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Postgame Press Conference From No. 1/1 Ohio State vs. Minnesota
No. 1/1 Ohio State (9-0, 5-0 Big Ten) 44, Minnesota (3-6, 0-5 Big Ten) 0
Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel directs his team during the first half of a football game against Indiana at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, Saturday, Oct. 21, 2006. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)
http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/CSTV...120x60;tile=3;dcopt=ist;ord=7418478829888397? Oct. 28, 2006
COACH TRESSEL: I thought our defense did a heck of a job. Minnesota always has done a good job on offense. Quite honestly, they've been a little banged up losing their tight end and had some injuries up front. But I thought our defense did a great job of handling the tempo of the game, also coming up with the take-aways, which gave us great field position and I'm not sure we did offensively as great a job as we could have capitalizing on all the opportunities we had.
I thought our second half was better than our first, which is a good thing, maybe we improved a little bit as we went, but I thought everyone played hard. It was a little bit tough conditions from a wind standpoint and so forth and I'm sure it was even more difficult for Minnesota who plays indoors and that type of thing. But Minnesota played hard and they played tough like they always do and I'm awfully proud of our guys for coming up with a decisive win.
PATTERSON: First I would like to take my hat off to the whole Minnesota football team. Today they fought us hard. They never gave up. These guys were bringing it from the beginning of the game to the end. I am very pleased with the defensive effort today. Guys were really flying around, running to the football and it's good to see it finally coming together.
DATISH: Thanks to the D for shutting them out again and getting us some good turnovers and good field position all day, they really did a great job for us. Minnesota came out and played us hard, as we expected they would. They ran some different schemes at us and we got that adjusted pretty well. Overall, I thought that we didn't play as good as we were capable of in the first half, then we came out in the second half and switched some things around and got it going again and felt pretty good.
COACH TRESSEL: Troy, opening statement? Are you tired from the three flights of stairs?
SMITH: Yeah, I just ran up. Hard fought game. Minnesota came in and was very, very, very physical from the beginning to the end. They did a great job defensively. A lot of Ohio guys and they showed up and they played just like they wanted to make a statement from the beginning.
Defensively, what more can you say, a shut-out in the Big Ten against a school like this is very key. It's a testament to the guys that we have as captains and the staff on that side. Offensively, we've still got work to do, putting points on the board is cool, but I guess the way you do it, how you do it is the most important thing. We've just got to keep rolling.
REPORTER: Jim, could you talk about the progress that this defensive unit and, you know, the first shut-out, I think, since 2003 or something like that, but just the way you're progressing and the progressiveness they're playing with and the heart they're playing with.
COACH TRESSEL: I think it starts up front with our veteran guys that do such a great job leading,
David Patterson and Quinn (Pitcock) and
Joel Penton and
Jay Richardson and that bunch. They were the returning guys coming back and everyone was wondering how the rest of the group was going to be and what they've done is they've raised their own performance up and done a great job leading those new guys. And our guys aren't brand new,
Vernon Gholston has been here three years,
James Laurinaitis got to play last year,
Marcus Freeman has been here three years.
John Kerr has been here for four years. So we've got veteran guys there in the linebacker corps. And
Brandon Mitchell from the back end of things and
Antonio Smith took the leadership role from that end, so we had leadership going from both ends and a lot of talent in between. And our coaching staff has done an excellent job and just -- we're getting better and we understand we have more tests to go, but you have to feel good about the progress.
REPORTER: For Coach, Doug, or Troy, just with the conditions today, the importance of the ground game and getting
Antonio Pittman, I believe he had 100,
Chris Wells was close to 100, and Troy, close to 50, and as you get into the stretch of your season, maybe this weekend, how important it was to get the ground game really going today.
COACH TRESSEL: Well, we're expecting conditions to be like they were today. We're heading over to Illinois this weekend, which is one of the windiest places in the Big Ten, and then we go to the Windy City, then we come back into here, and so we're expecting it to be tough and nasty and cold. November, that's what it's about. And I think it is good to get balance and to have a couple guys up near 100 and the quarterback having plus rushing yards, which tells you that the offensive line is protecting well because the quarterback can't get plus rushing yards if he's being sacked a whole bunch of times. So, yeah, I think it is really important to move in that direction. Doug, did you want to speak to that?
DATISH: Before the game, Coach Bolls (Bollman) was saying, we need to get control of the game with the offensive line and the way to do that was to run and keep Troy off his back, and I thought we did a pretty good job of that today, and hopefully in the coming weeks we'll get some good weather so we can throw the ball around a little bit. If we don't, we'll have to do it again.
REPORTER: Jim, could you give us an update on
Quinn Pitcock, Ray Small and
Anthony Gonzalez, when did you know Pit wasn't going to play and Small, I guess, a serious concussion, but what's the update?
COACH TRESSEL: Quinn we knew, I guess, pretty much the back half of the week that he wasn't going to play. Knew for sure, I suppose, on Thursday. Gonzalez got banged a little bit,
Ray Small, you saw, got banged. I would expect Quinn and Anthony for sure to be ready. I probably couldn't speak to Ray's because I don't know for sure the significance of it, but I think Quinn and Gonzo will be fine.
REPORTER: Troy, how much of the wind bothered you today? How much did it handcuff you on some things, looked like you didn't pull the trigger a couple times because it was swirling out there, how did it affect you?
SMITH: The wind didn't affect me. Sometimes your reads are there, sometimes they aren't. Minnesota did a good job of sometimes taking away number one, did a good job of clouding up number two, so we had to do other things. The wind wasn't a problem, though.
REPORTER: Troy, at some point there, I think at the end of the first half, you and Alex were jawing pretty good, you talked about the Ohio guys, the first appearance for D. J., was that just the normal course?
SMITH: Knowing Alex, I knew when he got in there, he was going to be tough, he was going to give it his all and they did just that over there. You've got to take your hat off to guys like that. D. J., you know, that's self-explanatory, he's a player. I think the more and more playing time he gets, the better he's going to be. Kind of reminds me of Bob Sanders when he was at Iowa. Those players are going to get good. And it was probably a little chip on their shoulder because they didn't get a chance to come here, but they still showed up and played.
REPORTER: Were you surprised to see him on defense, playing end there?
SMITH: He's a big kid and he's going to grow. I know he got stronger. He's going to get bigger, so I guess wherever they wanted to fit him into the scheme, that's what they did.
REPORTER: Troy, you started the game wearing gloves and I think you took them off after the fumble; had you ever played in gloves before? How did that go? And did you take them off because it was affecting your throws?
SMITH: It wasn't affecting my throws, as I got into the game, it wasn't that cold anymore. So I wanted to really get a feel for the ball, and wearing the gloves, as a quarterback, that's what you really rely on, getting a feel for the ball and knowing how the conditions are, but some of the passes in the beginning weren't bad passes. We still had some completion and I could have played the rest of the time, but just chose not to.
REPORTER: Jim, in terms of striving for perfection, are you guys playing the last couple weeks and the next couple weeks as much against yourselves as whoever's on the other sideline?
COACH TRESSEL: We always compete against ourselves to get better and really grade ourselves on our film and grade ourselves in our practices and we compete against one another, offense against defense, during the week. But I think if you can keep your focus on competing against yourself, you've got a chance, but then of course you study your opponent to see where they're vulnerable and where you may be able to attack them. But I think the name of the game is seeing if you can become the best you, you can be.
REPORTER: How badly did this defense want this shut-out? You were close at Michigan State, close at Indiana, and finally you get the doughnut.
PATTERSON: Well, we really wanted the shut-out. Towards the end of the game, we kind of saw it coming. We put the younger guys in there, they did a really good job of keeping the same pace and the tempo when those guys were making plays, so it's a really good feeling for the defense to get a shut-out because that's what we always strive for.
REPORTER: Did you enjoy watching your team run the ball or stop the run? I think they gave up maybe 47 on the ground today.
COACH TRESSEL: I enjoyed both. Anytime you hold Minnesota, who knows how to run the ball, to 47 yards, that's huge, and then whenever we rush for 200, I just think that's wonderful. And even in these games that are a little shorter, that goal we always have of 200 becomes a little harder when there's less plays. So to get that 200-yard rushing goal in this number of plays type games, both things were exciting.
REPORTER: Two questions, one for David, one for Coach. David, talk about holding Minnesota, a rushing team, below 50 yards; and, Coach, can you talk about the progress with
Jamario O'Neal?
PATTERSON: First, I just want to give a lot of credit to our offense and our scout team, because I think the biggest reason that we were able to play well on defense today is those guys on the scout team. Those guys give us a tremendous look every day at practice. They really cause us to elevate our games and if we're not on top of it, they're on the ball at practice, so playing against these guys every day is really -- who knows how we're going to play in the Big Ten on a day like this, stopping the runs is crucial, Coach always shows us a breakdown, most of the guys that win the rushing battle will win the game.
COACH TRESSEL: As far as Jamario, he's done a good job coming in, he's a true sophomore, played sparingly last year and got thrust into the starting role right there right in the middle of the Iowa game, I think it was, and really has been very solid, was playing a week or two ago, a little bit banged up, but played through it and got himself healthy again, and I think Jamario will continue to improve and he's going to be a good player.
REPORTER: David, could you just talk personally how you felt out there after missing the last couple of weeks and if you talked with Quinn much before the game, you guys haven't been out there together for a while, what you guys may have talked about.
PATTERSON: I felt great out there today. Coming into the game, I was a little nervous that this brace would slow me down a little bit, but it didn't, I felt great moving around on my knee, I didn't have any pain or anything like that. Before the game, me and Quinn were talking like we love playing with each other and it was kind of sad, you know, we only have about two more halves in the stadium and we love any moment we can be out there together, so we're just looking forward to getting back out there together this week.
REPORTER: Jim, right here. Maybe Troy too, you talk about the rushing game and you talked about the line and Pittman, but
Stan White, Jr., has a big role in all this, too, or just say something about him, to fill up the time.
SMITH: I think anytime you get into a situation where a fifth-year guy gets a chance to step up and rise to the occasion, it's huge and it's key.
Stan White did just that.
Stan White is a guy where you ask him to do any and everything and he does it with a smile. It's never a sense that he's going to backlash and say something against anything that you say. He's a Buckeye through and through. Anything you ask him to do, he's done it thus far, and when his number is called, you can definitely rely on Stan to be there.
REPORTER: Jim and Dave, if there was a key moment, I guess it was the fourth-and-one stop early, when it was 10-0 and you were in their territory, can you talk about that a little bit, that moment?
COACH TRESSEL: Dave, do you want to handle that?
PATTERSON: That's just a prime example of handling adversity. On that fourth and one, we had a good defensive call from up in the booth and we just got a little penetration and we caused them to bounce a little bit and our linebackers came and filled the holes up.
COACH TRESSEL: I think emotionally, anytime you stop someone on short yardage or you get stopped, there's an effect, and especially a fourth and one, you're away from home, our crowd is tremendous. When our defense has got them third down or fourth down, our crowd is -- they're into it, and you can just feel the energy, and I'm sure that took a little emotion from the Golden Gophers.
REPORTER: Jim, I was just curious about the fumbles, I'm sure that's kind of distressing, and what the third one of the season will mean for
Chris Wells.
COACH TRESSEL: Well, it is distressing, there's no question about it, and we're not going to be as good a football team as we'd like to be if we continue to fumble and obviously Chris has got to work to make sure that that doesn't happen anymore, just like Troy had one, we can't let people come around our edge. And when they come around the edge, a quarterback's got to keep it tight. It's all related a little bit, but Chris is going to be one of our running backs and I'm sure he, more than anyone else, wants to make sure that he does what the team needs.
REPORTER: Jim, how satisfying was it that
Justin Zwick scored a touchdown, and I guess, Troy, maybe you could respond to that too.
COACH TRESSEL: I thought his whole drive was good. I thought he threw the ball and, you know, Troy jumped up in the air higher when Justin scored than anyone. It was good to see. I think he mentioned it when he talked about
Stan White, here's a guy, they've been here for five years together and they've gone through some wonderful times and some tough times. Anytime someone gets a chance to have good things happen, it's exciting.
SMITH: I think Justin's touchdown, you know, it really touched me because, I think that was one of the things that he probably needed. Any person, where you're in a situation where things are not going the way that you want them to go, initially you get a chance to get a breath of fresh air when something happens like that, and I really felt as soon as he crossed the goal line I really felt it for him. And if anybody wasn't going to be there for him, I was, to congratulate him and tell him how happy I was for him.
REPORTER: Any more issues with the field, is it better, is it the same?
COACH TRESSEL: I thought the field was a little better today, but I didn't have to run around on it. As I said on Tuesday, our guys work very hard to do the best they can getting the surface the best it can be, and I thought it was a little better, but these guys can answer.
SMITH: It was cool.
