EAST LANSING, Mi. — Following Ohio State’s 26-6 win over Michigan State, head coach Urban Meyer and a number of players spoke with reporters about their hard-fought win in East Lansing. Meyer credited his defense and his punting unit, especially punter Drue Chrisman, who had five punts downed inside the 6-yard line in the second half. Quarterback Dwayne Haskins, receiver Terry McLaurin, safety Brendon White, defensive tackle Dre’Mont Jones, and Chrisman himself spoke with the media as well. Here are the highlights.
Urban Meyer
+ Meyer said that they knew exactly what this game would be and how tough it would be to move the ball.
+ He was “ecstatic” about the defense.
+ Drue Chrisman and Terry McLaurin came up huge. McLaurin may be the best gunner that Meyer has ever had. McLaurin is exhausted, but kept going out there to help the team.
+ On Tate Martell playing: “I think we’re gonna do more of that.”
+ Chrisman dropped five punts inside the 6-yard line in the second half. He changed the game for the Buckeyes. It’s awful being stuck in your own end zone on offense.
+ On Chrisman’s 4-yard punt in the first half, Meyer joked “Almost benched him.” But there’s no backup, so he had to stay in the game.
+ The Buckeyes needed to play great defense in this game and they did that. They tackled well and covered well. This game gives them confidence moving forward.
+ They presented the game ball to Brendon White to give to his father William.
Drue Chrisman
+ Chrisman said the wind took the first punt and blew it before it got to his foot. He adjusted after that and held on to the ball longer. It was definitely the worst punt of his career.
+ On being a punter talking to FOX after the game and being interviewed in the postgame media room: “I didn’t even know this room existed.”
+ Nobody was negative after the punt. Meyer just asked him what happened.
+ On Terry McLaurin and the other gunners: “They make my job easy. All credit to them.”
Dwayne Haskins
+ The conditions were okay for throwing the ball.
+ On his big run being called back: “I was salty, but I got over it.”
+ The locker room was electric after the game.
+ Tate Martell has always been a competitor. He never felt any frustration from Martell at lack of playing time. “Proud of the progress he’s made.”
+ On having to come out in favor of Martell: “It’s a little hard.” It’s a package. He can’t complain, but it’s a little frustrating having to come out of the game.
Terry McLaurin
+ Asked if he would rather score a touchdown or down a punt at the 1-yard line, McLaurin said he doesn’t have a preference because you have to be able to do everything.
+ He prides himself on making plays no matter how tired he is.
+ Offenses have a 3% chance of a touchdown drive when they start inside the 5-yard line.
+ After the game, McLaurin stood in front of the team and told the young players that if you want to impress Urban Meyer, you do it on special teams.
+ The Buckeyes played downhill all game long, offense, defense, and special teams.
Brendon White
+ “It was pretty cool” to be given the game ball to give to his father.
+ Last week was like a dream, but as a starter, it’s becoming more real to him.
+ He is locked in more now and knows the calls better. He is watching more film. He knows that he can’t get sidetracked now.
+ It meant a lot to get the start. It has been a worthwhile journey.
+ Practice was more physical this past week. They did a lot of tackling with the scout team.
Jonathon Cooper
+ Winning against MSU was going to require toughness. “We take them very seriously.”
+ This game showed that they have confidence as a defense and that things are going to work out. “We just stuck with the plan.”
+ This was an impact game, but still not the best that the defense can do.
Dre’Mont Jones
+ The defense had a feeling that their moment was going to come when Drue Chrisman kept pinning MSU back.
+ They hear what people say about them.
+ Chrisman and McLaurin “gave us a lot of juice.”
+ “I think we’re still in the same spot” as a defense. There are still one or two things thy have to get fixed.
+ Today was a complete defensive performance.
+ “This is a tremendous, tremendous feeling.”
White is a good tackler but he will kill them in the passing game. Ive seen it even when he came in during the blowouts. If you go back and watch the trick play when MSU scored a TD that was called back, it was Whites man who caught it and White was 40 to 50 yards from his man. Pathetic. All I heard about before the season was how deep the defensive line was. Guess what, there was only one pass rusher on the whole line. He got hurt and now their pass rush doesnt exist. So if you cant rush the passer, you have to blitz. Now your corners are one on one and they arent good enough. Sheffield should only be playing in nickel and special teams. Believe me they will not beat Michigan. Michigan is better coached.
“Urban showed he has no clue how to devise a run game without a running QB”
I saw him beat our Buckeyes with a non-running QB at Fla. So he does have the knowledge of what to do. Why he didn’t insert Tate weeks ago in various run situations is bewildering.
“o line not being able to block anyone”
That’s not completely fair. They have been capable of sustaining a good deal of pass blocking until the last four games. But their downfield run blocking was until yesterday and in the Neb. game AWOL. The addition of the extra TEs will help both the pass and run blocking…finally a needed adjustment.
“The DL is not being productive enough from a pass rush point” Spot On. The only passes Msu could make were because the DL was boxed out until late in the 2nd half. Jones and Young are better than that. I don’t know what happened to their technique over the past 5 games. They were much better getting after McSorley.
Sorry folks, but I’ve got to shake my head regarding some of these comments. Personally I didn’t think there’s anything we saw in this game to be upset about that we didn’t already know. For me, I fully expected to lose this game due to an ineffective running game going up against one of the top defenses on the road and an overall Buckeye defense that has made bottom feeder schools look national powers! The goal here was simply to get out with a win, and they did. The special teams was perfect, and I saw more heart and toughness out of the D today than I’ve seen all year. And yes, Weber rushed for over 100 yards. You knew going into this that it was going to be a dog fight, and what I saw today from the defense and special teams gives me hope against Michigan. The Tate Martel packages are FINALLY the changes/adjustments I was waiting to see. That should be good news, no?
If we beat michigan the year is a success. Today was fool’s gold…Michigan State is a 4 loss soon to be unranked team. B1G East is down.
That said, I am happy with the win but Urban showed he has no clue how to devise a run game without a running QB so look for 1) Martel to come in, 2) motion to empty set when Martel comes in, and 3) QB Power Dive. Back to 8th grade football.
Has to do with the o line not being able to block anyone. Price got killed again. U put a running qb in the game it makes the defensive ends make a choice. If they o line could block Meyer wouldn’t have to put Tate in but they can’t
At various times this team looks like it is in a mental fog. Haskins has to direct players to the correct positions before the snap. The center and the rest of the line are not in sync on many snaps. Passes are being dropped. Play calling – a run option with Haskins and Dobbins – COME ON, the defense does not fear a Haskins run. So, they concentrate on the running back. Martell goes in for one play in the red zone, gains 5 yards and is taken out. WHY ??? DISCLAIMER – I have never coached at any level and I am sure Buckeye coaches or players who read this (doubt that they will) would disagree. These are just observations from a Buckeye fan since the 1950s.
I am pretty sure our defensive line has exactly one pass rush move, where they spin the DE and bring him around in the middle. Our blitzes are very ineffective and they get picked up 100% of the time easily. The DL is not being productive enough from a pass rush point of view. The defense played solid today though. I will take that any day.
Day and Heartline have to find a way to demotivated our receivers and Haskins. They have had a cloud over them since the Purdue game. Maybe the loss of Mack has affected them or maybe it was the loss, but they have Not been themselves since then. Time to stop feeling sorry for themselves and find a way to get back to business.