RUTGERS UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 2, 2021

Greg Schiano

Postgame Press Conference

Ohio State 52, Rutgers 13

GREG SCHIANO: Well, appreciate you guys coming out. We had a bad day. And we had it against a team that's kind of finding their stride. So the result was not something you like to see.

But we will go back to work. And this is a good group of young men, good coaches. And we'll figure it out. I think Ohio State played very well. I think it's always easy to say we didn't do this and we didn't do that. They did some really good things. And we played about as poorly as we've played since I can remember so -- two things (explosive sound). That's what you get.

So I'll try and answer anything I can for you. I don't know about the injuries yet, so that I won't be able to help you with.

Q. This is the first time this has happened to you guys since you were back. How do you regroup? I know you're not going to tell us exactly what you say to the team, but what is your message moving forward?

GREG SCHIANO: I think it's still early. I know what I saw today. And then I'll watch the video and see what I see off of that because I think before you can just say, oh, we didn't do this or we didn't do that. I have to make sure that we put them in a position to do that. I believe we did. Yeah.

So it always starts with introspection. And then from there, you move forward. But like I said, we had a bad day, and they had a really good day.

Q. How much did those early plays impact the game, the momentum of it? You know, the fake punt and then them scoring so early?

GREG SCHIANO: Well, you know, the fake punt, we felt we had an opportunity all week in studying it. Didn't go exactly the way we thought obviously. Right? But, you know, that's not one that I sit there and say that's the game changer.

We had plenty of chances to stop them. We had plenty of chances to score. There's many ways you can go down 7 nothing. Right?

But the fake punt didn't run all those yards untouched either. We have to really look at what happened and how do you fix it? And I'm not dodging the question because, yeah, momentum is critical, but in a big-time game, there's several momentum swings. There wasn't any today.

Q. You guys took a couple deep shots early on. Any reason why you moved away from that in the second half? Is that a protection thing? I know you had some injuries up front?

GREG SCHIANO: It's a fair question. We got a DPI on one or a hold I think it actually was. Yeah. We probably could have taken more deep shots. You know, we also got the ball tipped on one. That was going down the field. And then we had one where it got tipped and the interception.

So we took a few more. But I don't disagree. Sometimes you just turn it into a three-man game: One, the guy throwing, and the guy covering, and the guy catching. There's definitely merit to that.

Q. I think most people would think you played your two best opponents in the last two weeks. How do you get the message across to the players that all the goals for this team are still in front of it?

GREG SCHIANO: I think just what you said. I'm not really worried about the goals and all that stuff, Steve. We're at the stage where we're building and we need to learn how to just be able to focus on what we are trying to accomplish today. Wednesday practice, then Friday preparation, then being ready to play on game day. Right?

And that, to me, is more of the -- now, certainly, I think having stuff out there that is goals is definitely motivation. But if that's where -- that's not where I'm going. We're going to go find out where we didn't do what we're capable of doing why we didn't and where we were maybe not able to, then we've got to figure out is there a better way to do it.

We're going to look deeply, and then we're going to get ready. Like I don't have any idea what happened in college football today. Did Michigan State win? Oh, they play tonight? See I really don't know.

Q. You spoke earlier in the week about how the Big 10, any team can beat any team on any Saturday. Is that kind of like the blessing and the curse of this league is now you have a great opportunity next week, but also it's going to be a tough opponent every single week?

GREG SCHIANO: Well, I think everybody understands that's life in the Big 10. Right? Every week is a tremendous challenge. That's why I liken it to the National Football League. Right? It's every week, you've got to strap it up and you've got to find a way. But now we've lost back to back ball games. So we need to stop that.

Q. Kind of along that line. You play your third straight ranked opponent next week. Two tough games. Do you have to kind of monitor these guys in terms of confidence and keep them kind of pumped up?

GREG SCHIANO: I don't -- you know, I don't think so. I think that they've shown in the short time we've been together that they can step up and play with just about anybody. But we haven't done it over four quarters against the best teams we've played. And that's really our challenge.

Today we didn't do it for a quarter, so I can't say -- like I told you, today I have to -- I have to look at it. I have to figure it out as a head coach. Then I have to ask my staff to figure it out. And then we've got move on because if you think you're going to fix everything that happened out there -- there's some stuff that happened out there, just going to have to flush it and move forward.

Q. This is the first team that you've played I think this year who's been able to do it both on the ground and through the air. Was that a part of the problem in that a lot of opponents you faced have been more one dimensional?

GREG SCHIANO: No. I don't think that. I think the guys that were doing it -- right? Like early in the year, Number 32, he was getting touches, so was everybody else. Well, you know what, when I say you're finding your stride, they figured out this is our guy. He's pretty darn good. They have those wide outs, well, they know they're really good.

We were a couple inches from a few plays, but it doesn't matter. When they get the ball in their hand, they're not only very good receivers, they're extremely talented ball carriers that are very fast.

So some plays that turned into catches and runs, you know, you can't allow that. Now, some of them we had chances to tackle and we just didn't do it. So we've got to examine why. And that's what I mean when I talk about execution versus schematics. We've got to look at everything.

Q. What did you think of the atmosphere here today?

GREG SCHIANO: I was really pleased. That's why I feel equally disappointed because we had a great turnout. Our students were unbelievable. Our fans were -- even as poorly as the game started, our fans stayed in it.

And I'd just ask them to hang in there. We're going to get there. And this is going to be an electric place to come to a game. We just didn't do it today.

Q. I have to ask you about Bo Melton because we saw him go out and he was in street clothes. If he was to be out long term, how concerned would you be about the depth behind him?

GREG SCHIANO: I haven't even gone there, Keith. You know, I'm praying that he's not going to be out long term. But those are discussions and decisions for down the road a little bit. Right now, I've got to get my act together and get something to eat and get to work. We've got a lot of work to do.

Guys, again, I appreciate it. Thank you.