	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 17, 2015

Urban Meyer

Columbus, Ohio

Ohio State - 38 - Penn State - 10

COACH MEYER: Thanks for coming. A couple of quick comments as we always do, without any hesitation or deepest gratitude to our incredible fans and support. And the Buckeye Walk was incredible. The skull session was incredible. And a lot of great places in college football, and this is a special place. A night game in the Horseshoe, I remember the first one against Nebraska back in, whenever that was, 2012, and this is a special night.

Playing the game, the offensive line, a lot of respect for our opponent, their defensive line, one of the best in the country. They lead the nation in sacks, tackles for loss, et cetera. And our offensive line played well. We're down five receivers right now, so we went with a lot of two tight ends, and that kind of gave them a hard time in the run game.

So Marcus Baugh's really earned the right to play around here, the way he works. And Dontre is banged up -- I think he'll be close -- he played a little bit but he should be full speed by next week.

Johnnie Dixon is still not full speed. And we lost Corey Smith. And I think there's one other one. Parris Campbell was out because of a sprained knee.

So I thought they did very good. But Zeek and the offensive line took control of the game, and I thought J.T. came in played great. Ran for 100 yards, and he obviously gives you that dual threat, which is when you're bogged down a little bit, he did a great job. I'll answer any questions for you.

Q. You mentioned the dual threat. But maybe that's what they were giving you. But when you see a performance like what J.T. turned in, how can you maybe go back to Cardale after that, after four touchdowns and all that yardage?
COACH MEYER: Well, the last, I just read we're 6-for-6 in the red zone again, so that's 12-for-12 the last 12 times we've been in there. First of all, it's a lot of times in there, which is good.

The second thing is just let me evaluate it, let you guys know on Monday, and go from there.

Q. When you sent J.T. in, they had the ball at the 25-yard line there late in the third quarter. That seemed to be a change, obviously. What was your instructions to him, what did you tell him, third quarter, 3:18 left, I think?
COACH MEYER: Wasn't it before that?

Q. You sent him in at 31, earlier than that.
COACH MEYER: What instructions? Go play really good. (Laughter).

You're facing a defense that -- like I said, they started blitzing our tails off. And they're very good players. That's one of the best defenses in the country. And statistically, the personnel, they are.

So we had to have some neutralizers and equalizers, had some misfires in the throw game, and we started really blocking them, really blocking them. I thought Ed Warinner did a really nice job developing that run game. But J.T. managed it very well.

Q. Seemed to be the play of option that seemed to get nasty at home?
COACH MEYER: The quarterback run. The option and quarterback run and equalizers. You have to have equalizers in offensive football. If it's a downfield throw, which they weren't giving it to us, we try to field them. But the equalizer was -- especially when they started moving, when you can read a defender and he pulls it, he goes, and it's some big plays from them.

Q. Could you evaluate Cardale's play at all? And also how is Joshua Perry?
COACH MEYER: Josh Perry has an ankle sprain. We'll know more later in the week. Cardale is at 15, not bad, 84 yards. But they were defending the pass pretty well, and he had a few misfires. But we evaluate that this week and keep going, see how it went. Just remember that.

Q. Your defensive line seemed to take over again at times. And Bosa being so active. One thing I wanted to ask you about is the targeting call. Did you get some clarity on what they saw there?
COACH MEYER: Wonder if he's out first half of next week, too. I don't know. I'll find that out soon. I saw the video. No, we don't teach anything like that. I think that's a tough penalty. And I saw the guy from up north got thrown out of the game.

It's tough, man, especially when we're down -- we were in kicking game. We had guys playing positions they never played, because we lost Booker and Josh Perry and Cam Williams. It was tough duty.

Q. Your defensive line, particularly Bosa?
COACH MEYER: I thought he was really good. Did he get any sacks tonight?

Q. One tackle for a loss and a sack.
COACH MEYER: I think he's playing at a very high level. Maybe statistically doesn't have some of those other numbers. But he's extremely disruptive. And I know actually called up Adolphus Washington. He played very well.

Obviously giving up a lot of yards rushing. That's more alarming.

Q. Obviously you could see how the offense really clicked in a lot of ways. When you end the game -- the fact that you ended the game with a different guy playing quarterback than the guy that started the game, like do you care, or is it just whatever it takes to win?
COACH MEYER: Of course I care. But the job is to go win a game. And we won. We beat a very good team by, what was it, 28 points. Very good win. Of course I care.

Q. That's not the right phrase, but, like, I guess whatever it takes to win.
COACH MEYER: Absolutely. Whatever it takes to win. I don't know -- someone else should be standing here if there's some other purpose of our job. And that's, first of all, I care about these players. And you try to win a game at whatever cost. However you can do it.

And the offensive job is to secure the ball, limit the turnovers. That's two games that are, 6-6 in the red zone. So I'm very extremely pleased with this.

And I want to make sure that this idea, care big time about these guys because, like I said, there's a lot of people in that locker room that are the very best and have done a lot of things. And I do care, but our job is to go win.

Q. I know you're getting ready for the game. Did you see the end of Michigan State/Michigan, did you hear about it?
COACH MEYER: I heard about it. I saw there was a fumbled punt or something like that as time ran out. This league is tough. The East Division, Big Ten, lot of respect for those teams.

Q. Do you think J.T. is quicker than he was a year ago. And the popped pass, did you jump back?
COACH MEYER: Popped pass?

Q. That's what my dad called it. I'm sorry. Was that a --
COACH MEYER: Wanting to do that for so long.

Q. Was that a Shelley or Tebow call?
COACH MEYER: It's between me and my wife (laughter). No, that was -- the offensive staff has been working on that for a while. J.T. is a great manager. Glad to see Braxton get a play out of that, too, because he's a run threat out there. And they did pretty good.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297