAA violation stuff as much as the on field stuff. Does it make you mad to be involved, and that’s going to be some of the talk around this game, or is it just part of the deal at this point that you guys just have to deal with that?
Tyler Moeller: It’s kind of part of the deal. You know, it makes me angry about how people perceive this program. Just the few things have happened, but also know that we didn’t make mistakes. We have to hold things at a higher level. Yeah, it makes me angry but you just have to get over it. It happened. All you can do is move up.
Q. What did you see different under Miami under the all golden regime, did you notice anything different about them, the way they attacked, what they preferred, etc.?
Tyler Moeller: Not too much. I think they are more of a regular Green formation team. They want to run the ball first, pass the ball later. They are a tough team. That’s what I see out of them, they are a tough team.
Q. Presuming most of the allegations have some basis, in fact, in Miami, do you feel what happened here was trivial in comparison?
Tyler Moeller: No, not really. It’s two completely different situations and both things are wrong. A rule is a rule, no matter if one is worse than another, you’re still breaking the rule.
Q. Coach Fickell has talked about simplifying things a lot and that seems to be a consistent message. Even the next man up mantra, it’s quick and punchy. And then some guys I talked to after the game said in the defensive huddle before the final stand and before the final time out, the message was, don’t let them score. I mean, what I’m getting at is, do you sense with this coaching staff with Luke at the forefront that the message has been simplified a little bit and I wonder why that seems to be the approach.
MIKE BREWSTER: I think people forget to look at how many young starters we have. I mean, there’s three guys on the O line that started their first two games, receivers, I mean cornerbacks, even big Hank, it’s his first time as a full time starter so. There’s guys across the board that don’t have much starting experience and you need to be simple, because if it’s not simple, you can’t play as fast. They are rolling with the punches right now and doing a great job.
The more simple it is, the easier it is for them to grasp.
Q. Do you think as a former player in this program, realizing that the terminology and all of the surroundings can get to be a little much more a young player?
MIKE BREWSTER: Definitely. I remember going back to my young day, when you’re not sure what you’re doing you can’t play as fast and he wants us to play fast. By making it more simple, you can play fast, sure.
Q. How tough is that for you as a senior who obviously is available to do the full offense and do whatever is called upon to be able to have an offense right now that seems to be doing not all that it’s capable of. There were several times on Saturday night, guys in the box, you were running into it, as opposed to checking out and finding some passing options.
MIKE BREWSTER: Yeah, definitely. There’s definitely things we are going to be adding every week, things we worked on in camp that we don’t want to show yet. And I think we’ll start getting into that now as we get in some of the hard games in the season. We are doing quite a bit. It was just a rough day Saturday, but we’ll get back at it this week.
Q. As one of the clear leaders of this team, how frustrating is it with the suspension situation, you just can’t get out from under that cloud it seems, you personally as a leader how frustrating is that?
MIKE BREWSTER: After everything we’ve gone through, it’s got to a point now where I feel like nothing can break us. We have gone through so much, we have handled so much, we just keep getting closer, and at this point nothing can affect us.
Q. I know that Florida more or less has factions around where different areas hate other parts of the state and things like that; where you grew up, what was your thinking about Miami and its program?
MIKE BREWSTER: I was born in Kansas at this time city and moved to Orlando when I was about three or four, so I don’t really have any ties to any teams in Florida. But when I was younger in middle school in ninth grade, I was like, I want to play in Miami and I had gone down to camp down there, and then the coaching thing kind of fell apart and kind of lost interest after that.
But they were a great team when I was growing up. They have always had great players, but where I’m at in Orlando, people like Florida State, people like Miami and people like Florida, it’s kind of a mix.
Q. The 30 for 30, did you watch that?
MIKE BREWSTER: Oh, definitely. It kind of highlighted a great time for the Miami Hurricanes and the greatness. They were a amazing for a period of time, and I think they are getting back there now.
Q. That first series against Toledo, you talk about earlier, the speed, it seems like the first series against Toledo, plays were getting in fast, snaps coming off fast but after that the pace slowed down offensively. Is that something the rockets were doing or something you changed offensively at that point?
MIKE BREWSTER: You know, after watching the film, a lot of little things, cleaning up little things. Their safety made a bunch of big plays. Just flying down, we can’t account for all those guys.
So you know, just got to give them a lot of credit. They have some coaches on that staff that have been here for years, and you know just really game planned us well. Just really glad we made it out of that one on top and just kind of have to use that adversity as a plus and getting some of those young guys on defense in that pressure situation.
Q. Spending your formative years at Florida when Jacory and those kids were at Miami and Northwestern and they went to Miami, the thought down there was that that was going to be another start of something pretty special at Miami. What do you remember about those Miami Northwestern teams that a lot of these kids that ended up at the U played at, and when they all went, was the feeling where you went to high school that Miami perhaps would be back on the way up with those kids all going there?
MIKE BREWSTER: I remember it was my senior year, a team in central Florida that we had lost to play them in the state championship, and I remember they had seven or eight guys I believe that maybe went there on scholarship.
You know, they were the big talk around at that time, and so I do remember some of the guys that are still there, and like Marcus Forston and Jacory, guys like that, so it is kind of neat to play against them now, especially being a senior, they were the talk of the town.
Q. With the amount of youth that there is on your offense, going into this environment, first road game, even Joe has never started on the road just dealing with what they are going to deal with 7:30 on Saturday?
MIKE BREWSTER: Curious to see how many Buckeye fans will be there and what the atmosphere will be like. We need to have a good week of practice. We all need to be on the same page, have our checks in, make sure the assignments are clean, kind of get out there for a series and get comfortable and get everything moving in the right direction.
I’m not worried about it. This team has handled themselves very well this off season and even in the first couple of weeks with the stuff we have had to go through. So to be honest, I’m not worried about it. I’m more worried about having a good week of practice.
Q. How surprised were you that Braxton didn’t play Saturday and when coach talks about this thing of flow, can you describe what that means, what he’s getting at where the flow of the game wasn’t right?
MIKE BREWSTER: As far as Braxton, there was so much going on during the game, I didn’t really have a chance to pay attention to that or worry about that. And then the flow, you just couldn’t really ever get in a rhythm. Getting three and outs on Saturday, not getting the defense much rest, it does get frustrating. But if you can use that as a positive and just move on, and just get better, really evaluate yourself on film, I think we can use that as a stride.
Q. What’s your scouting report on the Miami defense?
MIKE BREWSTER: You know, still watching film. Trying to look for keys and blitzes and stuff. They are definitely fast, so Marcus will be back, he’s a great interior guy. They have got some big guys inside, some fast ends. Just pretty solid all around.
Q. How do you think you’ve played so far in the first two games?
MIKE BREWSTER: For myself, I’m always just trying to get better. I only remember the bad plays, just trying to clean things up. I think I’m going in the right direction.
Q. And how big of a deal is this actually going to Florida, do you have friends or family that have not seen you here that might see you down there?
MIKE BREWSTER: I have some friends coming to the game, people have been contacting me and saying they are going to be down there, and I’m excited, get a chance to play in my home state, never having gotten to do that since high school.
I’m very excited to get to go home.
Q. It’s been made pretty clear that everybody has a great deal of confidence in the guys you’re putting on the field right now. But for you being a senior going into that type of environment, big national stage, you’re to the going in with a lot of your playmakers; is that frustrating at all?
MIKE BREWSTER: I think we are used to it at this point. We’ll hear back today about those three other guys. Kind of anxious to see how that goes.
But I’m not really worried about it. These young receivers have really been surprising me. They have really been stepping up and doing a great job just getting better every day. I thank Coach for recruiting those guys. I think Joe’s been doing a great job not trying to force anything. People don’t like it when he throw it is away but I would rather him throw it away ten times and throw one pick any day of the week.
So just keep managing the game, and we have got to clean up these fumbles and if we clean those fumbles up, we have zero turnovers for two weeks.
Q. You lead me to the next question, how do you feel like Joe is playing, because there was consternation from fans that Braxton didn’t get into, how do you evaluate how he did against Toledo?
MIKE BREWSTER: I think he’s been doing great. He has not thrown any interceptions in two games and when you can do that, on your first two starts, I think that’s impressive. He’s not trying to force anything.
I’m sure there’s a couple of passes that he wishes he could have back, one he missed I note guard got pushed pack into him and just let go of it when he was trying to when he got hit. I think he’s been doing a great job of managing the game, getting us the checks in the huddle and like I said not trying to force anything, throwing that away when he doesn’t have anything.
Q. Is it to the point with you guys where on a week to week basis you feel like you’re ready for anything, and by that, I mean, in week one, two guys were listed as starters and you find out Thursday they are not going to play and last week all three guys were supposed to be back, you find out Friday at five that they are not going to play. Is it to the point where nothing would surprise you now?
MIKE BREWSTER: Yeah, I think it’s to the point where not only will nothing surprise us, but it won’t affect us. We have gone through so much, and we have a great head coach that just pushes forward no matter what happens and doesn’t let anything affect him. And he doesn’t get nervous. He just he’s full speed ahead at all times.
