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<TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width="98%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=3>Tressel Talks QBs, Texas At Teleconference
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Jim Tressel
</TD><TD noWrap width=3></TD><TD vAlign=top>Date: Sep 6, 2005
After quarterback Justin Zwick put on a solid performance against Miami (Ohio) on Saturday, the main question on everyone's mind was whether or not Zwick or the suspended Troy Smith would start against Texas. A starter has not been revealed as of yet, but during today's Big Ten Teleconference, OSU head coach Jim Tressel revealed that both players will play this weekend. Read on for more from the teleconference.
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At today's session between OSU head coach Jim Tressel and the national media at the Big Ten teleconference, the focus was on the big game between OSU and Texas. Tressel started off with a comment on the Miami game and then shifted the focus to this weekend's game.
"We got off to a good start," Tressel said. "We played a very tough Miami of Ohio team who was extremely well-prepared and anxious to play in our stadium. Many of their players are from the state of Ohio, and this is the greatest facility in Ohio. They came in fired up to play and did a good job.
"I thought our guys kept their focus right where it needed to be. We did a lot of good things; obviously there's a lot of things we need to do much, much better, but we felt good about the football game and now we're prepared for another contest here at home with the University of Texas, and our people are excited to be a part of this on behalf of the Big Ten against the Big XII, and it will be a great evening."
Against Miami, quarterback Justin Zwick started and played well in place of a suspended Troy Smith -- well enough for Zwick to earn playing time against Texas. Tressel said that even though both will play, it will not give Ohio State a big advantage for Texas to not know the quarterback situation.
"I think it doesn't give us a great advantage," Tressel said. "We're going to play both, and we will do that. They both deserve to play. They both had excellent spring practices and excellent preseasons. I thought Justin played well; he needs to play even better on Saturday. I thought there were times last season when Troy played well, but he needs to play even better Saturday. I don't know if it's an advantage that we have two different guys coming at you, but that's who we are right now."
Tressel added that he does not see any players hoping for one quarterback over the other.
"I really don't," he said. "They're both in the same class, so the same guys have been here the same length of time with them. They're both good kids. All they both want to do is help our team win. They both prepare accordingly. I don't sense anything from that standpoint."
Ohio State unveiled a passing-oriented attack against Miami (Ohio). Tressel stated that the influence behind this offense is to play to the team's strengths.
"I think you have to figure out what your players are capable of and build your head coach around it," he said. "I've been a head coach for 20 years, and I've had all kinds of different (approaches). I've run predominantly option football at times. I've run predominantly dropback pass, I've run predominantly power offenses. I think this day and age, with as good as defenses are and how well-schooled players are, I think you have be able to be very diverse, and so you want to be that.
"I think we have to feature talents that our guys have. Teddy has talents that we need to utilize, so does Santonio, and Tony Gonzalez, and Troy and Justin and Antonio and all the rest. Our personality, if you went way back, has been many faceted over the course of 20 years."
Tressel was asked how the number of times Ginn touches the ball in a game is determined.
"What we try to do is work hard on our distribution," Tressel said. "Teddy Ginn is a guy that we've got to have touch the ball as much as possible. I don't know if we'll ever limit ourselves. We also want Santonio Holmes to have his hands on the ball; we want Antonio Pittman to be carrying the ball; Tony Gonzalez is a guy; we like it when our quarterbacks run. So we work hard on distribution and making sure we attack across a broad front. But no question about it, we need Teddy Ginn to have his touches."
It is rare in this day and age of college football to see a non-conference series that matches up two high-profile programs like Ohio State and Texas, but Ohio State's schedules will be similar in the future. Tressel discussed the team's scheduling philosophy.
"What we are philosophically going to do, if we can pull it off, is we are going to have a home-and-home with a team of great interest to our fans and our state, like Texas," Tressel said. "We've got Southern Cal coming on home-and-home in I think '09 and '10; we've got Miami (Fla.) coming '11 and '12 home and home. Philosophically we would like to do that, and then every other year have eight home games, and the years where we travel to the intersectional rivalry, have seven. That's our goal. We fund 36 sports, which I think is the largest in the country. I know our budget that we have to raise is the largest in the country, and we think we can still do that by every other year having seven home games and in the good years financially having eight."
As for the first version of OSU/Texas, Tressel thinks the game will be something the participants will remember for a lifetime.
"I think it's going to be very exciting," Tressel said. "I think it gives college football a great jump start into the '05 season. We're two huge universities that have alumni all over the world. We have the good fortune that a lot of people know who we are and who the Longhorns are, and I think it's a great thing for college football. It's a great thing for our two leagues. It's a great thing for both of our alumni. It's a tough football game for all of us to be playing so early, but who knows -- maybe our kids and coaches turned it up a notch in their preparation in the summertime preseason so that we can see if we can compete.
"There's pros and cons (to playing in a game like this)," Tressel added. "Obviously, it's a difficult ballgame, but I don't care who you play -- you always run the risk of not doing as well as you'd like to do, and that's a con I guess. I think the pro is it is it helps you get ready for a very difficult conference schedule. I think maybe the biggest pro to it at all is this will be something -- these two games, Ohio State and Texas, and then down in Austin, Ohio State and Texas -- will be something that our players and coaches will remember for a lifetime. Those will be things -- they'll cherish those memories. Memories are a big part of what is good about this game I think, and this will be a special memory for both groups."
While this will be the first time the two storied programs meet on the field, it will not be the first time the two head coaches have had contact.
"Mack Brown I know very well," Tressel said. "There are some guys, as you're coming up in coaching, that you study, because you see that they do things well and they're successful and they just have something about them. I can remember when he was back in North Carolina, sitting at the national convention listening to his presentation and then having a chance to interact with him a little bit because I really enjoyed some of the things that he was talking about and he thought those could help our program. And of course when he went to Texas and the great success he's had, I've had a chance to be with him. Off-and-on, not a whole bunch because we live a long way apart, but he's a fine guy and obviously does a great job, and he's got a great, great job going on."
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Jim Tressel
</TD><TD noWrap width=3></TD><TD vAlign=top>Date: Sep 6, 2005
After quarterback Justin Zwick put on a solid performance against Miami (Ohio) on Saturday, the main question on everyone's mind was whether or not Zwick or the suspended Troy Smith would start against Texas. A starter has not been revealed as of yet, but during today's Big Ten Teleconference, OSU head coach Jim Tressel revealed that both players will play this weekend. Read on for more from the teleconference.
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At today's session between OSU head coach Jim Tressel and the national media at the Big Ten teleconference, the focus was on the big game between OSU and Texas. Tressel started off with a comment on the Miami game and then shifted the focus to this weekend's game.
"We got off to a good start," Tressel said. "We played a very tough Miami of Ohio team who was extremely well-prepared and anxious to play in our stadium. Many of their players are from the state of Ohio, and this is the greatest facility in Ohio. They came in fired up to play and did a good job.
"I thought our guys kept their focus right where it needed to be. We did a lot of good things; obviously there's a lot of things we need to do much, much better, but we felt good about the football game and now we're prepared for another contest here at home with the University of Texas, and our people are excited to be a part of this on behalf of the Big Ten against the Big XII, and it will be a great evening."
Against Miami, quarterback Justin Zwick started and played well in place of a suspended Troy Smith -- well enough for Zwick to earn playing time against Texas. Tressel said that even though both will play, it will not give Ohio State a big advantage for Texas to not know the quarterback situation.
"I think it doesn't give us a great advantage," Tressel said. "We're going to play both, and we will do that. They both deserve to play. They both had excellent spring practices and excellent preseasons. I thought Justin played well; he needs to play even better on Saturday. I thought there were times last season when Troy played well, but he needs to play even better Saturday. I don't know if it's an advantage that we have two different guys coming at you, but that's who we are right now."
Tressel added that he does not see any players hoping for one quarterback over the other.
"I really don't," he said. "They're both in the same class, so the same guys have been here the same length of time with them. They're both good kids. All they both want to do is help our team win. They both prepare accordingly. I don't sense anything from that standpoint."
Ohio State unveiled a passing-oriented attack against Miami (Ohio). Tressel stated that the influence behind this offense is to play to the team's strengths.
"I think you have to figure out what your players are capable of and build your head coach around it," he said. "I've been a head coach for 20 years, and I've had all kinds of different (approaches). I've run predominantly option football at times. I've run predominantly dropback pass, I've run predominantly power offenses. I think this day and age, with as good as defenses are and how well-schooled players are, I think you have be able to be very diverse, and so you want to be that.
"I think we have to feature talents that our guys have. Teddy has talents that we need to utilize, so does Santonio, and Tony Gonzalez, and Troy and Justin and Antonio and all the rest. Our personality, if you went way back, has been many faceted over the course of 20 years."
Tressel was asked how the number of times Ginn touches the ball in a game is determined.
"What we try to do is work hard on our distribution," Tressel said. "Teddy Ginn is a guy that we've got to have touch the ball as much as possible. I don't know if we'll ever limit ourselves. We also want Santonio Holmes to have his hands on the ball; we want Antonio Pittman to be carrying the ball; Tony Gonzalez is a guy; we like it when our quarterbacks run. So we work hard on distribution and making sure we attack across a broad front. But no question about it, we need Teddy Ginn to have his touches."
It is rare in this day and age of college football to see a non-conference series that matches up two high-profile programs like Ohio State and Texas, but Ohio State's schedules will be similar in the future. Tressel discussed the team's scheduling philosophy.
"What we are philosophically going to do, if we can pull it off, is we are going to have a home-and-home with a team of great interest to our fans and our state, like Texas," Tressel said. "We've got Southern Cal coming on home-and-home in I think '09 and '10; we've got Miami (Fla.) coming '11 and '12 home and home. Philosophically we would like to do that, and then every other year have eight home games, and the years where we travel to the intersectional rivalry, have seven. That's our goal. We fund 36 sports, which I think is the largest in the country. I know our budget that we have to raise is the largest in the country, and we think we can still do that by every other year having seven home games and in the good years financially having eight."
As for the first version of OSU/Texas, Tressel thinks the game will be something the participants will remember for a lifetime.
"I think it's going to be very exciting," Tressel said. "I think it gives college football a great jump start into the '05 season. We're two huge universities that have alumni all over the world. We have the good fortune that a lot of people know who we are and who the Longhorns are, and I think it's a great thing for college football. It's a great thing for our two leagues. It's a great thing for both of our alumni. It's a tough football game for all of us to be playing so early, but who knows -- maybe our kids and coaches turned it up a notch in their preparation in the summertime preseason so that we can see if we can compete.
"There's pros and cons (to playing in a game like this)," Tressel added. "Obviously, it's a difficult ballgame, but I don't care who you play -- you always run the risk of not doing as well as you'd like to do, and that's a con I guess. I think the pro is it is it helps you get ready for a very difficult conference schedule. I think maybe the biggest pro to it at all is this will be something -- these two games, Ohio State and Texas, and then down in Austin, Ohio State and Texas -- will be something that our players and coaches will remember for a lifetime. Those will be things -- they'll cherish those memories. Memories are a big part of what is good about this game I think, and this will be a special memory for both groups."
While this will be the first time the two storied programs meet on the field, it will not be the first time the two head coaches have had contact.
"Mack Brown I know very well," Tressel said. "There are some guys, as you're coming up in coaching, that you study, because you see that they do things well and they're successful and they just have something about them. I can remember when he was back in North Carolina, sitting at the national convention listening to his presentation and then having a chance to interact with him a little bit because I really enjoyed some of the things that he was talking about and he thought those could help our program. And of course when he went to Texas and the great success he's had, I've had a chance to be with him. Off-and-on, not a whole bunch because we live a long way apart, but he's a fine guy and obviously does a great job, and he's got a great, great job going on."
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