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2009 JT Press Conferences

Love JT's story about Thad! It reminds me of when I was a wee little kid, and my oldest sister told my mom and dad she hated them and hated living under the rules of the house, so she was going to run away.

She packed two suitcases, stormed out, and sat on the porch for about 45 minutes. She finally got up the courage to leave the porch and sit on the steps leading off our walkway to the sidewalk, where she sat with her two suitcases for another hour or so, before she finally came back in because she didn't have a car.
 
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Dryden;1578849; said:
Love JT's story about Thad! It reminds me of when I was a wee little kid, and my oldest sister told my mom and dad she hated them and hated living under the rules of the house, so she was going to run away.

She packed two suitcases, stormed out, and sat on the porch for about 45 minutes. She finally got up the courage to leave the porch and sit on the steps leading off our walkway to the sidewalk, where she sat with her two suitcases for another hour or so, before she finally came back in because she didn't have a car.

I remember when I was a tot I packed my suitcase and took off with my bike because I didn't like the rules of the house. When I got down to the end of the street, I turned back because I remembered that I wasn't allowed to cross the street.....:!
 
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From today's presser.

Official.site

Official.site.video

COACH TRESSEL: A question was asked last week, often would you rather have a game or an open date. I fell on the side of thinking what we needed was a game and I think that was the case. I thought our guys did a good job preparing this past week. I thought they came out with the idea they knew what they needed to do. They prepared, they went out and the good news was a bunch of our guys got significant snaps. We probably had more people get 20 or more snaps than we've had in a game that I can remember and we'd like to think that will pay dividends down the road because as the grind gets tougher and the battles get harder, more and more people are called upon sometimes when they least expect it, so it was a good opportunity for our guys to have that opportunity.

The one downside, of course, was we lost Aaron Pettrey. Aaron, we're hoping, will get back. In fact, I saw Dave Motts from the Hall of Fame here somewhere, he might have left already, but the Canton Pro Football Hall of Fame is partnering with Texas again in the Nation Bowl Game and Aaron has been invited to play in that game and our goal is to have him ready for that. He won't be ready for the rest of our season, so that was obviously the downside.

It was interesting after the ball game, as the two teams were congratulating one another and so forth, the young man that actually was involved in the play where Aaron got injured sought me out and said, please tell your kicker I apologize, I didn't mean to block him below the waist, I just was trying to go make a play and you could just tell the young man was distraught. And a couple of the other kids found Jon Thoma, our punter, and told him to tell Aaron the same thing, that the young man -- that just sometimes that happens in football and there was no intent involved, but it's a reality for us so Devin Barclay and Ben Buchanan -- Ben was not in uniform Saturday, he was out last week. He'll be back, I'm told by the trainers that he'll be able to work today.

So between Devin and Ben, we've got to step up. I'm not sure any of us expected that, but that's part of football, but all in all, I thought it was a positive step for us this past weekend. It needed to be, because we're getting ready for Penn State. Penn State is solid Penn State. If you turned film on and didn't have a program in front of you you could guess which year it is because they've been doing the same things very well and adding new wrinkles, of course, based upon their personnel and what people do better and so forth and so on. But their general philosophy defensively is much the same, very strong up front, very difficult to run on much they don't give away easy plays in their secondary. Their linebackers are very, very disciplined and run extremely well.

Offensively they have the blessing of having a very veteran quarterback who you've seen grow as each year's gone on, I think this might be Daryll's sixth year because I think he spent a year at prep school and then redshirted and so forth. He's a good player. He's a physical player. Hasn't run as much this year. I would expect him to run a little bit more in this game because they're going to do whatever it takes to do in this battle, but he's making great decisions. He leads our conference in passing efficiency and he's very much in command and when you have a guy in command there, along with a good back like Royster and his change-up guy Stephfon Green and excellent fullbacks, their tight ends have always been very versatile in both the run and the pass game, their receivers are younger, probably the youngest part of their team along with a couple of their linemen, but they're the similar Penn State fashion, very, very good, and special teams-wise, their punter has got a huge leg. I think they've punted 35 times this year and he's dropped 15 of them down inside the 20. We've punted 37 times and dropped 16 of them down inside the 20. So neither punter has as big a net as maybe a couple other people in our league, but I'll bet you if you did a little measurement of where teams started after the ball was kicked, you'd find both our teams put people in tough field position.

So they've always been excellent special teams folks. They pay very close attention and the excitement level of the arena that we're going into, I think it's much like when people come to the Horseshoe, they always tell us that it raises their level of play because it's so exciting and there's so much energy and electricity, we feel the same thing about going to Beaver Stadium. It's a fun place to play. There's noise. There's excitement. There's not a question whether or not people are interested much it's a fun place to play and in recruiting we always talk about the fact that you're going to get to play in three of the biggest venues and most exciting venues in the league when you come to the Big Ten and we want them to play more of those games here, but when you have a chance to go to Beaver Stadium, it's a fun thing. So we're looking forward to Saturday afternoon and a great week of preparation must begin today and we'll be ready to go.

REPORTER: Any idea how you might deploy the two kickers, do you know what you'll do with them yet?

COACH TRESSEL: No. If we had a game this moment, Devin would kick off and kick field goals because I haven't seen Ben for a week but we have Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday practice.

REPORTER: Can you talk more about how Barclay got here, I know he played a couple years in the MLS, he's the oldest player on your team, did you recruit him? Did he seek you out? Talk about how he came to Ohio State.

COACH TRESSEL: I think Devin was involved in the Athletes in Action Ministry and some of the Athletes in Action's leaders that minister to the MLS teams of the various pro teams and college programs happened to bring him over and he got to know our guys, I guess, our kickers, and he had forged a little bit of a relationship, I think, while he was still with the Crew. And one thing led to another and said he wanted to go to college and I remember there was some time that it took to figure out if he could come and walk on and so forth. He may have liked the fact that we were senior citizen friendly, we had Ryan Pretorius and they had opportunities and one thing led to another and he's done a nice job.

REPORTER: Jim, you mentioned after the game that Terrelle had gotten dinged up, how is he?

COACH TRESSEL: He has ice bags everywhere. He's got one on his -- one of those fingers here all the way down his body with his knees and his ankles and foot and so forth. And we thought that he had been banged around enough and even when you don't design things for him to get banged around, he likes to make plays and he attracts a crowd, but he'll be ready to go today.

REPORTER: Did you envision him being this dinged up at this point in the season, you talked about limiting his hits and stuff.

COACH TRESSEL: You never envision things like that. We envision the next play. Do we send him down to break up the wedge on the kickoff? No. But when there's a play that unfolds, we don't tell him run the other direction or don't do what the team needs at that moment. This is a physical game and he's got over 100 carries, I don't know how many it is. Did we envision it would be that many? We thought we'd like to get him 10 or 12 a game, that he could make a difference. I don't know where we are, maybe we're higher than that, 13 or 14, but it's a physical game and it's a physical league and there's more physical to come.

REPORTER: Would you try to prepare him at all? I would think there would be a little vitriol simply because --

COACH TRESSEL: A little what?

REPORTER: Bad feelings.

COACH TRESSEL: Now you're --

REPORTER: -- because Penn State was one of his finalists because he's from Pennsylvania. Is there anything you would do to possibly prepare him for that?

COACH TRESSEL: I'm sure he's very aware of that. I'm sure as we go through the preparation for the week, we'll talk a lot about poise and patience because that's what you have to do, you have to be a poised guy, whether you're an offensive lineman and you can't hear the snap count and they're yelling at you when you're sitting on the bench that you might not look as lean as you should or whatever. That's what being part of a great environment is all about. So we'll talk a lot about poise and patience.

REPORTER: Dexter Larimore is not on the depth chart, is he definitely out this weekend?

COACH TRESSEL: No, no. The only guy I think is definitely out, outside of the ones that have been out, Moeller and Aaron Gant and --

REPORTER: Sweat.

COACH TRESSEL: -- Sweat, Mike Adams, I would expect everyone else would be ready to go, Dexter included. So who have we been missing lately? Dexter, he'll be back.

REPORTER: Boren?

COACH TRESSEL: Boren, he'll be back.

REPORTER: Nate Oliver?

COACH TRESSEL: Nate Oliver, we're still waiting. He won't work today. Kind of expecting him to be back though. Those other guys will all work today.

REPORTER: Paterno said a long time ago when he's still doing it that the big challenge was trying to have an impact with kids with all the turnover in personnel unlike the NFL where you just keep people. Can you kind of address that? And also, your hometown is such an OSU town, I would think all eyes are on what you're building now given what the pro team is doing.

COACH TRESSEL: Well, what we are we hope we're able to do, amongst all the interest in whether we win or we lose is try to make a difference with the young people, try to have their experience here make a difference. They're involved in such a comprehensive moment in their lives, they're academically involved, they're socially for the first time outside of their home, when you're playing at a place like Ohio State, not only are people that love the Buckeyes trying to get in and around you, but so are the people that maybe would like to represent you later if you happen to move on and all those things. So it's a very -- it's a very fast moment in their lives. What we'd like to be able to provide is as much guidance, as much logical thinking, as much reasoning, as much mentoring, parenting, whatever it happens to be to, as you used the phrase, make an impact on kids. Sometimes as teachers and there might be some teachers in the room, but you want people to learn the information now and digest all the lessons now. Well, that doesn't always happen that way. What you're hoping is that those seeds you plant some day, they're able to grow. And maybe they can reach back into some of the experiences, some of the things they've learned, some of the things they've been exposed to, that we'll impact their lives and I guess the affirmation of that that we get many times, especially in this age of easy communication, it used to be you had to sit down, write a letter, put a stamp on it and go all the way to the post office.

Now you can shoot a thought to someone immediately and we get lots of communication from our former players that, hey, I'm in my business, it's tough right now, but I'm using every single thing I learned in football or I learned in college or whatever it happens to be, and those are the ones that give you that warm feeling. It doesn't change your urgency and passion to win on Saturday, because that's still first and foremost eats up the bulk of your time, but at the end of the day, your record, which won't be published, will be about your impact.

REPORTER: Jim, is Terrelle debilitated at all by these little nagging injuries or is this just the wear and tear you get playing a full football season?

COACH TRESSEL: He better not be debilitated because those guys chasing him Saturday are -- no, I would expect him not to be debilitated. Adrenaline is an amazing thing, even when you're feeling a little bit sore or whatnot. All of a sudden the blood starts flowing and the lights are turned on and it's time to go. I'm not sure any of our guys whether it's the ones with the ribs or the elbows or the ankles or the hips or the knees or the ankles, the feet, we've got a little bit of everything, he'll be ready to go.

REPORTER: Also about the -- the follow-up was, I know it's tough enough carrying the banner here at Ohio State, but with the Cleveland connection, with so many players coming from there and with the Browns' struggles, it seems like more people than ever are probably following the Buckeyes, even though this hasn't been your best year, it's a lot better than what's going on, would you just comment on that?

COACH TRESSEL: Well, we'd like to think that the entire state follows their state universities. I think because of so many players we've had now and over the course of time from the Cleveland area, for instance, that we do have good following there and the head coach is from there, so there's a little bit of pride in that, I guess, when we do well, but we don't feel anything, any extra burden or anything. In fact, someone asked a question on the Big Ten conference call, have we talked to Terrelle about the difficulty of, there's so much scrutiny and all that stuff and have you worked with how he feels about it and the hard thing is, it's how you feel about what you're doing for the group and so you're no going to change how anyone feels. We feel strongly about the people in Cleveland having great pride when we do great things and the people in Cincinnati and Dayton and Toledo and Mansfield and everywhere else and when we don't, we feel bad about what we didn't do. Same thing with Terrelle. Terrelle is a guy that he's a caring guy. If he doesn't do what the maximum is he could do for the team on the moment, he doesn't feel good about it. Do you have to talk to him about it? No, but you do have to talk about the fact, okay, the next play is here. The next moment is here. And we're going to have to think about those other things another time because here we go again.

And it's kind of the same with us, we're busy and whether the Browns or the Bengals are doing well, I've never given that much thought, I've just always wanted the Buckeyes to do well or the Penguins to do well or whoever I was representing.

REPORTER: Given this kind of game, are you putting any more emphasis on trying to score early?

COACH TRESSEL: You put emphasis on trying to score.

REPORTER: But I mean, Penn State's been pretty good at keeping teams out of the end zone early in the game and I know sometimes you have struggled offensively off the bat, do you address that a little more?

COACH TRESSEL: No, there has the been a game yet where we've said, you know what, we're not going to worry too much about how we do early, we're going to turn it on later. It's not what you do. You work hard on every play, hope to prepare it for every look that you might get, and then adjust according to, are you getting those looks, did you execute it right, should we not do that again? No, we shouldn't not do that again because it was our problem, it wasn't that it isn't a good thing. So you go into I every moment and you just keep trying to get better. If we can score -- if I'd have thought that theory was that important, I'd have said, Teddy, don't take that touchdown back-up challenge into the game, that's too fast, we're going to work on scoring later this game. Can't do that. We want to take every point we can get and, believe me, every yard in this game is going to be precious.

REPORTER: Is that mainly because of a lot of injuries, I know, and guys in and out of the lineup, but at this point in the year are you not as far along offensively as you thought you might be or a little inconsistent, compared to past year, sometimes you seem to have been more settled at this point, I guess.

COACH TRESSEL: We don't do a whole bunch of comparing to the past or comparing to what we hoped we would be. We do all our comparing on where we are. And where we are is we know we're facing a great defense, we've got to make sure that we eliminate anything that we can control like don't get in that stadium and jump off sides like happened to a couple of the teams early going into the games and you got them against the count, don't go into that stadium and turn the ball over like we turned it over early in the ball game against them a few years ago, not that any of these kids were here, but we're working on making sure we can plan and practice and then execute what the offense, in this case, contribution can be and what could be a very tough, tough football game.

REPORTER: Does Aaron's injury, in a game like this, the circumstances, change the way you, the coaching staff, think in terms of maybe we need to get a little closer for a field goal or maybe fourth and one and go for it? How does that play out?

COACH TRESSEL: Yeah, Devin or Ben, I don't think, are going to be your 57-yard kind of guys. Not that that has everything to do with it much if you're kicking a 57-yarder, that means the ball's on, what, the 40? And we don't want to give Penn State the ball on the 40, so it wouldn't be all about Devin because if Aaron was the kicker, I can't promise you you'd try 57 with the percent chance that we might give Penn State the ball back on the 40.

So it might change it a little bit, just have to see how Devin and Ben are looking and the conditions, the wind, the footing, and all those different things, but, yeah, it does. I mean, we were very comfortable with Aaron from anywhere. He had a great leg. I've seen him hit 63-, 64-yard field goals in practice, not just standing there alone, I mean with a rush coming and the whole deal, so these guys aren't quite there.

REPORTER: Jim, is there a chance you would use both on Saturday, maybe one for kickoffs and one for place kicks?

COACH TRESSEL: If it unfolds in practice that one looks significantly better than the other, absolutely. We won't be afraid to -- it's not like we're saving anyone's redshirt or one's been in the game a lot more than the other. Ben's been in the game, he did a good job filling in for Jon Thoma when Jon was out with the flu, so that could happen.

REPORTER: Do you feel like you have to tone Terrelle down, it's a big game for him, big homecoming, et cetera, what's going to be your approach for him from the standpoint of keeping it under control, so to speak?

COACH TRESSEL: The constant discussion about what's most important is us having the ability to do our job. Now, obviously you have to be focused and poised and not distracted and sometimes when you get too excited, anyone, you get too excited about that three-foot putt that might win the match and you get excited, you're probably not going to putt it as well. So you have to be -- you have to play within yourself so that you can do what we need done.

REPORTER: Do you have more of a running back feel at this point because some of these guys have been --

COACH TRESSEL: Well, with getting Boom back, that helps, and with Brandon and Boom and we're very comfortable with Jordan, Jermil now has played a little bit, so absolutely. We're -- knock on wood, we're pretty healthy there and we weren't for a bit and I thought Boom was probably 90% Saturday, he didn't have quite that burst, but now he's been through it, he's been out in a game and had a couple days rest and November practices won't wear you out, they're not quite as long, hopefully you don't get someone stepping on someone's foot and rolling an ankle or whatever, but, yeah, I feel like we're as good as we could be right now.

REPORTER: Is that more of a kind of a feel thing if a guy's doing well you keep him in or you rotate, rather than having one guy and a back-up?

COACH TRESSEL: Those three guys for sure will play, yeah.

REPORTER: Jim, sort of touching on again, the early scoring for you guys, I think the last six games I think you had one field goal in the last six games on your opening drive and the other five didn't lead to points. Is there any common denominator that you see early in the game whether it's focus or adjusting to the defense, anything that you would want to work on that you need to tweak when you start off the bat?

COACH TRESSEL: I think the reality in a ball game like this is every possession is going to be critical. I didn't know what you were talking about there as far as we don't really look at the first possession any different than the second possession. We look at the execution or the decisions as to what to do. I think last year, wasn't it some excellent thing like seven or eight of 12 or something we scored than on the first drive and, I don't know, maybe we -- maybe we should do -- say, you know what, this week we're going to work harder on scoring early, but we're just going to -- where did we get the ball after the kickoff or if we didn't start with the ball, where did we get the ball back? You know, one thing about Penn State is they're not going to be totally different because they have a lot of -- just like our defense, you're not going to see a bunch of different things from our defense against Penn State's offense because they are who they are. They do what they do. They're going to tweak some things.

For instance, I thought when Penn State played Minnesota, they did a little bit more of having two over one against Decker because 80% of throws were going to Decker. So if something's really skewed, they're going to change a little bit, but we've got to do well every possession and hopefully improve that statistic, although you've given us a tough challenge to -- picked a tough week to improve that statistic.

REPORTER: Can you talk about Joe's contributions and maybe what he's done when he was getting some flack two, three years ago and now he seems to be the guy, I don't know, maybe remark a little bit --

COACH TRESSEL: You know, Joe has been there through the ages. He's seen so much change in the game. He's seen so much change in the hype of the game. He's seen change in the academic expectations for the people that play the game and he's been in the forefront of not being afraid to stand up, when he was independent for what independently they thought, nor is he afraid to stand alongside the Big Ten with the things that we happen to believe in, and he's not afraid to stand by himself, you know, but I learn something every time I'm around him because his perspective is so broad, to him, making sure that the kids graduate and get prepared for later in life is critical.

Now, does he want to win? He's as competitive as -- he wouldn't be coaching right now if he wasn't as competitive as there is in the world, but he's got a pretty good peace about him that he feels as if they're doing it the way it should be done and making sure that the experience is good for their student athlete and for their fan and they've been a good addition to our conference. I don't think anyone would question the fact that adding Penn State to our conference didn't make it a better conference.

REPORTER: Do you ever discuss or do other coaches discuss with you players you got? Did he ever say anything about you getting Pryor and them not?

COACH TRESSEL: No, but you do talk a little bit about guys that you may have recruited and you say, how's so and so doing, well, he's coming along, the ones that are obvious you can see on film how they're doing, but you might talk about -- like I asked him about Michael [strike] sore addition's [/strike] Zordich's boy who's playing for him who I've known since he was that big and that type thing, but the obvious things, I'm not sure there's any need to talk about.

REPORTER: How did Iowa hold them to 10 points on their own field?

COACH TRESSEL: Well, Iowa's good.

REPORTER: Besides blocking a punt for a touchdown, have you seen anything in that game that --

COACH TRESSEL: Well, Penn State got the big play and you can't let them have the big pass play like they got. And had the lead. And really kind of had command of the field position of the game. It was 10-5 when they were in midfield getting ready to punt them down inside the 10 again and played stout defense and then the special teams mistake happened which turned the thing around and changed the urgency of maybe what had to be done. You couldn't go back to the field position battle because you needed to -- you needed to catch up type thing, but Iowa's just so sound and so solid.

The only Iowa film I've watched in crossover is the Penn State game. I don't think we've had a team that they've played, have we? Prior to us playing them? So I can't picture watching them much other than watching them in the Penn State game, and they're just solid, they know what they do and their defense obviously has made a huge difference for them and they've come up with plays when they've had to and that's what they did at Penn State, it was a heck of a ball game.

REPORTER: Jim, you said in the preseason we would talk to you about the offensive line and the two tackle spots. Do you feel like you now have tackles, your tackle situation settled that you can contend for a championship with these guys? I mean, what's your feel of how that's come along? Obviously it's been a revolving door there at one spot especially.

COACH TRESSEL: I think those are critical positions and I think those will have significant say in whether or not we do contend. I feel as if we're contending right now. If we continue to contend, we're going to need good tackle play. I think J.B. Shugarts has shown a lot of improvement and I think Marcus Hall has shown a lot of improvement. They've both been in there. They haven't missed any practice. They haven't missed any games and you can just see their steadiness.
Mike Adams was coming along, got banged up and so forth, and Jimmy Cordle was in and out with a foot, Andrew Miller was out for two weeks. So have they shown the steady progressive improvement? I don't think so, but the good news is, both those kids have been back for a couple weeks now and that's why I think having another game was a good thing and if we're going to contend, they're going to have to play well against very good players.

REPORTER: Last week, Terrelle had a ball early in the game where he just threw a ball kind of up for grabs to Dane in the end zone, did you think you were past that with him or was he just taking a shot? He had a couple other balls that could have been picked.

COACH TRESSEL: I thought that was the poorest decision he made. I thought some of the other long ones that we didn't hit were thrown on time and I understand why they were thrown because of what else was going on. That was probably the one that was like, that wasn't what we're looking for. He felt as if he didn't see the safety and he just saw our guy breaking free and that can happen when you're being chased around a little bit, but we need to -- we're on, I don't know, the 35 yard line or whatever, we can't afford to have mistakes like that and again, that's a good lesson. We know as we go into state college that you might not overcome a mistake like that and we have to grow from it.

REPORTER: Those deep balls, some you've hit, some you haven't, you've had some success, what Penn State does defensively, do they maybe take that away?

COACH TRESSEL: They're not quite as sit down on your routes as some people.

REPORTER: Does that mean the middle of the field or the mid range passing game is maybe a spot?

COACH TRESSEL: Well, the corners don't sit down. Their linebackers handle their zones in the middle of the field pretty well and their free safety does too. New Mexico State was going to be feast or famine. They put eight guys up there and played the other guys press man and you're going to have to throw it up a few times to see if you can come up with one of the three of if you take a deep vertical ball, if you can hit one of the three, you've had a good day.
It's kind of like baseball, 333, you're probably doing well. That's the way it was going to be. We hit probably, I don't know, three, maybe four vertical throws in the game. We had 14 plays that accounted for like 400 yards and 50 other plays that accounted for 160 yards, something crazy, but it was that kind of defense you were facing. You're not going to have 14 plays account for those kind of yards against a defense that plays the way Penn State plays. They're going to make you beat them one first down at a time.

REPORTER: At left tackle do you expect kind of a platoon situation with Cordle and Miller?

COACH TRESSEL: Right now we're working them both, yeah.

REPORTER: Coach, your team hasn't beaten a team rated this highly in almost three years and a lot's been said about the problems Ohio State's had in some of the big games, I guess. What's kind of the message maybe to kind of block out that history and what maybe you have learned from those experiences?

COACH TRESSEL: The message for who to block it out?

REPORTER: Well, for your team. What's the message you give your team to say we have to get over this hump and obviously you have another one just like it next week but I know if you don't take care of this one first, I mean, what do you say to your team to kind of --

COACH TRESSEL: You don't really say anything about getting over any hump, you talk about playing Penn State and what's it going to take to beat Penn State. I don't think you even go back and say, now, Penn State -- I don't know where they're ranked.

REPORTER: 11.

COACH TRESSEL: Penn State's ranked 11. Now, we've had five games against guys five and better and we didn't do these things, so here's what you've got to do against Penn State, here's what we have to do. I would be surprised if our guys have any notions like the one that you suggest.

REPORTER: Penn State obviously, both these teams are ranked high defensively, statistically have done very well. When you look at Penn State, what stands out, what kind of pressure have they gotten on the quarterback this year?

COACH TRESSEL: I think good defense starts when you're good up front and both teams that you'll see in state college are good up front. Which team blocks the other better? Is going to have a big head start in having a chance to win. Probably have a big head start in eliminating turnovers because if you can block the other guys, you're probably not going to have pass protection problems and those kind of things, pressure problems, throw it before I'm ready problems.

So the answer to the question's easy, it starts up front, very physical, very strong, aggressive style, not unlike ours, and then very steady in the back seven. Not going to err, not going to flip their hips the wrong way and go to the wrong zone and all those kinds of things, just very well schooled and execute very well. Lori, last question.

REPORTER: Do you look at what Northwestern did to move the ball against Penn State and think that's something we need to try or do you look at that and say, Penn State's going to have that figured out this week?

COACH TRESSEL: We do some of the things that Northwestern does. We probably don't do them 70 times a game. I think you have to go into a game against a defense like this and make sure that they know that you're going to attack them a lot of different ways. If we go in and just say we're going to do what Northwestern did and the outcome is based simply on our pitch and catch and ability to protect, because I don't even think Northwestern tried to run, we probably won't do that.
Now, I thought Northwestern was doing a great job. They were -- I don't know that Penn State was playing at their best, just watching the speed at which they play in other games and then that one, half empty stadium, away from home, all those things, but when Northwestern lost a quarterback and they couldn't pitch and catch anymore, all of a sudden Penn State kind of had their way, but I think you have to have them out here and have them in here and wherever you are, execute when it's called upon.
 
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Weekly presser.

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COACH TRESSEL: Okay, Lori, last question.

REPORTER: I'd like the opening statement first.

COACH TRESSEL: We appreciated your patience last week with our announcement of the child I.D. kits. That was a big deal to us and sorry that it held you over, but it was a good thing. It's an exciting week for us. It's Veterans Day week, which our young people have been studying a lot about the military over time and tomorrow we don't have school, but we'll have some education and have some of our guys hear from some of our great veterans and also it's senior week for us, which kind of is our veterans, guys that have been going at it for quite some time. Our fifth-year guys, this will be their 35th and final ball game in Ohio Stadium and the fourth-year guys, their 28th. So it's an exciting week for us. It's a great opponent in Iowa. We thought our kids went over ready to go to State College last weekend. They prepared hard and they knew that they were against a very, very good team in a great atmosphere and that it would be an afternoon that they would remember because, A, it was part of November and November is always a time that you remember vividly; and also it was just a great electric environment, two teams going at it very physically and they knew that a play here or a play there would make the difference in the ball game. And I thought as we've talked many times, the thing you have to do if you want to have a chance on the road is see if you can do something with your special teams and I thought http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059239http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059239Ray Small's returns were huge. I thought we had solid play along the way in our special teams. http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1151187http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1151187Devin Barclay stepping up and hitting a good field goal, stepping in for http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059293http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059293Aaron Pettrey was a real plus. http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059429http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059429Jon Thoma's first punt kind of set the stage for the field position for the whole first quarter which was very, very important. So that was something that we were able to, we thought, do fairly well. And then from a defensive standpoint, we knew we would have to be relentless and keep going no matter what they got going, no matter how much their crowd got behind them or whatever it would be, we'd have to handle all comers and I thought our defense kept coming after them. And offensively we always say whether home or away, but maybe more important on the road, is that you've got to make sure you don't make mistakes and you've got to take advantage anytime you do get an opportunity and I thought our guys did a pretty darn good job in both those categories. And finally, when you have a chance to run the ball a little bit, you're going to have a much, much better chance of being successful in the game. So I thought our guys put together pretty darn good effort. They knew once the ball game was over that although that was awfully tough, what lies ahead is even tougher and they're going to prepare hard this week and get ready for an excellent Iowa team. Iowa, I think, is as solid as anyone in our conference across the board on the special teams. Their specialists are very good, but as important and maybe less discussed, the people that do all the other jobs in the special teams, the protecting guys, the coverage guys, the blockers and so forth do an excellent job with what they do. Everyone is very tuned into their defense. Their defense is rock solid. You're not going to get any free yards. You're not going to get any free first downs. They don't give up big plays for the most part, and they're a very, very good defense. Going into their ninth game, they had 11 guys started all nine games, and then they had one different starter last week, not sure if he'll be back or not, and so they've got a ton of experience, and they're very, very good. Offensively they've been banged up a little bit. Their offensive line they've had to shuffle around a couple different times, I believe. And not unlike many, many people in the country, when you're playing on that offensive front, it's a physical place to practice and it's a physical place to play on Saturdays and you're going to get some guys banged up and they have, we have, they've done a good job of rearranging whatever the best combination would be and they've got a very good offensive line group. Quarterback-wise, obviously the word we have is that Stanzi is out. We're going to prepare for what Iowa does because they're not going to change who they are if indeed they do change quarterbacks, they're still going to be who they are. That's what, in our estimation, has made Iowa such a solid program is that they know what they believe in, they know what they teach, their young people do a good job of learning what they teach, so I don't know that they'll change dramatically if indeed they have a difference at quarterback. Receiver-wise, they've really come along. They have some young guys who are relatively unknown perhaps coming into the season that have done an excellent job and made big plays and they do an excellent job with their play action game and their misdirection pass game and their deep throwing game and they use their tight end extremely well, so their receiver corps, what they do with that group is very, very good. Running back-wise, they got banged up and lost a guy or two there and the youngsters that they've got in there playing now do what they do and are -- I think it makes you a little bit easier to handle that adversity of injury if you're very, very solid on what you do and everyone, whether you're on the first unit, second unit or third unit, everyone's doing the same things and understands the expectations of the position. And so they're going to be loaded up and ready to go there and it will be a heck of a challenge for us and an important day on our senior day and we're anxious to get to work this afternoon because there's a lot of work to do when you start preparing for Iowa.

REPORTER: Jim, it wouldn't seem like there would be very much surprise with a young quarterback like Vandenberg, I mean, anybody would want to put pressure, is that your big objective?

COACH TRESSEL: We go into every game with the primary objective of our defense is to make sure we affect the quarterback, affect him with his decision-making, whether that be with disguise or looks or whatever it happens to be, affect him with his ability to throw the ball, which you can do that with your rush, your coverage, so forth, are and affect him from a physical standpoint. You want to get to the quarterback and you want to get after him and so we won't all of a sudden say, hey, this week let's get after the quarterback more, because we do it -- that's what we do.

REPORTER: Speaking of a physical quarterback, how's Terrelle's situation right now? I mean, physically, Jim, and http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1383745http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1383745J.B. Shugarts?

COACH TRESSEL: I haven't seen Terrelle do anything because we haven't practiced yet since Saturday. In talking to him yesterday, it seemed like he was doing great. http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1383745http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1383745J.B. Shugarts, the report I got this morning on the medical report was that they thought he was coming along good, that the best plan might be not to overdo today and perhaps get lots of work beginning tomorrow. That's the plan, I can't promise you that will happen. But http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059292http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059292Dexter Larimore got in a play or two Saturday and should be a lot further along this weekend. Who else has been out?

REPORTER: You said after the game that Boom Herron was someone you were concerned about?

COACH TRESSEL: He didn't show up on the medical report about a guy having an injury. He's on that long list of guys that are nursing things because we get constant rehab and constant treatment on things even if they don't keep you from the game, but he just showed up on that "All you others" list.

REPORTER: He appeared on the sideline ready to go back in.

COACH TRESSEL: Yeah, they said he could have gone back in.

REPORTER: If Shugarts can't go today, how do you play that situation at right tackle? Does Jimmy move over there or http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=3660858http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=3660858Marcus Hall?

COACH TRESSEL: You would have Cordle, Miller and Hall for your tackles and Adams comes back this week probably with limited volume, probably maybe a third of today's practice, and then see how he handles it. It would be a heck of a bonus for us if all of a sudden he got back to the point where he could help us on Saturday.

REPORTER: How did Terrelle grade out against Penn State?

COACH TRESSEL: His decision-making grade was, I think, one of the best he's had. It was in the high '80's. He needs to do some of the little things better, things like carrying out fakes and this and that, but his decision-making grade was very good.

REPORTER: Winning performance?

COACH TRESSEL: Overall, no.

REPORTER: Talk about what makes this senior class special, not necessarily the most Heralded bunch, but if they win out, then they could become the winningest class ever here, including a bowl.

COACH TRESSEL: I didn't know that one. See, I'm in there watching film when you're figuring out all those stats. The thing I've enjoyed about this group is that they've really taken on the challenge that everyone said they would have that all this leadership graduated when the http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059421http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059421James Laurinaitises and the http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059260http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059260Malcolm Jenkins and http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059289http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059289Brian Robiskies, they were great leaders, you know, graduated, they really took that on as a challenge that they were going to do the types of things that leaders do which is serve others, do whatever they had to do for the group. So I've been really pleased with just the way that they've attacked the challenge of doing that. They've all, from a performance standpoint, I think, worked like crazy to try to become the best they could be and whatever role that was that they were able to earn, they worked at it hard and they have seemed to be pretty darn focused group with a young group -- with really a young overall team, which sometimes when you get older you have a little less patience with the young and I think they've done a pretty good job of having patience with overall a fairly young team.

REPORTER: In this string of shared or outright Big Ten Championships, this is the first time you're playing for one if you for sure go to the Rose Bowl. You've talked in the past about winning the Michigan game, has the BCS compromised that in any way and what do you remember about playing UCLA out there.

COACH TRESSEL: I'll do the UCLA one first. The thing I remember about that was that was the first game after 9/11 and that was a very tenuous time from a travel standpoint, you could just tell our young people -- it wasn't like a normal away trip and I also remember we didn't win. As far as what do I remember or I guess the question was, does the BCS compromise the excitement of the opportunity.

REPORTER: When it was everything to the Big Ten.

COACH TRESSEL: I suppose the BCS has added something to your overall thinking, something to your set of goals. I think it would be hard if you have the opportunity to earn a chance to play in that bowl game to minimize the excitement of that. We haven't gone in a long time. It's an important thing to Ohio State. It's an important thing to Iowa. I'm not sure what year was the last time they went, but it's a big deal and I don't know that the BCS minimizes what excitement you would gain from that and what an honor that would be.

REPORTER: You talked about watching the Michigan game as your father's season was usually over, was there anything like that with the Rose Bowl?

COACH TRESSEL: Oh, gosh, yeah. January 1st in our house, two black and white TVs set upside by side, that old 30-pot coffee, that little silver thing, my dad never got off the couch, man, we were taking him coffee and switching stations. I mean, that was -- shoot, you were living on January 1st.

REPORTER: You were talking about your senior class --

COACH TRESSEL: That was it for the year, by the way.

REPORTER: Is there anybody in that class that's really surprised you with a leadership role or someone you've seen take step this year that you necessarily didn't see coming into the year?

COACH TRESSEL: I think everyone fully expected http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059335http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059335Kurt Coleman because he had a firm handle on who he was on the field and just in his personality, I found it very interesting to see just the influence that a guy like http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059362http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059362Doug Worthington could have. It's not just that big, deep voice, but it's the respect that the kids have for him, and it's a little but unusual for a guy that never started to be named a captain in http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059336http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059336Austin Spitler. Here's a guy that's going to be your Sam backer which what percentage of the time are you in base defense, hadn't started before, yet the players elected him the captain. So it was an unusual group. The offensive voting was all over the place and so that's why we made the decision to go with weekly captains. I think that Jimmy Cordle and http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059468http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059468Jake Ballard, http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059239http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059239Ray Small in his own way, have done a good job showing their teammates that they want to do all they can do to help the group in their senior year and so I think, in general, like I said at the outset, it these guys have done a good job taking the challenge of what everyone thought might be one of our biggest challenges was going to be that void and in leadership that just graduated I think they've rolled up their sleeves and filled that void.

REPORTER: http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059239http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059239Ray Small in his own way. What does that mean?

COACH TRESSEL: Ray has grown and hung in there and taken it right in the nose and made it very obvious to everyone involved that he wants to figure out a way to help and even if it was -- you know, he took the long road. He's, in his own way, I think shown some guys, and I've heard him in whether team settings, unit settings, whichever say to guys, you don't want to do some of the things I did and that takes a little bit of leadership in its own rite.

REPORTER: He said Saturday night he was basically thanking you for giving him another shot, I don't know how many shots it's been, but --

COACH TRESSEL: More than LeBron takes.

REPORTER: But what is your view of that. Obviously you could have said -- washed your hands of -- what is your view of that like, dealing with players that have those sorts of challenges?

COACH TRESSEL: We're here to help the kids and we're here to prepare them for down the road and if they're not here, we can't help anymore. If it ever gets to a point where it's counter-productive to the group and you have to make that agonizing decision that, can't have this anymore, you don't like those days so you do all you can, but I always felt about Ray, is that Ray deep down is a good, young man and at times would be distracted and never anything premeditated, never anything, I'll show everyone, just didn't always stay on task, and hopefully he'll keep growing.

REPORTER: With everything that's on stake this week, the Big Ten title and a trip to the Rose Bowl, the Big Ten doesn't have a championship game like other conferences, does it have that feel this week and what have you said to the guys about what's at stake?

COACH TRESSEL: Well, we met Sunday real briefly, but that was really more to wrap up Penn State and grade ourselves and make sure that we understood that everything wasn't perfect, we got to enjoy the evening after the game and so forth, now it's time to go back to work and get better. We talked more, quite honestly, about Iowa and about the fact that it is senior week for us, which is a big deal to us, and I don't recall even talking about what was beyond that and I'm not sure it needed to be talked about because everyone seemed to know that already.

REPORTER: Jim, you've talked in the past about how it's human nature maybe to handle adversity, to know how to handle adversity more than success. As a coach are you almost more nervous a week like this where you got the big victory last week, yet you still have more to do. Do you get a little uneasy about how the guys respond to that?

COACH TRESSEL: It's pretty hard to be more nervous than I am normally, so I don't know how you'd get more nervous, but I don't -- I mean, I agree with you because you obviously quoted me, it is harder to handle success, it's just the truth, but I'm probably most concerned with the fact that I know how good Iowa is and it's not so much about how we're going to handle whatever. The challenge we've got in front of us is a great challenge.

REPORTER: Obviously Iowa had a tough week last week with the loss and losing the quarterback, but where did you sort of -- what have you taken note of this season with them, all the comebacks, just the way they've sort of gone about getting to this point? What maybe has stood out about how they've gotten there?

COACH TRESSEL: I kind of enjoyed the discussion there in the latter half of the season about how they were comparing them to the 2002 Buckeyes and all that kind of thing and to me that was a compliment. That was talking about a team that figured out how you win. And they know how to win. You can watch them on film. Everyone's doing what they're supposed to be doing and when that happens, the ball is going to bounce your way. When you're supposed to be in that zone and it hits off a guy's helmet and lands in your zone, well if you're supposed to be there then that wasn't luck, you were in the right place. So I just kind of smiled that that is what Iowa's about, they're well prepared, they find a way to win, people want to call them lucky, let them call them lucky, but they're a good football team.

REPORTER: But they couldn't find a way to win once Stanzi was out, clearly his impact now or the impact that that has on their team has got to be huge in their mind, doesn't it? As a leadership guy, they couldn't move the ball after he --

COACH TRESSEL: Well, I would say this, it's a lot harder in the middle of the road to, when you lose someone like that, it has to be an unusual situation for you to just shake that off. I think when you have some time to prepare and get a mindset and so forth and say, hey, here's the hand we've got, sometimes in the middle of a game that's harder. So, again, because of how solid they are, I wouldn't -- I told someone earlier on the Big Ten call or whatever that with Iowa you don't even need to put jersey numbers on, just put their black jerseys or white this week and they're going to be -- doesn't matter who it is, they're going to be lined up where they're supposed to be, doing what they're supposed to do and you're going to see if you're good enough to compete with them.

REPORTER: Do you see a lot of similarities with Iowa in terms of philosophies in general?

COACH TRESSEL: I think in some ways. X and O-wise, in some ways as well, but I've known Kirk for a long, long time and I know what he teaches, which is a total team concept in that every component is important and it's not what others are saying outside of the room that's important, it's what's being said and felt and done within the practice field or meeting room or whatever it happens to be and he believes in his system and is willing to change his system based upon who's on his team even if it's something that you don't even notice, but they might be doing some things differently than they did two years ago because they just have a little bit different personnel in different spots. But from a grand scheme of things, you're going to see them very consistent and similar over the course of time, that's why they've been successful.

REPORTER: Jim, do you get a sense that you guys are battling more distractions this week than usual, senior week, chance to go to the Rose Bowl, Michigan week is around the corner, is it a tough week to not become distracted?

COACH TRESSEL: Either that or it's a good week to get focused because, I mean, you only named two of the things you named are relevant, the other, I'm not sure that that's relevant right now because that's 10 days from now or whatever, and the picture is very clear, you're playing against a good team, as you said, with a lot at stake. The fact is, the seniors are playing their last ball game here and their last two in their whole career, regular season-wise, you know, so to me it's maybe even less distracting than sometimes when there's more time out there, there's more mind wandering. When you get a little closer to the edge of the diving board it becomes more apparent that, there's the water, you know, so --

REPORTER: It looked like, Coach, last week http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=3660713http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=3660713Zach Boren was out there a little more. Was that game plan-wise for Penn State or were you finding ways to work him in a little bit more for what you're doing in the run game?

COACH TRESSEL: Having a fullback in the game situationally with what we were doing with a little bit more and http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=3660586http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=3660586Adam Homan was a little bit banged, not such that he couldn't be in the game and he couldn't be in special teams and so forth, but we didn't think he was a hundred percent, so those maybe five or eight plays that Adam typically shared with him, Zach really carried the whole thing, I think was in the high 20s, 28, 29 plays, and he'd probably been an 18 to 20-play guy, some games maybe 15, who knows, according to what we were doing, but I thought Zach did a very solid job. He catches the ball well, blocks well, and learns things well and fullback is a position that you have to do all the pass protection things both at fullback and at tailback. You have to know everything that the guys up front are doing so you know where you fit in and he's done a good job of picking all that up.

REPORTER: Cam Heyward had the big game Saturday.

COACH TRESSEL: In fact, cam's out here. We've got Cam and who is the other one? http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059468http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...743&SPID=10408&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1059468Jake Ballard, all right. I promised them we wouldn't be like we were last week. Lori you're up next. Sorry.

REPORTER: What's standing out to you about Cam's play at this point in his career?

COACH TRESSEL: Cam loves to prepare. You hear us say that about so many of the guys but you ask questions about pretty good guys. Cam's over there in the building all the time. It seems you can't walk by the locker room or one of the film rooms and cam's sitting there with a bag of groceries and watching film or he's in the weight room a little bit extra and he loves to prepare. He's very talented. The more he has learned about the game, obviously the more effective he is. He's going to be a very, very good player. He's a special one.

REPORTER: How much can your offensive game plan negate the impact of a player like Clayborn and how much are you just going to have to counter your tackles to step up and keep him from being disruptive?

COACH TRESSEL: Well, the tackles are going to get most of the battle because they're going to line up over him every play. There are going to be times when there's a tight end next to him. There are going to be times there are two tight ends next to him, there's going to be times where the fullback gets involved, there's going to be times where the tailback gets involved in blocking, but you can't overdo trying to help out on one guy because they've got 10 other guys that are going to be in the right place who are going to be able to make plays, but he's a heck of a player. He plays with great enthusiasm. I mean, he turned the Penn State-Iowa game around with his blocked punt. It was just sheer effort. He's a playmaker and you better know where he is, so I hope we're as healthy as we can be. I hope we have all of our tackles available because they're going to have a heck of a challenge.
 
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who is the idiot who asked if winning the big 10 was easy and no longer a big deal? something about blog sites saying fans weren't sure if they should rush the field or not. what kind of a bs question is that to ask a man who is facing a coaching milestone of epic proportions?
 
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jenkinswoody;1592020; said:
Did he really!? He should ask that same question of the other 10 coaches in the conference. douche bag.

He worded his question wrong... He said that OSU makes it look easy but knowing that it isn't...tress interupts "you haven't been here long"... knowing it isn't how much harder is it for coaches than players to stay consistent like that?


Just came out wrong. He wasn't inferring it was easy.

Then another guy asked about the rushing the field.... JT avoided it correctly... "Ill let the bloggers deal with that."
 
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NateG;1592035; said:
He worded his question wrong... He said that OSU makes it look easy but knowing that it isn't...tress interupts "you haven't been here long"... knowing it isn't how much harder is it for coaches than players to stay consistent like that?


Just came out wrong. He wasn't inferring it was easy.

Then another guy asked about the rushing the field.... JT avoided it correctly... "Ill let the bloggers deal with that."

That make sense....
 
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