No. 10/10 Ohio State (7-2, 4-1 Big Ten) 6, No. 3/3 Penn State (9-0, 5-0 Big Ten) 13
Ohio Stadium
Columbus, Ohio
Oct. 25, 2008
Attendance: 105,711 (Ohio Stadium record)
COACH TRESSEL: That was a hard fought football game. Awful proud of the way our kids played. They played as hard as they could and screamed and yelled on the sidelines as hard as they could and our crowd was doing all they could. And a ball game like that, it's the slimmest of margins. And tip your cap to Penn State. They came in and played extremely hard and didn't make a whole bunch of mistakes and they came away with a hard fought win and our guys will keep working.
I guess unfortunately, heading into an open week, which after you don't get done what you'd like to get done, you'd sure like to get on that field again, but our guys will get back to work when the time is right and they're a good bunch.
REPORTER: Jim, it seemed like you had a difficult time establishing any kind of a rhythm with your running game.
COACH TRESSEL: I think there's no question. Penn State did a nice job of moving and attacking the line of scrimmage and we did not run the ball nearly as well as we needed to, to score a lot more points than we did.
REPORTER: Can you talk about Terrelle's fumble? It looked like a quarterback sneak, he was trying to bounce it out to the right and make a play out of it, what did you see on that play?
COACH TRESSEL: From where I stood, I think he saw a couple gaps or penetration, perhaps, I don't know for sure, and tried to slide outside and I think the helmet hit the ball or something hit the ball or whatever and it was unfortunate.
REPORTER: Can you talk about the defensive effort, what you were hoping to do against Daryll Clark and that offense?
COACH TRESSEL: I thought our defensive guys played extremely hard and they played attacking style and they were hitting people out there and I don't know what exactly happened to Daryll, I don't know if he got banged, but our defense kept playing. There was a moment there where it was nothing but a field goals game and it was because of the hard play of our defense and the hard play of their defense, and usually in those kind of battles, the tide turns on the smallest things, but our defense kept playing and playing and playing.
REPORTER: You talked about your third straight outright Big Ten title, looks like the chances of that are pretty slim now. What do you still have to play for this year?
COACH TRESSEL: I think the first thing you always play for is to become the best you can become. And obviously there are some things that are attainable at the beginning of every year. You always want to be the Big Ten champions. You always want to earn the opportunity to become the National Champions, and it just so happened that this year, there was an opportunity from an outright standpoint, but this year's not over and there's three more football games for a lot of people, four for some, and so the bottom line, though, is that you keep working to become the best you can be and we always say you get as your works deserve.
REPORTER: Coach, could you assess Terrelle's play tonight, just overall?
COACH TRESSEL: I thought Terrelle did some good things. He was under a little bit of duress. They did a good job with their upfield pass pressure. I thought he hung in there and stood in there and did some good things. I'm sure as he watches the film, he'll look at some things that he wishes he could have over as will every position that was out there playing, but I think he competed and he wants to do anything he can do for this football team and I thought he worked at it hard.
REPORTER: After you guys take the 6-3 lead, do you sort of have the feeling the way the game is going, if you can grind out the clock a little bit, hold on to the ball, do you like your chances with the way your defense had played to that point?
COACH TRESSEL: When you're playing in a battle like this and your defense is playing the way it was, field position is huge, and A. J. Trapasso did a tremendous job on some of his punts and Aaron Pettrey's kickoffs and the kickoff coverage was good and all the things that contribute to a good field position game, and when we were ahead 6-3, we were moving down trying to get a touchdown, we weren't just moving down trying to change the field, but you can't score enough points, but with the way our defense was playing, we could have kept them on the long field. I had a lot of confidence in the D.
REPORTER: Terrelle seemed like he was really taking this very hard after the game and I know earlier in the week James talked about this being "his team," in some regard, what do you do this week to try and bring him back from this and just the way this turned out for him tonight?
COACH TRESSEL: Well, every experience you have is one that you can really grow from. My experience in life is that the hardest ones are the ones I've grown the most from. So it's a tough loss and I'm sure that he'll grow from it and I'm sure that we'll grow from it and I'm sure that he'll keep working to get better and I think all of us will keep working to get better. So that's all you can do.
REPORTER: Coach, you said there are games left, is this a chance maybe when you do look at the big picture and say a 10-2 Ohio State team is still an attractive commodity out there at the end of the year?
COACH TRESSEL: We have to become an 8-2 Ohio State team first, so we're going to work to do that and keep working to get better and as I always say, you get what you deserve.
