Post Game Press Conference Quotes vs. Michigan
11/30/2025 6:29:00 AM | Football
On what is going through his mind after the win:
“I’m happy for our players, I’m happy for the coaches and all the fans who were at the game. It was great to see all the fans stay all the way towards the end and cheer on our team. Hearing the O-H-I-O right here in the stadium, it was a great moment for our players. They deserve it, they worked hard. I thought they played really well, strong, and physical this game. Like I said, our fans who weren’t here, they’ll be able to wear that block O and stand a little prouder. That means a lot to me, it means a lot to the coaching staff, the players and my family. I thought, as you can imagine over the years, after winning this game what I would say in the press conference and I’m going to save all of those comments because I think the best thing to do is win with humility and that’s what were are going to do. It speaks to our program and it speaks to what it means to be a Buckeye. We wanted to take this rivalry game back this year and the way that our guys played certainly spoke to that. They played with great passion and physicality. I was disappointed we didn’t get in there and finish a couple of our drives early or else the scoreboard would’ve looked differently then it was, but that’s the rivalry game. I’m just happy, again, for our players. It is a great win and if you think about where we were at this point last year to all the way now, there has been a lot of great football and it is all about our players.”
On the first touchdown to Jeremiah Smith:
“When you get to this point in the season, there are a lot of things in these weeks, with Thanksgiving and how it works that you have to do a lot of walk through towards the end of the week and quite honestly Jeremiah was very limited. For him to play the way he did, with really not getting many reps all week, it’s just a tribute to him. The throw that Julian made on the ball was tremendous. That was a play that we had walked through, if we felt that the situation called for it, the right moment, you just never know what kind of situation you are going to get during the game, so you have to have a lot of options. Some of the things you can practice, but some of them you can’t. That wasn’t a play we got a ton of practice with this week or really at all, but we talked about it, we walked through it and you have to give our guys credit for putting it on the field. We felt like it was an aggressive call that we wanted to make it that moment so we did and they put it on the field in a big way. The protection was good and obviously the throw and catch was excellent.”
On what he saw with his first interception and what is going through his head after:
“They gave a good disguise and I thought I had Jeremiah singled up, one-on-one. I ended up throwing it out there and the corner was able to come off and make the interception. Our whole mindset in the quarterback room is to stay even keeled and to keep swinging, keep battling. We knew there was going to be adversity and we weren’t going to let it phase us. Adversity came on the second play of the game, so we have to keep battling. As an offense that is our whole mindset, just keep battling.”
On how good it felt to have Carnell Tate and Jeremiah Smith back on the field:
“I was awesome to have these guys out there. Carnell ran a great route. The whole sideline was waiting on it in the air, it was hanging up in the air for a little bit. He made a great catch. Having those guys back is awesome because they’re such elite receivers.”
On the celebration after the game and preparation over the last year:
“I think it was awesome. When I first got here, I was taught the tradition of this and what it means to Buckeye Nation and how much it means to the state of Ohio. We definitely want to take it routine based, one week at a time, but we knew this was coming. It was awesome to have our fans there and we ended up clearing out the stadium, having all red out there, so it was awesome.”
On how it feels as a defense to win the way they did:
“It feels great. We always come out knowing that we can be the best defense in college football and we want to play the right way and play our game. We knew our offense would come out swinging, so we knew whatever they brought to us, we would have to stop. I feel like we came out there and played as hard as we could and as fast as we could. We were just on top of it all day.”
On what statement he felt like they made from this game:
“I feel like we still have that mentality. We know what we have done and know what we can continue to do. We have to keep having that mentality, keep fighting everyday and just get better everyday.”
On if he thinks Julian should be the headman favorite and what he proved today:
“I mean, duh. He is such a great player, such a smart player, he knows how to win and there’s not much more. He just has to keep on continuing to do it.”
On what it was like to win his first game against TTUN as an Ohio kid:
“It was really a dream come true, to go there and come out with a dub.”
On how crucial the RB role is vs. Defenses:
“I think it is very important as a running back to be versatile and be able to do a lot of different things.
On how it feels to have performance like that with run game at the end of the regular season:
“It feels really good, but we have to keep on building off of this going into the Indiana game and going into the playoffs.”
