OSU-USC Postgame Press Notes
09/12/2009
COACH TRESSEL: Well, that was a tough ball game, there's no question about it. Our kids prepared extremely hard and played extremely hard and we just didn't come up with enough of the things you need to do to win a ball game like that. You need to score more than five points in the second half and they came up with plays on that last drive when they needed to and so they go home with the spoils.
Our kids played hard. They've been preparing hard. They were in a dog fight and flailed right along with it, and what we need to do is keep working, stick together and get better. That's what life's about and that's what our guys will do.
REPORTER: Coach, tonight, did you talk about, similar to the two Texas games that you played, your defense played tremendously, I think they had less than a hundred yards rushing, talk about how well the defense played overall and then just a little bit about does this hurt more because it's such a big game? Does it hurt more than another loss just because of the frustration of you played so well and like the two Texas games, it took one drive at the end?
COACH TRESSEL: Well, all losses hurt and this one hurts the most because it's today. Our defense played extremely hard and they came up with plays, they got us a turnover near mid-field and we didn't cash in on it at all. They just kept playing, and I thought the punt unit did a great job of setting up good field position down in there and our defense made it hard for them to drive over the course of the game and they played hard, there's no doubt.
Southern Cal had five or six returning linemen and a stable of backs and the young quarterback did a nice job at what he had to do and our defense was toe to toe. You feel for them because we needed to put more points on the board so -- holding them to 18 should be enough, but it wasn't.
REPORTER: Coach, among the frustrations, you won the field position battle, it seemed like, maybe being able to take advantage at 4:13 on third down.
COACH TRESSEL: Third down is difficult, no doubt about it. I'm not sure what their third down was, especially when you're third and long, that's difficult and you need to come up with some key ones and string a couple third down conversions together so you can get in the scoring zone and I suppose hindsight when we were on about the 40 something or 30 something we could have taken a shot at the long field goal there at the end and put it to eight. The thinking there was if we didn't make it, we didn't want to put our defense in that situation and we thought we'd be better served to punt it way down there, which Thoma did a great job all night down there and we didn't finish the job and our kids never stopped playing.
REPORTER: Coach, if you had to sum up your recent losses in prime-time big-stage games, how would you sum it up?
COACH TRESSEL: How would you sum it up? We've been fortunate to play in some big games, in some great games against some very good teams and our kids have played extremely hard and the last couple we haven't gotten done, but we've been in a couple tough ones in a row, that's for sure.
REPORTER: Can you talk about the decision to kick the field goal in the first half when you were close to the goal line? I believe it would have been fourth and two.
COACH TRESSEL: If it was fourth and one we may have gone for it because we were talking about it and when they switched ends of the field and we saw exactly how it was spotted, I think your percent chance of making fourth and two probably doesn't weigh as well as getting your three points. I think that put us up -- yeah, put us up 10-7, so we just thought that that was, percentage-wise, the best thing to do.
REPORTER: What was the feeling like at halftime for you guys? What was your message to the team, the way they moved the ball at the end of the half, how did that temper what you said to the guys?
COACH TRESSEL: Our guys were geared in and listening to their coaches' adjustments and ready to go out there and start with the kickoff team and start with the defense and that's just what they did. They were -- halftime, you could tell, they were ready to go out and have 30 more minutes of battle.
REPORTER: Jim, could you go into a little more detail on the decision later in the game not to kick the field goal? It looked like you guys really talked about that.
COACH TRESSEL: Yeah, we did talk about it and we came down to the decision that if we didn't make a 53 or whatever it would have been we would have been giving our defense, who had been out there a little bit, we'd been giving our defense tougher field position to handle from the 36 yard line or thereabouts and so we just felt that we might be better served if we punted them down deep and put a little bit of pressure on them and that's -- again, Jon Thoma did a great job of knocking them down in there.
REPORTER: Jim, could you talk a little bit, you mentioned it briefly, but the two young quarterbacks, how they played, what they did right, what they did wrong.
COACH TRESSEL: I think those two young quarterbacks played against two good defenses and those few good defenses brought a lot of pressure and I'm sure that both of them will learn a lot from the experience and that was a tough ball game, especially if you were a quarterback.
REPORTER: The last drive, it looked like they were going to run the clock out, how big was that drive for them?
COACH TRESSEL: I think momentum, anytime you can get it it's critical and in a game like this, points obviously are huge. And I'm not sure that as the drive began they were thinking about anything other than not errorring and then they popped the run, and all of a sudden you pop a 29-yard run and you get a little momentum and now you're thinking points, but again, in a ball game like this one, any momentum you can get and any points you can get is huge.
REPORTER: Jim, it looked like they pretty much zeroed in and Terrelle Pryor was not going to beat them with his feet, just talk about, how did he play in your opinion?
COACH TRESSEL: Well, I think they were definitely going to bring people off the edge and keep them from getting Terrelle outside. I thought there were some things that he did very well. I thought there were some things that he's certainly going to be able to learn from, but every ball game like that you can experience, if you study it the right way and approach it the right way, it can really help you grow, but I thought he made some good plays, big plays and some other ones that we'll go to work on.
REPORTER: Start with the three defensive captains, talk about how frustrating it is to lose a game like this when you played so outstanding until that last drive, and I mean, just the frustration, I guess. Austin, do you want to start and then Kurt?
SPITLER: I mean, obviously it's a tough loss again, put on the big stage, we want to go out there and get the victory, we were feeling good and the last drive comes along and they just pounded it down our throats. Obviously it's a tough loss. Have to bounce back, though, and understand that we played a heck of a team and we've got a bright future.
REPORTER: Jake, could you maybe talk about the first downs, you had as many in the first quarter as you did the rest of the game, why was that such a struggle?
BALLARD: We didn't take advantage of our opportunities. We just kept getting three and out. You can't do that when you get the ball.
COLEMAN: I'm really just physically drained and I know this whole team is just physically drained. We worked so hard and it's just tough coming off -- I mean, the offense did a great job of doing their job, as a defense we've got to get off the field. Especially we knew the ball was going to be the ball in our court and we had to stop them on that last drive and we knew that and it's just tough, man, I don't know, it's just tough.
WORTHINGTON: Obviously it hurts. I commend the Trojans, they played a great game, a tough game, and it hurts, I mean, that's the bottom line. We went out there, I think the defense and special teams put it on the line and we came up a little short and got to get back to the drawing board.
REPORTER: You play a game in seven days or almost six days, how difficult will it be do you think to get your team rallied from this? With as much physical effort, as much emotional effort you put into this, to get a team back up to play next week?
COLEMAN: The best thing about this is it's a nonconference game and we still have things to strive for and things we want to accomplish in the season. We want to win the Big Ten, so we have to regroup and we have to rebound from this. We cannot let this affect us at all. So me, myself, and I know the seniors are going to really get everybody's focus back because Toledo's going to be a tough opponent, so we have to just regroup and get back to the drawing board and get after it.
REPORTER: Kurt, you and Austin, especially on that last drive, you all held McKnight in check pretty much up until then, did you notice they were trying to get those mismatches and what were you telling yourselves in the huddle?
SPITLER: We knew from the get-go they were going to try to get the ball into McKnight's hands, he's a playmaker. We thought we did a great job throughout the game of putting pressure on him and bringing him down. He's a hard guy to bring down. We just didn't get it done in the end, that's what it comes down to.
COLEMAN: Yeah, I mean, we knew once when he was in the game they were going to try to get him the ball, so our main focus was stopping him and throughout the game we did a good job of that and then that last drive, we had a couple third downs where it was third and one, third and two and we had a chance to get off the field and they did not go to McKnight and we didn't get off the field, but as far as McKnight, he's a great player and he fought for everything that he got.
