COLUMBUS — It was the worst of times, it was the best of times.
No. 6 Ohio State (7-1, 5-0) came back from 18 points down to secure a 39-38 victory over No. 2 Penn State (7-1, 4-1) thanks to what was actually a suffocating defense and a dominating passing game. After the game, Urban Meyer and a handful of players and coaches spoke with the media. What did they have to say? Here are the highlights.
Urban Meyer Updates
+ “Wow. What the heck just happened?”
+ That was one of the best fourth quarters ever. J.T. Barrett was 13-13 for 170 yards and three touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
+ “You guys can figure out all the records. I’ll just tell you, man-to-man, this is one man talking about another man. I don’t know if I’ve ever had more respect for a human being and as a person, because you earn respect and you witness people in very dire straits at times, tough situations.”
+ Barrett was 33-of-39 passes and Meyer can count four drops on his hands.
+ He’s seen this side of J.T. Barrett for the last four years.
+ Nobody ever doubted Barrett inside the WHAC.
+ Barrett is “strong as a lion” and “a professional.”
+ Meyer did say “uh oh” after Barrett’s fumble in the fourth quarter though.
+ The kickoff coverage was “comical” and Meyer did not want to talk about it. It will be addressed and there will be personnel changes.
+ Meyer was the only one on the sideline panicking. He’s not proud of that.
+ “Can’t remember one quite like this one.”
+ Asked about the kick coverage, Meyer talked about how great a leader Barrett is.
+ Heisman talk is appropriate now for J.T. Barrett after this game.
+ During the final possessions: “I heard, do we blitz? Do we do this? I remember over the headsets Coach Johnson saying ‘let them go. Coach, no, you don’t need to pressure them. Let those four guys go after the quarterback.’ And, my gosh, they were all over the place.”
J.T. Barrett Updates
+ What was going through his mind in the fourth quarter? “Go win the game.”
+ Blessed to be in this situation. “I’m just a little cat from Wichita Falls, Texas.”
+ On the fumbled exchange, he was trying not to pull it out. He was trying to hand it off. His thought? “Really, J.T., right now?”
+ He’s not focused on “the H-word” (Heisman).
+ They put the touchdown play to Marcus Baugh in the offense Tuesday or Wednesday this week.
+ “When it comes down to playing a Big Ten game, it’s Penn State, No. 2 in the country, at home. Somebody’s gotta step up and make plays. We talk about that it in the offseason. Who is going to make the plays? And I think we have a lot of people on our team that have that burning desire to go make those plays. And I think that’s what you want your team, you want to have a team or people that are sharp in those moments. So people stepped up and made those plays and had confidence in themselves. And at the end of the day that’s really what you want.”
Jamarco Jones Updates
+ Jones put this win right at the top with the Michigan game last year.
Marcus Baugh Updates
+ On what he was thinking when he saw the game-winning pass coming towards him: “I have to catch it. It was a good ball, great position, just had to catch it and make up big for when I dropped the first one.”
K.J. Hill Updates
+ On stepping up after Parris Campbell’s injury: “That’s what we do. It is what we work and practice for. One man goes down and it is next man up, so I was there to do that when Parris went down.”
Chris Worley Updates
+ On overcoming a talented Penn State team: “They had a couple big plays that just kept giving them life. When you have a good team and you keep giving them life like that, they’re going to capitalize on it. We knew that, so we tried our best to keep on that and given any chance, we took care of business.”
Terry McLaurin Updates
+ On J.T. Barrett’s leadership and performance tonight: “We see him every day. We don’t care about what anyone else thinks about J.T. because we know what we think about J.T. and what he brings to the table. I know we had four drops, so we left that on the field. He’s an incredible leader. That’s a Heisman candidate right there.”
+ On his emotions after scoring his touchdown: “I kind of almost choked up after catching that. I just felt like we were shooting ourselves in the foot and we deserved this moment. Things weren’t going the way that we wanted them to at first, and as a leader, I just wanted to make a play for my team. Coach Mick (Marotti) talks about to start a riot, somebody has to throw the first punch, so I just wanted to get us going by making a play.”
Billy Price Updates
+ On the energy on the field after the win: “It was great just to be around my brothers. We talk about brotherhood a lot. This is the brotherhood. I wouldn’t be able to execute out there if I didn’t have all my guys and everyone else behind these scenes. I was trying to be thankful, look around and just enjoy the moment.”
James Franklin, Penn State head coach
+ On J.T. Barrett and the Ohio State offense: “He’s a veteran quarterback who is protected very well and they have a lot of skillful players. We are usually able to get to quarterbacks just through pass rush or blitz but we weren’t able to do that tonight.”
Koa Farmer, Penn State junior linebacker
+ On handling momentum changes: “That’s tough. As a defense, that’s when you got to grit your chin and be tough. Today, we just weren’t there. They just made more plays. Their concepts were pretty good. Even myself, there’s some things that I should of done that could have forced a ball thrown in the flat and I could of made the tackle and got us off the field. The plays they were running and their game plan against us was really well done.”
John O’Neill, referee
+ On the overturned call in the end zone with 7:25 remaining in the third quarter: “The offensive receiver had full possession of the ball, brought the ball down and completed the process of a catch. He then rolled over and at that point, the Ohio State defender came on him. By rule, joint possession belongs to the offense. The Penn State receiver had the ball first. He brought the ball down, completed the process of a catch, rolled over at which point the Ohio State defender came down on him.”