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slobberknocker
All-American
heard some on 1460 with the linebacker, imo JT has totally destroyed JZ's confidence basically saying your only good enough to start if troy screws up or is suspended. I just think he wasn't given a fair shake in the new offense except the bowl game where he looked pretty good.
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sandgk
Watson, Crick & A Twist
Taken from here:
I don't see anything stated here that is a clear slam on Zwick - and aside from saying Troy will start I don't see a clear statement of Zwick being out of contention to play. As alwys he's playing it close to that sweater vest.
REPORTER: Basically the quote was, you basically were talking about splitting time in practice last week. You were going to give Troy 75%, 80% of the snaps this week. I don't think you ever said Troy is going to start, but obviously Troy is going to start, right?
TRESSEL: Yeah, I think I said that last night.
REPORTER: I don't think the actual word "start" came out.
TRESSEL: Troy's going to start.
REPORTER: The question is, does Troy represent where you want to be, where you want to get to as an offense? A lot of us were looking at that game going, it's kind of hard to tell the difference of the two from a production standpoint.
TRESSEL: I don't think we're going to change who we are and what we would like to be. I think the number one thing that a quarterback needs to be, as you look at the make-up of our offense, is make sure that guys like Santonio and Teddy and Gonzo and Antonio and Roy and so forth get the ball in their hands to make plays, and of course the quarterback has to make plays. That's a major task.
Second major task, and maybe more important than the first one I discussed, is they've obviously got to make good decisions. Now, that helps get the ball in the right people's hands and so forth, but got to make great decisions with the football and get it to the people that we think can do good things with the ball. So, no, you won't see a difference -- we're not all of a sudden going to come out and run a different offense or something like that. I don't know that it was that different when the two of them were in. There might have been a couple more quarterback design runs, but there were only two or three of those.
REPORTER: Going back to what you were talking about a minute ago, though, Jim, did you feel almost forced to get two guys ready last week, I mean, based on the way things had gone, the dynamic of the situation at quarterback, with Troy not being able to play?
TRESSEL: I don't know about forced.
REPORTER: From a fairness standpoint.
TRESSEL: From really where we were standpoint, in Troy's not grading a winning performance, I don't think you can lose sight of the fact he hadn't played in two games. Troy's a competitor. He was excited out there. He's the kind of guy who wants to make something happen and wants to -- I don't know if the word is make up for the time he missed and give back to his teammates for the time he missed and those kind of things. He was fired up and that type of thing, but, no, I didn't feel forced. I just thought based upon who had had preparation over the course of time and where we were and what we were doing that both guys could contribute to a win. And as it turns out, you know, if you put the film on, that could very well have happened, but it didn't.
REPORTER: Jim, Ted Ginn had only three touches on offense. How did the drops factor into that in terms of confidence in him or was it more the way they schemed him or was there a conscious -- or is there going to be a more conscious decision to get him the ball more?
TRESSEL: As I pointed out, what do we need from our quarterback, we've got to get the ball to people who can make plays with it. Teddy's certainly one of them. The beautiful thing about Teddy is, he would have liked to have touched it more, but what is most disconcerting to him is that he sees the guys that he loves like A. J. and Nick Mangold and Robbie Sims and Bobby Carpenter and them not have an unscathed senior year. That's what he wants for them. Is it going to be a conscious decision to give Ted Ginn the ball? Of course. And it is Santonio and it is Antonio and it is Gonzo. We want to get it to who's open. In fact, that's the beauty.
I was just talking to the quarterbacks in the weight room earlier. The beauty of watching Alex Smith, who was the first guy picked in the NFL draft, is why he delivers the ball where he does. You can see that he understands. Can anyone name any of his receivers last year? It didn't matter whether it was Teddy or it was -- their Teddy or their Santonio, it was the guy that based upon what the defense was doing was open. And that's where you need to get. He's a great guy to study. I believe you study the best. You go study the best coaches, the best players, the best schemes. You have to say, how does that relate to me? I don't necessarily have to be like Bear Bryant, but you want to study him. And what is it that has made him successful? You study Alex Smith and he gets it to the guy and knows why, and to me, that's the mark. If I was an NFL player personnel guy trying to decide between Alex Smith and someone else, I'm watching that film. He clearly knows why he went where he went, and that's where you have to get to have excellent production.
REPORTER: Jim, the coaching staff reviews players and grades them; how would you grade yourself in the coaching job Saturday night?
TRESSEL: It wasn't a winning performance. I don't really give a letter grade or a percentage. There was some times when I didn't execute. You can't leave yourself out of the formula. In fact, you have to start with yourself in the formula and I certainly didn't grade a winning performance.
REPORTER: Do you think that the rotation of the quarterbacks, you've second-guessed yourself on that perhaps?
TRESSEL: As to who and when?
REPORTER: Yes.
TRESSEL: No.
REPORTER: Jim, when you made the decision to go back to Justin early in the third quarter, Troy had gotten five scores in a row and I know some of them were field goals on possession that started deep in Texas territory. Was there a particular mistake on Troy's first series of the third quarter that led you to go back to Justin, and also if you could discuss what your reasoning was for bringing Justin out with 2:37 to go?
TRESSEL: Kind of the same answer, is it just felt like that was the best thing to do at the time. Very seldom do I like to make a decision based on one play, like, oh, gosh, so and so angled to the wrong gap, get him out of there type thing. So I would say in both cases, as we talked, we have the luxury of having three or four people on the communication at one time is what's the best thing that the team needs right now, and that's how you make those decisions.
REPORTER: Is that the same as right now?
REPORTER: Is that your logic on picking --
TRESSEL: Oh, absolutely. Gosh, I hope that's how we always make those decisions. You sit down and you say, okay, what is it that our team needs right now. We always keep in consideration the individual. There's no question feelings and all those kinds of things, but ultimately what's most important is what does the team need and that's how you go about it.
REPORTER: Why do you think Troy is what the team needs?
TRESSEL: Why do I think he is? I think that throughout the course of time, it's demonstrated. Had lots of practices, lots of games. It's not like we're guessing on some people that haven't been around for a while.
REPORTER: Is the fact that flip-flopping them loses some rhythm?
TRESSEL: I don't know if it's rhythm. We're most concerned about preparation and that's -- there's some school of thought out there that the only guy that gets reps is the number one guy. Some places you'll go -- I think pretty much, I've never coached or played in the NFL, but as I listen to NFL guys, they'll tell you the number two quarterback, the only scouts he gets is in the number two team, in that world. We have a little different world. But I think preparation is what's critical. Especially when you're not quite as efficient as you'd like to be. There were some times if we were more efficient at that position and others, we would have been better off, so what I think is most important for a coach is to give a player or a team a chance to be successful and it really begins with preparation.
REPORTER: Jim, like Doug has said, though, what is it that Troy gives you that the other guy doesn't? I mean, can you explain, is it that special quality? Is it -- what is the --
TRESSEL: You can't have two guys at the center at the same time, so you have to make a decision, who's the best for the situation and I don't know that you can list a whole bunch of factors, but I think based upon what I've seen and experienced, that's the way I think it's best for the team.
REPORTER: After the game Coach Bollman said the reason that Troy went back in when you were at your own half yard line was because there were questions about whether Justin was healthy, he was afraid that his knee was hurting him.
TRESSEL: I wasn't a part of that discussion, but I would say in my mind, Troy can throw it a little further, and we had to go -- we had to try to get it up in the air, at least half the distance of the field. We didn't, obviously, but that was my thinking. I wasn't part of any injury discussion, but that may be true.
REPORTER: So Justin is healthy now?
TRESSEL: Yeah.
REPORTER: Are you committed at all to playing Justin on Saturday, like last Saturday, you played both quarterbacks.
TRESSEL: I wouldn't say necessarily, that hasn't been a discussion. At times you have those discussions saying, you know, by the third or fourth series, Steve Rehring is going to get a chance to be guard or so and so, or Todd Boeckman is going to play, but we haven't had that discussion. I'm not saying it won't happen, by the way.
REPORTER: Talking about feelings being part of the discussion, how did Justin react to the situation you just explained and how do you expect him to handle himself?
TRESSEL: I expect him like he always does. He's interested in our team. He wants to do all he can to help and it's harder to do it when you're not in the game, obviously, but watching his immediate reactions or what people say, quite honestly I don't put a whole lot of credence in. I like to watch their long-term. I thought his practice demeanor and habits and intensity was just fine.
REPORTER: Coach, the red zone, two games settled for five short field goals, what can we do to maybe move it into the end zone? What do you see as you evaluate both games?
TRESSEL: I think two things. The obvious is we have to execute better, but maybe the less obvious is that we've got to do a better job teaching and conceptually help ourselves so that we will execute. It's easy to say we should have seen that guy open or should have protected better or should have cut the guy so he couldn't block the pass or all those things, but you better, especially down in there, get real good at some things, and right now I would say that that's not necessarily the case.
REPORTER: You didn't have much of a pass rushing when you blitzed.
TRESSEL: As we blitzed or as we pass rushed? To me that's the beauty of what Vince Young brings to the table is that you better be aware that he can run it and you better not overrun him because he'll hurt you more then when he throws it, and you have to throw some people in the box to stop their run combination things which makes it a little more difficult on their secondary. They do a good job of putting you in precarious situations. We did do a good job affecting him. Forced him into some turnovers that we capitalized, we might not even be talking about how much pressure we did or didn't have, but again, that's the fun of it. It's tough with a four-man rush to get pressure on anyone if you're facing a good offensive line, add to it that the quarterback is a run threat. I thought our defensive staff did an excellent job of mixing in some things. I thought our kids put pressure on him. I think if you asked Vince Young, he'd tell you that he had a challenge.
REPORTER: Jim, you mentioned that there were a couple of design quarterback plays last Saturday.
TRESSEL: We had maybe three.
REPORTER: So can we infer from that when Troy ran where he wasn't sacked, that he was calling his own number, and if that's the case, would you like to see him spread the wealth more often and be a little less hesitant to --
TRESSEL: I can't remember how many times he took off from a passing situation, maybe I should, but I've got San Diego State on the brain.
REPORTER: It was twice.
TRESSEL: Was it twice? The thing that I engrain in the quarterbacks and go watch, again, the Utah/San Diego State, if you step up and run on pass, that paralyzes a defense. In fact, I remember watching a little bit of the Notre Dame/Pitt, the difference in that game was when Brady Quinn did a great job of getting three or four third down conversions, broken play with his feet. So I never discourage a guy stepping up and going, in fact, Craig Krenzel was one of the best I've ever seen at that. Now, not at the expense of if a design route is open, throw it, absolutely. So I hate to be greedy, but I want to do both. When Santonio is open or Teddy or Gonzo, I want to have the great execution or great feet to do that and when they're not, I want to be able to go.
REPORTER: It seems like a lot of times it was just snap the ball and, boom, take off.
TRESSEL: Those might have been draws, I can't remember. I don't know, Steve, I don't know how many carries he had? SNAPP: Four, I think, three or four?
TRESSEL: Of which he had a couple sacks in there. So I don't know how many of them were which.
REPORTER: One of the criticisms of the university has been when you get in the red zone a little bit it gets kind of hard to operate, did you notice that Saturday night, did you pay the price Saturday night being against a really fast defense?
TRESSEL: The field shrinks. If you're playing against a good defense, it is harder. Playing against our defense, I think Texas had some moments in the red zone that weren't as nice as moments out in the field. When you're playing against a good defense, it is tougher in the red zone, the field shrinks, they're running forward. I have heard that criticism, you know, versus the spread. I don't know if it's warranted or not, but I think you have to run the ball to win and most especially if you can run it in the red zone, then I think you really have a chance and that's why we would like to be both. We would like to be a team that can be a spread team and a conventional team.
REPORTER: If you'd ask the players what their goals were this year, one of the very first things would be we want to play in the National Championship.
TRESSEL: Absolutely.
REPORTER: Do you have to preach to them that that may or may not be off the table, but you still have to keep your sights on what's ahead?
TRESSEL: Well, we start our preaching early. We have the guys fill out goal sheets and they all want to go to the NFL or they all want to be starters, they all want to be Big Ten, and I'd be disappointed if they didn't have those. But that being said, you still have to work on today and I think our guys have a handle on the fact that while the National Championship is a goal, what work you do today determines whether you have a chance at that or not and so I think they're a pretty focused group on living for the moment, getting better, and I don't concern myself with that at this moment. At least it doesn't feel that way.
REPORTER: Is Bobby Carpenter going to be able to play this week?
TRESSEL: Bobby was flying around and it was a physical game, but he'll be fine.
REPORTER: Anybody out?
TRESSEL: We won't have Marcus Freeman back probably until next week. It doesn't look like Rory Nicol or Jimmy Cordle are still a ways. I think somewhere in between Marcus Freeman and Jimmy and Rory, we'll get Andrew back, I don't know where exactly, but beyond that I think we'll be in good shape. Was that the last question? Was that a trick? Okay, because I don't want my guys to -- I've got Quinn and Santonio and Robbie here, so we'll go one more and then you get the last question, Marla, because I'm superstitious.
REPORTER: Is it correct to say that one or two plays Saturday would not have affected the big picture in terms of Troy getting the majority of snaps, in other words --
TRESSEL: Yeah, I would say that's true.
REPORTER: In other words, if Ryan catches that ball you look beyond that, you look to a bigger picture?
TRESSEL: Yeah, you evaluate your entire production and if we would have caught that ball and won by nine points or something, I don't know that we would have been sitting there saying we were perfect and we don't have to get any better and this would have been fine. You still have to figure out, how can we be the best we can be? So it's a play here or a play there. We've had -- you know, I remember talking to you a week or so ago about how do you make your decision, we had the data of a year ago and we had the data of spring practice and we had the data of preseason and we had the data of the first game and now we've got the data added to our amount of information of this game and you have to make decisions and I've never pretended that every decision I've made was right and been reminded of that, so you make decisions an you go. Last one, Marla?
REPORTER: Is Ted getting used to being the focal point of a defense? They were saying he didn't have very good routes, now is he handling that better than he has been? TRESSEL: Ted is a second-year receiver who kind of turned the world upside-down from a return standpoint and so forth and I think has been getting better every day in all phases. When you've got Teddy back there and Santonio back there, I don't know which way you kick. We've got a good situation there, but we need to get better and Teddy hasn't played as much wide receiver as Roy, Tone, or Gonzo, but he's a good one and he will keep getting better. With that, we've got Quinn, Santonio, and Rob Sims.
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I don't see anything stated here that is a clear slam on Zwick - and aside from saying Troy will start I don't see a clear statement of Zwick being out of contention to play. As alwys he's playing it close to that sweater vest.
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I find it interesting that Troy rushed 13 times and only 2 or 3 of those were designed.
***DISCLAIMER*** I am not slamming TS with this comment, I am simply pointing the comment out. We don't want another QB battle thread to start, I don't think.
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AirForceBuck
No mercy
I like how this Justin vs. Troy thing is a national event 
. Jim Rome criticized the situation saying "Tressel is smarter than this and the decision should have been made prior to Texas." He went on to also comment that "Troy makes more gambles, but makes bigger plays and gets it done." Im not taking anymore sides on it, but both ESPN and SI have articles on this also.
. Jim Rome criticized the situation saying "Tressel is smarter than this and the decision should have been made prior to Texas." He went on to also comment that "Troy makes more gambles, but makes bigger plays and gets it done." Im not taking anymore sides on it, but both ESPN and SI have articles on this also.
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Tressel wasn't sure how many draws were called for TSmith, and when he was asked almost flat out "Did Troy audible to the run too many times?" he avoided the question and said he likes his QBs making reads at the line.Mr. Incredible said:
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BrutusBobcat
Icon and Entertainer
I like how this Justin vs. Troy thing is a national event
Pete Fiutak had the best line on CFN:
"Thank goodness the Texas game is over so we can stop hearing about which Buckeye quarterback was going to start, and if both Justin Zwick and Troy Smith are going to play. You’d have thought Jim Tressel had to choose between Peyton Manning and Michael Vick."
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OSUBasketballJunkie
Never Forget 31-0
At this point.........I am satisfied with either quarterback, lets just make a decision...stick to it..............and move on with the rest of the season....
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martinss01
blissfully stupid
i would venture a guess that ts has significantly outperformed jz in practice. because if we were just basing the decision on the games i don't see how ts would be the man at this point. regardless, im very happy that we have a true #1 guy. both are definitly capable. heres to ts leading us through the rest of the season undefeated.
:cheers:
:cheers:
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