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ALLSTATE SUGAR BOWL: OHIO STATE v ALABAMADecember 30, 2014Michael BennettNEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA Q. Just talk about their offense, the challenge that you face, the great battle and the different weapons? MICHAEL BENNETT: Like you said they're a very balanced offense. They have a fantastic O line who is very big and actually very athletic. And that's a hard combination to achieve at O line. They've got a quarterback who can throw the ball and is really good with his legs. Very good wide receivers. Obviously they have Amari Cooper who is a Heisman candidate and lives up to that. So he'll be challenging to stop. Then you have their running backs who are year‑round, always very good, able to hit the hole. They're patient. Strong runners, big guys, so you gotta bring some power to them and you have to make sure you don't just try to knock them down, you have to wrap up with them. So they're a challenging offense to stop. I think we have a good game plan involved. We have the right personnel to stop them. It will be a fun game to see how it goes. Q. Specifically about the run game, I guess defensively, first of all, the running backs‑‑ MICHAEL BENNETT: They prefer the zone offense. They have the guys to run a power offense when they feel like it and they try to every now and then but they like to zone because they have those big athletic bodies up front that can displace people and be on the runs so their running backs can find holes. The biggest thing is get penetration, force the running backs to cut when you want them to cut rather than when they decide it. Let the linebackers go make some plays. I think we did it against Wisconsin. I think we can do it again. The biggest thing is to dictate where the running back goes and not have to chase him down because then you just‑‑ you're fighting a losing battle. Q. This is a mobile program, not that you guys haven't seen a mobile quarterback or whatnot. But does that change your game plan because he's not just a straight‑up pocket passer. I know you were saying having to chase guys down, what not, does that change what you guys do a little bit? MICHAEL BENNETT: You're going to have to change the game plan a little bit each week just to find out, just to suit the strengths of whoever you're playing. You can't take as many chances when it comes to the defensive end coming inside. You have to contain with Blake Sims because he will bust a big run if you just decide to go under the tackle instead of keep contain or if you get out of your rush lanes on the interior, he'll run it up the middle for 10, 15 yards. I don't think he likes to run it per se. I think he does when he needs to. He prefers to stay in the pocket, but he's also a quick passer. He's really not the drop‑back quarterback that most people like to see because then you can just rush. So you have to be wary of where he is at all times. Q. Just wanted to ask you, a lot of people look at Alabama favorite in this game, does that kind of irritate you a little bit to hear Ohio State's the underdog, backed into the playoff, if you will, had their beat down in Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship, what's your feeling, the team's feeling on the Ohio State being the underdog? MICHAEL BENNETT: I feel like ever since I've been here, when it comes to a big game, for whatever reason, we're always the underdog, no matter what we've done prior to that or what we've done earlier on in the season. For whatever reason they've decided that Ohio State shouldn't win that game. So the reasons that they have now are because Alabama is in the SEC and Ohio State's in the Big Ten. So I mean if that's your reason that we're the underdog, go for it, because I mean it all comes down to how each team plays on Thursday. So I don't know, it doesn't irritate me, it's just kind of you would like people to have better reasons for their opinions than what they're projecting out there. Q. With that in mind, is there anything to this SEC versus Big Ten or is that just media and fan stuff? Can you comment on that at all? Do you feel like you're representing the entire Big Ten and not just Ohio State, or is that just total hype? MICHAEL BENNETT: I think the SEC versus Big Ten is something that's never going to go away. But I do think it's all built up just for the excitement of things. If you watch film, we've watched a lot of film on Alabama and their opponents. I'm sure they've watched a lot of film on us and our opponents. Football is football across the country. You have good teams and you have bad teams. There's no perennial power conference. So we watched film on, I don't know, five or six of their opponents, and I do think we have the best D line they're going to face all year. It has nothing to do with us being in the Big Ten and them being in the SEC. It's just technique, speed, athleticism, size, all that stuff. That's what plays into it rather than what conference you're in. Q. What is your biggest challenge that you guys face in this game? MICHAEL BENNETT: I think the biggest challenge would be stopping their offensive line. It's going to be a great challenge, because I've said it early on in the season. But the games that are going to be the biggest battles are the most fun because you find out who is tougher. Because we've got the talent. We've got the speed and all that stuff and the technique. It's all about at the end of the day who is tougher in the fourth quarter, who is tougher in the third quarter so on and so forth. They've got a big offensive line who is fast, athletic, quick, all of that. So it's just going to be a good time for the front seven, because we know the DBs are going to handle their business on the back end. And we've got to handle ours so that their job is a little bit easier. Q. You guys represent the Big Ten and conference pride, something you talk about going against the evil empire this week? MICHAEL BENNETT: I don't like making it SEC versus Big Ten. I think it's Ohio State versus Alabama. Obviously we understand that everybody's going to make it SEC versus Big Ten. And we understand that if we lose this game they're going to say the SEC is better. If we win this game they might still say that the SEC is better. So the whole idea is just to go out, prepare as much as you can, as best you can, which we have. Get really pumped up before the game and go play as best we can. Alabama is going to do the exact same thing. It's a big game. Everyone's going to be excited for it. The best team is going to win, whether that's us or Alabama, we'll find out. But at the end of the day, people are going to say what they're going to say about the conferences, and all we can do is try to win the game. Q. Just taking in this experience, being here right now (indiscernible) tell me this experience how you feel right now and how excited you are to get to this game? MICHAEL BENNETT: We're blessed to have this opportunity to go play in this game and play for a national championship hopefully. We get to play a great opponent in Alabama. I've said it before, I've always wanted to play Alabama because as long as I've been here they've been considered the top of the mountain, the people that if you want to be considered the best, you have to beat Alabama. So we have a great opportunity here in a great city. I mean, the Sugar Bowl is one of the top bowls in the country. We love being here. The guys had a lot of fun for the first couple of nights and trying to dial it back and make sure that people are focused on the game, because we do have a great opponent we're going against, and we've got to be firing on all cylinders on Thursday. Q. Coach Fickell talked yesterday specifically I know everybody keys on Amari Cooper, one of their biggest weapons. But really the offensive line of Alabama has been pretty dominant especially over the past few years, how much of that is an indication for you guys and how do you balance preparing for a guy like Amari Cooper as well as the offensive line? MICHAEL BENNETT: Any great team will have to start with any great offensive line. Blake Sims wouldn't be able to get the ball to Amari Cooper if the offensive line didn't give them time. T.J. Yeldon wouldn't be able to get the yards he has if he doesn't have the offensive line he has. Those guys are the real deal. And it's going to be our chance to slow them down and put pressure on Blake and stop T.J. Yeldon because he can run through those arm tackles. You have to make sure you get these 320‑pound athletes off you before you wrap up T.J. Yeldon, and so it's just, I don't know, the offensive line I think is the best offensive line we're going to go against this year. But we love rising to challenges. That's what we do. That's what we've done all season. And I don't think this game's going to be any different. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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