	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

RUTGERS UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 30, 2017

Chris Ash

Piscataway, New Jersey

Ohio State - 56, Rutgers - 0

CHRIS ASH: Obviously not the turnout that we wanted. You know, we got decimated with injuries in our secondary, gave up several big plays in some critical situations there in the first half where it got out of hand, and appreciate our players continuing to fight in the second half, just really feel bad for them, worked really hard, and go ahead and just open it up for questions.

Q. What happened with Saquan and --
CHRIS ASH: Shoulder. They got injured, and I'm not going to comment on what they were, but they both got injured and got to get evaluated tomorrow to see how severe they may be.

Q. How much were you able to prepare if guys got out injury wise because you're already so decimated --
CHRIS ASH: Yeah, we had a plan. You probably saw Rashad Blunt out there. We just moved him over a couple days ago from offense, and that's all we've got. So we did everything we could to try to get him ready, had put Larry Stevens out there, Larry hasn't taken a rep at safety in practice or anything all season. That's all we've got. So it is what it is, football. Injuries come up at this time of year, and we're just going to have to fight through them and coach our way through them.

Q. Why the field goal attempt at the end of the game?
CHRIS ASH: We wanted to get points on the board.

Q. No wide receivers registered a catch tonight. What was the reason behind that?
CHRIS ASH: We didn't complete any.

Q. Did it bother you the way Ohio State celebrated the missed field goal?
CHRIS ASH: I would have done the same thing.

Q. Did you think after the way you guys were able to keep it close against Washington last week, against Nebraska, were you hoping that games like this were in the rear view mirror --
CHRIS ASH: Well, yeah, but we had to stay healthy. We are down three starters in the secondary, and we were already thin in the secondary to begin with, and you know, that killed us. Obviously we gave up some really big pass plays in the first half that you just can't do against a good team, and that just got us in a hole.

We can't overcome that. We're not good enough to do that. But we'll keep fighting, and we'll hopefully get a good report tomorrow that it won't be long-term with those guys and get them back.

Q. Obviously they have the class of the conference. How do you go about closing the gap?
CHRIS ASH: Just got to keep working. I mean, there's no magic formula, guys. When you're talking about turning around a program, it's working, it's hard work, that's it. You coach your tails off every single day. You develop your players as much as you can physically, mentally, fundamentally, and you recruit. That's it. You build a culture. You have standards, and those -- I don't care where you're at. Everyone thinks there's a magic formula to win. It's not. It's the same formula everywhere you're at. It's going to take us time to do that. That's where we're at. We have to coach, we have to develop, we've got to recruit, we've got to continue to build on our culture. I love the culture that we have. I love our football team. I said that right back at the start, and I'm not going to back away from that. I love coming in here to work every single day with these guys. They've got a great attitude, they love each other, they work extremely hard. We've got to coach better, we've got to develop and continue to recruit. That's it.

Q. I know that your quarterback didn't play particularly well, but have you considered making a change?
CHRIS ASH: No, we've got a week off here this next week. Right now everything is going to be on the table. We've got to look at our personnel. We've got to evaluate injuries, we've got to evaluate what we're doing, and we'll take this next week to do that.

Q. Barrett takes a lot of criticism, but when you watch him, are you amazed at what he does?
CHRIS ASH: Say that again.

Q. Are you amazed at what he does?
CHRIS ASH: No, I'm not, no. I've know J.T. for a while, and this is no disrespect, I mean, when we've got guys wide open like we had tonight, I might be able to make them. That's just being honest. But J.T. is a great player. J.T. is a leader, and I've got nothing but respect for J.T., and he obviously makes a lot of plays for that football team.

Q. Is it discouraging to see the stadium empty like that?
CHRIS ASH: I'm not worried about that. I'm worried about getting our players better. That's it. I'm not worried about anything that is out there, anything that -- I love our fans. We had great support tonight. Our focus and my focus, it's our team, our players, and coaching them and trying to get them as good as they possibly can be. That's it.

Q. You moved Jerry upstairs. Was there a reason?
CHRIS ASH: We've been having those conversations the whole season, and just felt like this was the right time, you know, what was best for our offense and for him, so we made that decision.

Q. Just to clarify one thing, Jerry asked about the field goal, you didn't kick one when it was 42-0 and you ran a play with Kyle --
CHRIS ASH: Yeah, because we were hoping to get a 1st down. The game at the end, we wanted to get points on the board. That's it. Try to avoid the goose egg. Simple as that. When you're in that situation, that's what any coach would do, try to get points on the board, and that's what we tried to do.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297