Urban Meyer Press Conference Transcript – 11/10/14 – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/10/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 10, 2014
An Interview With: COACH MEYER
COACH MEYER: What we’re using this week as far as getting our team ready to go. Champions for Michigan State was defense on defense, excuse me, Vonn Bell, graded champion, Michael Bennett.
And Player of the Game is Doran Grant. Obviously not near enough for what we expect. On offense, you had three receivers, Evan Spencer, who was playing like a most valuable player on our team right now in the things we ask him to do.
He’s my MVP as far as just all around what we asked him to do. Jalin Marshall graded at championship, playing at a very high level. And Mike Thomas, his improvement from since he’s been here, and it’s all about the way he takes care of his business. And he’s grading out every week we do academic, attitude and effort grade. And he used to screw around with a 6 or a 7, and was probably on his way out of here.
Now he’s a 9 or 9.5. And that’s the correlation between a guy that’s got everything in order and playing well as I think everybody knows that, that’s why Mike Thomas is playing well, he’s taking care of his business.
That’s a credit I told his dad when I saw him at Maryland, it’s because nowadays you get these third uncles, all they want to do is complain. And Michael Thomas’s family did not. They said what do we need to do to get better? How do we support the coaching staff? Guess what happened? Mike Thomas is playing at a very high level.
Jeff Heuerman graded at champion. Offensive line had a couple bad situations early in that game. But, boy, did they play well after they got going.
Pat Elflein graded champion and Billy Price graded at champion, a freshman, in that environment against that defensive line.
Players of the game went to four guys. I made them come up with names. Because they wanted to do the O offense. But my recommendation as well. Jacoby Boren, I think back to back, once again just a tribute to Jacoby and the Boren family. Played at champion. His most physical game he’s played.
J.T. Barrett is our quarterback, in case you didn’t know that, graded at champion as well. Ezekiel Elliott once again plays as hard as any back I’ve ever witnessed without the ball. And played great. And a really physical game.
And Devin Smith played his best game, played with his most emotion and also did great on kicking game for us.
So that’s the offensive and defensive champions. A couple of mentions for special teams. Special teams player of the week was Evan Spencer. And also I want to Corey Smith came out and made two tackles on kickoff cover. So look for Corey Smith if he continues to get things in order to be in the rotation with the receivers.
With that said, tough I don’t want to say I didn’t expect it, because I did. I’ve known Jerry Kill a long time. And I’ve always thought he was one of the best football coaches and his coaching staff has been together, I think his defensive corps has been together forever. And his offensive corps for like 15 years.
He’s won at every level. And I admire those guys that do that. I have a lot of admiration for him as a coach. And he knows that. He’s a friend.
This is the first time I’ve ever coached against one of his teams. And it’s everything you’d think of a Jerry Kill coached team.
Relentless effort. Very well coached. I haven’t studied their offense yet. But special teams and defense are very good. Statistically, they’re very good. And to do that to Iowa, who I think Iowa is a heck of a team, they’ve got some momentum right now.
So we have to we’re done with the celebration part. Now we’re learning from it. And the players will receive their directive tomorrow and we’re moving forward.
Q. There’s a report out there that Dontre Wilson is injured. Can you address that?
COACH MEYER: Dontre broke his foot. He actually caught a touchdown pass with a broken foot. Tells you what a tough guy didn’t have a good game, couple balls on the ground. He’s out for a few weeks. I don’t know the extent, get you that probably by Wednesday. Might have to put a pin in it.
Q. Obviously Jalin has played well there. But looking at the backups?
COACH MEYER: Noah Brown gets in the mix and Corey Smith gets in the mix. Evan Spencer is a multiple guy that can do a lot of things. Nick Vannett is a guy. So the good thing there’s some personnel. It’s not exactly like Dontre, but on 240 pound H back Noah Brown brings a little something to the table, too. He’s earned some right to play.
Q. Curtis Samuel is just going to be a tailback, will he get some snaps in there maybe?
COACH MEYER: Probably not right now. Depends on how recruiting goes. Because he can do a lot of things right now. We’re beat up at tailback, too. You can’t move a guy out of there yet.
Q. You touched on this a little bit in your opening statement. How difficult is it you had the loss to Virginia Tech. To win this week kind of gets you kind of back into that mix. How difficult is it, though, to maintain this and keep pushing on that upward trek?
COACH MEYER: That’s the thing that Lou Holtz would always say. And this is where I think coaches make a lot of mistakes. You don’t just go blow the whole thing up when you lose a game. That’s fragile. You coach them really hard when you win. So you say how difficult, it’s not difficult at all.
You lose that game Saturday, it’s really difficult. Now you’ve got problems. Now you’ve got motivation problems. So it’s all the way we handle it and the good thing is I’ve got 9 good coaches and more importantly I have players that understand we didn’t play as well as we could on defense and we expect to play much better. Two weeks ago we didn’t play as well on offense. There’s plenty to work on.
Q. J.T.’s progress, one, have you coached a kid or a quarterback who has made as much progress in three weeks or three months as he has, and would you consider him a guy to throw out in the Heisman mix right now?
COACH MEYER: Great question. I think Alex Smith was a guy that obviously that’s a big name. So to start throwing Alex Smith’s name. But you asked me a question, Alex couldn’t call a play his first snap against Utah State and went on to be what he was. And really by the end of his first year playing for us he was a sophomore. He made every week incremental jumps as far as how he handled business.
J.T.’s like that. J.T.’s made incredible jumps as far as how he handles his business and accuracy of passing last week was fantastic.
To answer your question, I’m not I’ve seen one Alex make that kind of improvement. And as far as the Heisman, when I get national questions, it’s so hard because I have not seen anybody play. I’ve seen the teams we play and I’ll flip it on for Thursday nights I’ll watch some football and that’s about it.
So I haven’t seen I think statistically he’s got to be in the mix somewhere, I think. But I haven’t even asked Jerry for that information yet.
Q. Was Saturday’s offensive performance what you wanted to see when you
COACH MEYER: It’s our best performance that we’ve had since we’ve been here. It’s very balanced. And I think you have to, what I always like to do is obviously statistically I think we probably had more yards against other teams. But that was against a legitimate top 5 defense in America and a bunch of NFL players on that defense. And it was very well executed.
Q. As far as the defense goes, obviously you gave up 37 points. But as far as the pass defense with Chris Ash being hired, was that the triggering and aggressiveness, was that closer to what you had in mind?
COACH MEYER: Yes, you take away I think when you get ahead by a couple of scores, what happens you start playing that bend but don’t break which I can’t stand it. I’m not sure many people can’t stand. But it’s also probably the smart thing to do, keep the ball in front of you, close the middle of the field, which we did and gave up some yards. I’m not in a panic. I think our defensive coaches are a little upset with the way things transpired that we’ve got to get fixed.
We’re still looking for that rotation at defensive line, that’s how I’m upset about that, that we can’t get that done. And so there’s going to be a lot of pressure on guys this week to get that done.
Q. When you recruit somebody like Jalin Marshall, even in high school, do you start envisioning all the various ways you can use him or do you have to wait until they get on campus before you can start tinkering?
COACH MEYER: We put the APB out every year for the multi dimensional athlete on offense. And that’s the tight end H and it’s the tailback H. And just over the years that position has evolved.
You like moving those checkers around when you can have guys that can take direct snaps. And a quarterback, the thing I always look at is Joe Haden was a quarterback in high school. You’re not just going to put your best player out there for 30 plays a game at corner. If he’s a great player, he’s going to touch the football.
So Jalin Marshall played quarterback in high school. That’s right where he should have played. Probably the best I do know because I watched him, he was the best player on that team. So the APB’s always been out for those kind of athletes that can do multiple things.
Q. Do you feel this year you’re more comfortable taking a quarterback out and putting in Dontre Wilson or Jalin in that wildcat than you were the past couple of years?
COACH MEYER: Oh, yeah. More with Jalin because he’s a quarterback. Dontre we didn’t do a lot Jalin was cramped when we did the little trick play with Dontre in there, but more comfortable with we’re slowly teaching Curtis. I think the wildcat’s legitimate especially at tempo. But Jalin gives you and he can throw. We have a couple of passes ready for him, too.
Q. When you look at J.T. Barrett, you were asked a while ago about the Heisman kind of thing and stuff, but where has he made the biggest jump from the standpoint of just poise or what you want out of him, what can you definitely point to he’s so much better than he was against Virginia Tech?
COACH MEYER: Just the understanding of the game, I think Tom’s done a very good job with him. I think the personnel around him has really improved. He was prepared for this game. So were the wideouts. Our two coaches on that side of the ball. Offensive staff did a heck of a job getting the group ready. I felt it during the week, too.
But his biggest jump is just being the manager. He does a good job getting us in the right play. He understands defenses really well now. And his accuracy, when he’s accurate, that’s a tough one to stop. Because he gets us into the right the ones he missed I think the week before, he went to the right place with the ball. He just misfired. You don’t see him very often go to the wrong place with the ball.
He’s a very intellectual quarterback. Very smart quarterback.
Q. Joey Bosa had 6.5 sacks previous three games, some stat like that. Saturday night he was shut out from a sack standpoint. But did you see them very much ganging up on him as you studied things? Did you see frustration on his part? What did you see from him?
COACH MEYER: I saw good players get frustrated at times when they don’t live up to the statistics or whatever. And I did, I just finished watching the defensive side of the ball today.
They did, they slid the formation to them. They had two guys usually assigned to him. A lot of pressure on the other guys to hold up their end of the bargain. Joey didn’t play he graded at champion. Has things to work on, too. That’s legitimate, when you hear they’re putting a tailback to him or sliding to him, that leaves a guard and tackle to slide to him. That’s real, which is smart. That’s not going to go away.
Q. I know you talked about this earlier this year, but just as J.T. continues to progress on pace to set a bunch of school records, do you have the sense that you have a pretty tough decision coming up next year, is that something you’ve given thought to, it’s obviously become a big debate out there?
COACH MEYER: Out where?
Q. Just outside.
COACH MEYER: Not here. Competition brings out the best. And I’m really excited to have two really good quarterbacks next year, if that’s the plan.
Q. On an unrelated note, kind of an interesting stat there’s teams the week after played you this year, 1 and 7. You mentioned the Virginia Tech game?
COACH MEYER: 1 and 7.
Q. 1 and 7 the week after. And I think Notre Dame is 2 and 7 in the last nine years. How do you think the committee should view that loss now that you guys are
COACH MEYER: Playing Minnesota.
Q. You were scrambling young.
COACH MEYER: I’ll say this because I knew I don’t want to act like it’s rehearsed, it’s rehearsed because I tend to say stupid things sometimes. That early in the season we were not a great team.
We had a quarterback that was a quarterback for about two weeks and did not play very well. We had an offensive line that played horrible that game and a group of receivers that were not ready to play. The young guys were not.
This is the most improved team that I’ve been a part of. This is a team that I’ve been fortunate to be around some championship level teams.
They have a common characteristic and they’re grinders. And they get better each week. Those are championship level teams. Once again, this could all be gone if we don’t go out and continue to do what we do that’s grind on a Tuesday, Wednesday and a Thursday.
So that’s really the only thing because I don’t really study other I keep getting all those questions that I don’t know. But I do know a championship level team. A team continues to grow like they are, like this, there’s no question this is one of them.
Q. I am sure that the guys need to recover physically this week from that game. They also spent a lot of emotional energy, mental energy, adrenalin on that game. How do they recover from that standpoint this week?
COACH MEYER: We spend I would say paranoid is probably an appropriate word on that. My strength coach, Coach Mick, they have eight hours on us. We have to get those eight hours back.
We cut practice way down yesterday. We gave them a 10:00 curfew. We have no school on Tuesday. There will be another curfew tonight. That’s how we catch up. It’s very important what you said: You’re dealing with 18 , 19 , 20 year olds and they need a lot of times direction. Not a lot they need direction. This is a noon kickoff and we got in at 3:30.
So that’s a very serious you tend to lose hydration, body weight and certainly rest and the great thing I didn’t know we had Tuesday off, but our kids don’t have class on Tuesday. That’s a big makeup day for everything you just said. And that is real.
Q. I’m sure that that game also taught you a lot about the leadership of your club. Who are the guys that you’re trusting to refocus the players? Who is it that stood out?
COACH MEYER: That’s another great question. Doran Grant and Curtis Grant, phenomenal, and Jeff Heuerman and Jacoby Boren in his own way is becoming a leader. And Taylor Decker. I’m starting to see some things surface that was very much needed. And there’s still some areas that we need more.
The defensive backend right now, we need more in leadership back there. Defensive line, Mike is trying, but you need more than just him. Need some rotation going. There’s some weaknesses.
And I saw it in the locker room before the game. I’ll sit there, watch videotape, and when the play goes out of play, I watch that play 15 to 30 times. I’m not watching the play anymore. I’m watching the sideline, watching to see the invested player, who is into the game as it’s going on.
When J.T. got knocked out of bounds, wiped out our strength coach, I ran that son of a gun back at least 30 times, trying to watch each person, seeing who is invested. You can sit and babble all you want in my office. But when it shows up in a game like that, the good thing is we have a lot of invested players right now.
Q. Can the weather work against you this weekend, the northern stadium looks open.
COACH MEYER: The weather? It’s going to be cold, I imagine, Minnesota in November. And I don’t know. I don’t know the I heard there’s no snow or rain right now. I don’t know. I think they’re a very good running team. Might limit some of the throw game stuff and their defense is kind of built to stop the runs. Those are I don’t know enough about them. It’s just Monday.
Q. You touched on this also, but a lot of times coaches have to give players attention the week after a big game. Is that something that you feel like you have to do?
COACH MEYER: Sure. Once again, we enjoy the win, learn from the win, and they’ll get the mission tomorrow. And it will be a big I’ll know after how they practice. But we have to make sure that they’re ready for practice on Tuesday.
Q. You guys have talked a lot in the offseason about what you thought this offense could progress to this year. And it seems like what is happening is what you guys talked about months ago. How much of it is progress of the offense or how much is sort of the way J.T. plays quarterback influencing how everything’s working right now?
COACH MEYER: I think it’s more people the around him. I think if you look back at our history since we’ve been here, we were borderline pathetic at passing the ball our first year, 2012. Last year we were just above not very good. And now we’re pushing to have throwing 300 yards against Michigan State.
And I don’t blame fans. I’d be the same, throw the ball, throw it downfield, I’m thinking who are we going to throw it to.
Now when I say who are you going to throw it to, three or four names pop in my mind, which is a good sign. I believe J.T. has a big part of it.
But I think more importantly those around him are playing much better. We have five guys I have no problem throwing the ball to. Remember 2012, name who we could throw the ball to.
As a matter of fact, Evan Spencer deserves more than he’s getting. He really does. The good thing is he understands the big picture.
Q. I know you just answered this question. But your quarterback was the two time Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year. He got hurt for the year. Bring in the next quarterback and he’s doing this. Is it a little crazy to you that your quarterback play is at this level and that you’re going to have two guys on that roster and that this is
COACH MEYER: Your term is “crazy.” I don’t know that I’ve ever said that’s crazy.
Q. You have two quarterbacks sitting in this building. You lost a guy who won every award, was going to break every record and here you are.
COACH MEYER: I don’t use the term “crazy,” I think “fortunate” and “blessed,” either one of them, because I think they’re both excellent quarterbacks. Excellent quarterbacks. And we’ll worry about that day when it comes.
But we’re very fortunate to have those guys. But once again, when you start saying that, J.T. Barrett is a product of those around him. I also say that when things aren’t going as well.
The quarterback, I’ve said that since Alex Smith and Tebow to their products, you put good guys around a good quarterback, teach them well, good chance good things are going to happen.
Right now the guys around them I’m high on the receivers right now, as you can tell. And that’s probably a first since we’ve been here. Their coach did an excellent job preparing them. They were loaded up, ready to go in that locker room before the game and went out and performed.
And J.T. Barrett threw the ball, did it with very good accuracy, especially that third down and 23. That was a ridiculous shot. But the kid catching the ball, probably of all the guys I’ve ever coached, I don’t know how many that could make that catch.
That was dropped right over the outside shoulder. A lot of good things going on. But throw it all away if we don’t take care of business Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday in practice.
An Interview With: COACH WARINNER
Q. Billy Price’s development. Urban talked about how he got beat for a sack early in the Michigan State game. You thought early in the year, uh, but he got it together. Could you describe his development this year?
COACH WARINNER: Yeah, he’s a young player who has got a lot of talent and just continues to get better and better, work at the game. A lot of it is just experience and confidence.
He got beat there in the Michigan State game. There was an open receiver. The ball could have gotten off quickly. We held it. Didn’t throw it. And ended up eating it and taking a sack.
So there’s a combination of things on every sack that occurs that it’s not just a guy but he didn’t execute well enough on that particular play. But overall he’s starting to play well and played his best game of the season so far.
Q. Did you hope that the offensive line would develop
COACH WARINNER: Absolutely. That’s what we needed to do. What we had to do. We had no choice. But that comes with time. Everybody wants a finished product three weeks before the first day of training camp opens in August, and unfortunately that’s not really how it works.
And we’re starting to play well as a full team at all positions. We’re starting to get confidence. We have a lot of young guys playing and/or inexperienced guys if they’re not young. So the whole thing is coming together as we planned when we need it to.
Q. Jacoby Boren, Urban Meyer said he leads in his own way. I wonder what is unique about his leadership style maybe.
COACH WARINNER: Well, Jacoby leads by example. And that’s an often used phrase, but how he practices, how he competes, how he works the game, I mean, who was the first guy in here today on their off day, watching film, working out, getting his body right with some training room work? Jacoby Boren.
Everybody kind of knows that he’ll be the first guy to show up in here. He’ll watch extra film. He’ll understand what’s going on, a communicator in the games. But then he’s playing extremely well, at a high level, he’s very physical. We’re getting everything out of him that we can and that’s really good.
Q. How have you got this dramatic improvement over two months? I know that’s kind of
COACH WARINNER: That why they call me Coach. That’s my job. I mean, help guys go where they can’t take themselves. My job as a coach is to take players where they can’t take themselves.
So if they’re willing to work hard to train, to listen, to be coached, then we help them get that last step. Like I said, it’s a combination of how we practice, how we prepare, how we teach, and then are they willing to take that and absorb it and can they take it to the field. And experience helps you take that to the field.
Because all those things were in place early but it takes a while to learn how to take what you practice and how you train and your mind and your body and take it to the field. So it’s starting to occur on the field and that’s our expectation for those guys.
Q. Daryl Baldwin, that must remind a lot of people of the Reid Fragel situation two years ago. I’m curious from your standpoint which guys had further to go? Reid was a tight end where Daryl was a defensive lineman. But becoming of age as senior at run tackle, which had further to go?
COACH WARINNER: That’s hard to quantify. I’ve never thought of it that way I’d have to think about it for a second. But they both had things that they had to do to get where they’re at and both of them were willing to do it. So once again it takes a player willing to accept coaching and learn and apply what he’s being taught.
And those guys are a great example of that that it’s never too late for your career to blossom. And that if you’re willing to do things within the framework of our program, that you can be successful.
So Daryl moving over from a defensive lineman, he had to learn offensive line fundamentals, offensive line terminology.
Reid knew that to some degree but it was a new system when we got here. So everything was really new, other than playing offense and then going to offensive line. Instead of on passes going out, he had to learn to go backwards and block.
So there was a big transition for both of them, to be honest with you.
Q. How would you say he’s playing this year, Daryl?
COACH WARINNER: Very consistently. At a high level for us. He’s playing about as well as we thought he could have played. He’s playing at a high end level for us.
Q. Asked about Jacoby Boren, quick follow up, early in the season Urban Meyer used to say he’s very tough, knows the offense very well, but he would mention undersized every time we talked to him. He would say he’s undersized. Is that no longer an issue?
COACH WARINNER: No, he’s still the same size.
Q. Strength wise, is that no longer an issue?
COACH WARINNER: It wasn’t an issue before. He is what he is. He’s undersized. As far as maybe the prototype offensive lineman at places like Ohio State. But that isn’t always the measuring stick. Measurables don’t determine how good a player you are. Measurables are just measurables. They’re something that people can measure that don’t really understand players or what it takes to win and be successful.
You could be 6’8? and be a bad tackle and you can be 6’3? and be a great tackle. I’ve had 6’3? tackles that were really good. And tall ones not very good. I’ve had tall centers that we weren’t very good and short centers that were really good.
So being a good player is based on being a good player. Executing what you do. Jacoby Boren will always be undersized as long as he plays at Ohio State. How well he does his job is getting better and better. And that’s refreshing. We remind him of that, too, when he makes champion you’re still short and still whatever you are, but you’re a competitor, you’re a winner, you’re a team guy, a leader, and playing at a high level.
Q. You have a good view of this. Ezekiel Elliott’s rise, how would you describe Ezekiel Elliott in a nutshell, just the way he plays, what does he bring to the table from your vantage point?
COACH WARINNER: He plays with great energy. He’s very explosive. I think he has extremely good vision. So his vision is an asset, because that’s something that you try to train backs to read the blocking patterns in front of them, see the leverage on the blocks.
He does it instinctively and then explodes into open seams. And he’s a very aggressive blocker, too. When he doesn’t have the ball he’s always attacking somebody on defense and blocking. And his rise, I think a lot of those traits were kind of in him. Stan Drayton has developed them to the max.
And he’s playing at a high level because he loves football and plays every snap like it’s his last snap. If he’s not running the ball, he’s trying to do something to help somebody else who is running the ball or throwing the ball.
It’s been fun to watch him. It’s exciting to see him because when he gets the ball it’s dangerous.
Q. You know how sometimes you look at players, you go will they function in this setting, so to speak. Does he kind of fit your eye on a player who could carry the ball, so to speak, in tough situations on Saturday, maybe in snow, who knows, in cold weather, does he kind of fit that setting?
COACH WARINNER: I think he’s a perfect back for our offensive system, because I think he has the power and the toughness to run inside. He as speed and explosiveness to run outside. He gives us a dual threat.
You don’t have to substitute him out, say he’s your inside power back and here’s another guy your, your outside back. He has the great combination of size, speed and power to be both. And so I think he’s a prototype for our offensive system.
Q. More of a co offensive coordinator question. As the game is playing out Saturday night, was there a point where you guys felt like you could call anything offensively and feel confident that your guys would execute it and it would work?
COACH WARINNER: Well, we had great confidence in our players playing at a high level as the game progressed, but we were still very selective and very smart in what we were trying to do and how we were trying to do it. Because we’re playing a good defense.
And we had strategically planned out what we wanted to run and where we wanted to run it. We had to make sure we stayed with that plan and then try to keep them off balance enough to not become predictable.
But we didn’t get to the point where we were dialing up any play we wanted. We were very specific and game planned exactly how we wanted to attack them.
And I thought Tom did a great job of calling the plays. And I thought that Coach Meyer’s involved in that, I have a little bit of involvement in that. I’m more involved before the series or pregame and things like that.
During the week, during the actual series, it’s Tom and Coach Meyer. And that was fabulous, the job they did calling the plays at the time, but we stuck to a plan. We didn’t just start ad libbing and start we were pretty set on how we wanted to attack we stuck with it.
Q. I know you guys have seen surprises from defenses having two weeks to prepare for you, did you see less of that Saturday night?
COACH WARINNER: Michigan State was pretty much what we thought, what we had prepared for. They were they’re a good defensive team. They’ve been very successful. And they have a plan of how they want to do business and they did what we thought they’d do when we went into the game. There wasn’t a lot of difference to that.
An Interview With: COACH ASH
Q. I’m sure you’ve watched Minnesota tapes at this point.
COACH ASH: I have.
Q. What do you see about them on film?
COACH ASH: To start, they’re a well coached offense. They’re a physical offense. I think Coach Kill has done a great job with that program. Watching the program develop over the last four years he’s been there, he’s done an outstanding job. He’s got an offensive line that’s physical and backs that run hard.
He’s got several tight ends that do a great job of blocking at the point of attack. And they’ve got a nice scheme to keep you guessing some misdirection. And they have power downhill and stuff. A lot of challenges as we go forward and face Minnesota.
Q. One of the leading teams in the nation in terms of yards per completion. Is that a result of the effectiveness of play action, or is there something else at play there?
COACH ASH: Well, yeah, they do such a good job of running the football right now, you’ve got to devote more defenders to stop the run. And it isolates your backs in one on one situations.
And they’ve done a great job exploiting that. Taken deep shots in certain personnel groupings over the top and connected with them. Obviously that increases your average per completion when you’re able to do that. So they’ve done a good job with that to complement the run game.
Q. When you look at Cobb, their running back, what stands out about him? He seems to be one of the more spectacular runners in the country right now. What jumps out at you about him?
COACH ASH: Starts with their offensive line, they’re doing a great job blocking up front for him. He’s a hard runner. When he gets that ball, he’s a downhill runner.
They run a nice A, get power, not looking to bounce looking to run downhill. He’s a hard runner and he gets the yards. He keeps his legs driving all the time. He’s a load. He’s a challenge. And he fits well with their scheme.
Q. The other thing Saturday night, like Urban talked about this a little while ago, maybe you all didn’t relax maybe, but you had a preview situation or whatever went on. What are the things you all learned from that fourth quarter, do you think, that will help you?
COACH ASH: Well, anytime you get into that situation, the thing that you continue actually try to stress to your team, you’ve got to finish. Especially when you’re facing a good opponent.
I thought we played an okay game through the first three quarters, started off a little slow. Settled down the second and third quarter. Played decent really until about the 12 minute mark of the fourth quarter when we were up 42 24. We gave up two touchdowns there in the last 12 minutes. They weren’t pretty either.
I was really disappointed how we finished that game. That’s something we’ve got to continue to build on. It’s happened a little bit to us before in the previous games, more so with some of the backups when we put them in. We weren’t able to finish the games the way we wanted to come out on a positive note.
We have to learn to do that. We got kind of comfortable on defense because we were up 42 24, 12 minutes to go. We had a couple of take away opportunities in one of those drives, that if we maybe got a fumble or interception we had an opportunity to get it might have changed things. But bottom line we didn’t finish the game that way we wanted and very disappointed and upset about that.
Q. Eli Apple, I don’t think he started the game, he was on the stationary bike. But he came in actually seemed to lift the defense. What do you see about him that’s different from five to six weeks ago? Do you see confidence? What do you see about Eli?
COACH ASH: I see a kid who continues to mature, confidence continues to grow. Saturday night was a great challenge for Eli, great opportunity for us to see how he was going to respond.
He did not practice at all last week. Did not take one rep at practice. And leading up to the game, even on Saturday morning, we weren’t sure if Eli was going to be able to play or not.
So we made the decision to start Gareon Conley, went through the first couple of drives there. It got to a point, we said Eli, You’ve got to go. And Eli said, I’m ready. He went in there, he played. And he didn’t play his best football at the end of the game. Gave up a touchdown in the fourth quarter that was disappointing.
But throughout the course of the game, from when he went in to that point, he made some plays, both in the run game and in the pass game.
Great opportunity for us to show or for Eli to show us where he’s come from and excited about his future, because of that. I mean, he showed some grit, some determination, some guts, some toughness that honestly we didn’t know Eli had.
Q. Fourth down play, were you
COACH ASH: Absolutely. They’d run that same play on us earlier in the game. They got caught for holding. Eli was the first time. Tyvis Powell wasn’t quite where he needed to be.
We got it fixed on the sideline. Came back, did it on a fourth down. We fit it the right way. And Eli was at the point, setting the edge. Actually made a great play.
But Eli showed a lot of character in that game, again, because he hadn’t practiced all week. And there were some things that he could have done better, we’d like to have him do better in the game, but a lot of it had to be contributed to just a lack of practice time throughout the week.
Q. You were brought in to install that aggressive defense. You guys had eight pass breakups on Saturday. Is that what pretty close to what you wanted to see and implement what is defense?
COACH ASH: That’s always part of it. At the end of the day, you want to play well enough to win the game, and we were able to do that. Disappointed with the total number of yards that they got at the end. But some of the pass breakups specifically in the first half that we were getting, we were playing some pretty tight man to man with some pressure and we weren’t necessarily getting there with pressure but we were playing tight with our coverage and we got some PBUs, would have liked to have a couple of takeaways in there.
But at the end of the day disappointed with how we finished the game. But I thought throughout the course of the game, especially in the second and third quarter, we were playing pretty good pass defense, tight coverage, got our hands on balls, making them throw in the tight windows. That’s what we want to be able to do consistently. We just didn’t do it for four quarters.
Q. Disappointed with the run defense?
COACH ASH: Absolutely. I’m sure Coach probably hit on it. We played well enough to win the game. But we didn’t play up to Ohio State standards Saturday night.
And we’re not measuring ourselves on what others do. We’re measuring ourselves on what we do. And Saturday we didn’t play up to our full potential defensively for four quarters.
We had spurts and moments that we played well enough there in the second and third quarter, like I said, but we have to play better. If we want to win at a high level and compete for championships, we have to play great defense. That’s both run and pass defense. And Saturday night we didn’t play well on offense and defense. And we’ve gotta do a better job.
Q. How does Minnesota utilize its tight ends, in particular Max Williams, No. 88?
COACH ASH: Well, he’s a traveling he’s a guy that motions around. They put him as a wing a lot of times. He motions around. Lead blocker at the point of attack. A guy that gets down on a lot of play actions, whether it’s verticals or wheel routes to get behind the coverage.
He can get matched up on corners. He’s got a little size advantage on some smaller DBs, goes up and makes nice plays down the field. But he’s a good all around player. Good blocker at the point of attack. Like I said, can get down the field, stretch you vertically in the play action pass game and go up and jump make some catches in the air on some smaller DBs. So he’s a handful.
Q. Coach Meyer was in here, said he watches the film and kind of sees can see what the buy in is on the film, how guys support each other and react to each other. He said he was pleased with how that’s coming along. Obviously as a coach that’s what you want but to have it, what does it open up for you, what does it help you to do as a coach?
COACH ASH: If you don’t have the buy in, the belief in what you’re doing and belief in each other, you don’t have a foundation to do anything, to be honest with you.
And that’s the thing that we do have here, we talk about it, defensively we weren’t happy with the performance and production on Saturday night. But it all starts with these kids believing in what we’re doing. They’ve bought into what we’re doing. Give great effort and studied the game. When you have that, you have a chance to be successful and you can get problems corrected when you have that.
It’s when they don’t have belief, they start pointing fingers and start complaining and start blaming others, then you’ve got a real issue. We do not have that on this football team in any phase, offense, defense or special teams. When you have that, it’s a special group to coach.
Q. With Minnesota, it’s kind of a no frills offense. Like they’re going to run, line up and run the football. Do you guys stress, do you guys go back to some of the basic fundamentals of forming up and tackling this week and stress that more so in practice this week because of the nature of the offense?
COACH ASH: Not necessarily tackling, because tackling is such a big emphasis for us to begin with. If you’re going to be any good on defense, whether it’s pass game or run game, you’ve got to be good at tackling.
I think so far this year we’ve been pretty good at our tackling. That’s because of the emphasis that we put on it. What we really have to get back to is emphasizing the fundamentals of run fits. We have to be in the right spot.
We’ve got to be more explosive with our block destruction to be able to get off blocks and make tackles. Those are some of the things we did not do a good enough job on Saturday against Michigan State that we’ve gotta do a better job against Minnesota’s run game. Fit and run is the right way, being more violent with our hands, getting off blocks and get more guys to the point of attack. If something is wrong it doesn’t turn into a 10 , 15 yard gain. It’s a 3 , 4 , 5 yard gain. And you can get them down. That’s where we’ve got to be better.
Q. Which defensive player has improved the most since the beginning of the season?
COACH ASH: It’s probably hard to point out one individual because collectively I think the whole unit has really improved. Some of the younger players have probably made more strides and more improvement just because their ceiling is so high and they’re started so low.
We’ve already talked about Eli Apple as one individual. But there’s been several individuals on the whole team, units. D line has improved. We’ve got to continue to find some depth. Some of the linebackers improved. DBs.
I don’t like to point out any individual because I’ll leave somebody out, but collectively there’s been a lot of improvement. Again, a long way to go. We’re not playing at a championship level right now on defense like we want to be. But there has been a lot of steady individual improvement.
Q. A unit that’s improved the most, like Coach Meyer talks about offensively the offensive line improved the most, a unit that’s improved the most?
COACH ASH: The two units are probably the least experienced would be the linebackers and the secondary that have both continued to grow.
But collectively even some of the older more veteran guys up front have shown a lot of improvement. Joey Bosa from last year to this year showing a lot of improvement. Michael Bennett continues to show improvement.
Some of the backup D linemen, Rashad Frazier showed tons of improvement so far this year. All three positions I think we’ve had steady improvement. There’s not one area that’s drastically improved from where we were last spring or last season to where we’re at right now. I think there’s been steady improvement by all areas.
Q. Can you tell us what’s going on with Armani Reeves and will he play this week?
COACH ASH: That I can’t comment on. I’m not sure about that.
Q. In the preseason there was all this talk about Michael Bennett being an all American All Big Ten player. Now those things are usually based on statistics. And he doesn’t pile up any of them. What does he do what is he doing that would still make him a player of that caliber for your defense?
COACH ASH: Well, sometimes for those interior defensive linemen that get statistics, it’s kind of hard because they’re spending a lot of time getting double teamed.
For him right now, for us, he does provide double teams inside to make cleaner pictures in the run game for the linebackers. He does get after the quarterback and may not get the sacks but he’s in the face of the quarterback. He’s a guy that the offensive line or offensive coordinator from an opponent always has to account for.
And when you put Joey Bosa in there, they’ve got two guys that they really have to worry about that are explosive players. They have play making ability. They’re disruptive.
And Michael Bennett, although he may not have the stats that Joey Bosa has, he’s done an outstanding job for us being disruptive in both the run game and pass game so far this year.
Q. Would you still put him up there as an All Big Ten performer?
COACH ASH: From what I’ve seen from other teams on defense, absolutely.
Q. Bosa, did Bosa feel a little frustrated on Saturday night? What did you see out of him, because obviously they seemed to game plan for him pretty well?
COACH ASH: To be honest with you, I don’t know if they game planned for this him or not. I’ll give their offensive line a lot of credit. They played a very well, very good game Saturday night both in the run game and pass game.
They protected the quarterback well. That’s really what they’ve done a good job of all year. They’ve only given up five sacks.
And we were able to get them one time on Saturday night. But we knew that was going to be a challenge, not necessarily just because of their offensive line but because of their offensive system. They get rid of the ball quick. They don’t have the quarterback back there holding the ball, allowing pressure to get there very often.
It’s a credit to what they do schematically and a credit to their offensive line that they were able to control our pass rush throughout the night.
Even when we blitzed, we had trouble getting there. We did force some quicker throws. But Joey was frustrated. He’s a highly competitive guy that wants to get production, wants to make a difference.
