Post Game Quotes vs. Ohio State

Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio

Opening statement…
I thought their punter did an excellent job. I think we were down inside the 5 I believe 5 times. It was tough coming out. Made a decision to go with Rocky in the second half, or really at the end of the first half. I thought he did a nice job initially there…had some problems as the game wore on. It was still 7-6 but it goes to 9-6, I think you guys know what happened. We went from 9-6 and then with the safety, and then we kicked off and kicked it out of bounds. We did stop them but he kicks the ball right back down to the 1 I believe, and then we fumble it in the fourth quarter for a touchdown, so tough deal, but the turnovers got us in the fourth quarter…three turnovers and tough to win a football game if you have three turnovers as it is. We did survive one of them, but they picked up 10 points on the other ones.

I'll take some questions, but I'm proud of the way our guys came out and the energy, but we can't make mistakes and expect to win, but you got to credit Ohio State. Their football team has gone through a lot this season as well and they played very well. Their inability to run the football crops up. Our inability to get a consistent pass rush. He's (Haskins) got too much time to throw back there. We did sack him a couple times early. Too much time. I thought our defense played very, very well with the exception of that aspect and some of that is just protection by them, but I'll take questions and we'll go from there.

On punt snap out of end zone…
We're down by one, 7-6, we're on our fourth punter. He's our fourth team punter. We may have the most depth at punter in the nation. William Pryzstup is his name in case anyone wants to know, but William's never punted before until this game, and it felt like coming off the goal line with only 10 yards between the snap and the punter, there's an opportunity for the punt to be blocked and it's still a one field goal game, and I felt like our defense was playing well enough. We get the kick down there, which we did, and they would have been on the 35-yard line I think by that time. We're playing well enough to stop them and get the ball back and go from there. We did stop them but after kicking the ball out of bounds they got the ball for 15 yards and punted it back down to the 1. So that was the thought process, and I didn't want him to handle the ball nor did I want to take the timeout and tell our offense we're going to kneel on it so I just told them to snap the snap through the end zone and even with that William asked, "Should I catch it?," and I said no. So it's difficult for him.

On special teams being a huge part of the game…
It was a huge part of it and I thought he did a nice job punting. He had some big punts there for big yardage. The last punt he had was for the flag and they got the ball for 50 and they'd go down for the final touchdown. I thought that he did an outstanding job for never having punted in a college football game. It was quite a feat I would say.

On going back to Brian Lewerke in the fourth quarter…
Yeah, I thought Rocky was hot initially in the second half. I thought he had some situations coming off the end zone and again it goes back to our inability to run the ball consistently, so we're throwing it out of the end zone, and first of all I thought he missed some targets. I just felt like he had the pitch on the back shoulder of the tailback on the back option. He had not hit some passes. He also had the fumble in the end zone where there was a miscommunication. I felt like…we've got to try and swing it up again, create some more motion and try and go back the other direction so he made a couple throws and then he got hooked by the back of the helmet or whatever, that pressure through the pick, so it is what it is, but I thought we played the quarterback situation as well as we could have with respect to both quarterbacks.

On offensive struggle…
Well, we've got a lot of guys not playing. Darrell Stewart was out (in the second half), Matt Allen is out, Beedle is out, Luke Campbell is out. We've gone through a lot of different wide receivers and such things of that nature but we still... LJ (Scott) is out...We still got to show up. We've got to be able to run the ball with some type of efficiency. Even last week, we rushed the ball over 40 times and we had some success. The week before that against Purdue, over 40 times… some success. We're not able to do that today because we got in situations where again, you throw it on first down, it becomes second-and-10. You're sort of in a bind a little bit so those are the type of decisions you're having to make back there when you're calling plays and things of that nature…it's not easy. It's not easy to call plays off the goal line. So such is life sometimes, but we've got to be able to run it. We did that…and at the tight end position and at the wide receiver position and at the running back position because it encompasses all the troops, not just the offensive line.

On the field position they had on punt returners…
I don't think you could ask your punt return guy to catch it on the 4- or 5-yard line. I just think the ball is bouncing on the 6 or the 4, he's got his heels at the 10 and its sort of an unwritten rule to us and always had been in football, but unless he…they're on top of us right there…We had a fair catch on the 6 and I don't think we really want to start any earlier than that, so odds are the ball should bounce into the end zone more often than not. They did a great job and I do think we were put in situations where a punts safe a number of times because it's fourth-and-4, whatever, fourth-and-5 starting from the 40 or 50 and you have limited rush on the punter so he holds it so the guys get down there faster and he put it up there so give him credit for that. That's part of the game, but we'll go back and be like 'hey, should we rush the punters' and you're sitting there thinking of possible fakes and other things of that nature. The odds are probably that their gunners are still getting down there who got us to make some plays.

On other options for the trick play with Cody White…
Yeah, it was a throwback to the quarterback. It was throwback to the quarterback and actually it was a throwback screen to the quarterback, so the line wandered down field and I think they sort of held and I think Jarvis was down field a little too far, so he (White) adlibbed and went down the field to Sokol, but he did a lot and made it down the field.

On if the pass to Sokol could have changed the momentum…
Yeah, that would have put us in front. It would have been a big momentum changer. I think it was the right time to call a trick play, they hadn't read it and sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. We called two or three on the day and they didn't work, but with that being said I think the major turning point of the game was that after the fumble happened, the punt got them back down to the 1-yard line which started the fourth quarter, I believe started the fourth quarter, and we came out and the direct snap hits the wide receiver (Nelson) in the shoulder. It was some miscommunication on the snap, so those things happen, but they can't happen to today on the 1-yard line when it's 9-6.

On if you can win with the balance of 18 rushes and 48 passes…
No, I don't think you can, I don't. It's tough to say that because where we're sitting, but you're forced into situations at times where you have to throw it and especially when you get really behind at the end. I don't think we, you know, had a couple quarterback runs and the big plays on a quarterback run that we had so it makes it much more difficult you're right. Ohio State had a really difficult time running the ball. I think in the first half they only had 7 yards or something, or 2 or whatever, and as the game wore on and they ran the clock in the fourth quarter, I think a majority of their yards were in the fourth quarter, but that's not enough play when you look at it. The number of plays, the possession time, all that points towards those turnovers and points towards coming off the end zone, going three-and-out, which I think we did maybe three times or a couple times.

On the level of frustration when the defense is playing so well, but the offense isn't…
Sure, that's always the case and my message to my football team is, "Don't start pointing fingers. Make sure we're all accountable in this." There are things we can do better, whether it's offense or defense. We jumped offsides and gave them a first down; there's a lot of little things that you can look at. But the message to our football team is to stay together and to stay close. Make sure there's no problems and take the next step. We've got two games left, we go to Nebraska next week, they're an improved football team so we need to look forward. I liked where our football team came out, I liked how we competed. We've got to come out in certain situations better. You can't turn the ball over. Coming off the 1-yard line and taking a safety is like a turnover. But, I thought we need to do that due to our situation at punter and everything that was going on. They'd probably get the ball at the 30 and have an opportunity to kick a field goal, then I'd be asked why I didn't take a safety. So that was a decision I made, but after that, you can't have three straight turnovers, that kills you.

Michigan State co-offensive coordinator Dave Warner

On evaluation of Brian Lewerke...
I'm not going to get into all of that. I think you know with the quarterback situation that it's a staff decision. To be quite honest, I want to go back and look at film. That's the truth, the way to evaluate. I'm sort of locked into the things that are going on and after I get a chance to watch the film is when I can probably get a good evaluation.

On if Rocky Lombardi had an injury when Brian Lewerke came back in...
Not that I'm aware of.

On the decision to put Brian Lewerke back in...
No, it was a staff decision.

On main problem of the offense not being able to effectively move the ball...
I don't know if you point to one specific area, we have not been able to run the football, last week we obviously ran the football well. Other than that, we haven't had a great push out front. LJ (Scott) has been banged up all year. It would be nice to have him in there. He helps a little bit. We continue to evaluate the scheme we're using; we continue to try and find ways to be able to run the football. Obviously, we struggled today. We were backed up like five-straight times there and really not able to run some of our offense because of coming out offense, so that made it a little more difficult.

On motion play...
It was a motion play, I don't know if the quarterback should've had the ball snapped sooner or the center snapped the ball late. I don't know the answer to that, but that's where it lies in their timing of it.

On starting Brian Lewerke today...
I'll defer that to Coach Dantonio. We talk about it throughout the week, obviously. It's a staff decision but it still comes down to the head coach.

Michigan State defensive coordinator Mike Tressel

On the fourth quarter...
You know they had 85 plays and 45 rushes, that will wear on you a little bit. That's the game of football, and I am very proud of the guys. I think they played until the last second. I don't think that there was ever a point in there where they started to soften or started to give up. I'm real proud of those guys playing 60 minutes.

On strategy on coming in against Dwayne Haskins...
You know with Haskins (Dwayne) in at quarterback, it's a little bit different, especially on red zone and third and short type situations where a quarterback run has been their ammo. We sort of prepared for and anticipated Tate Martell coming in and he did a little bit, I think we handled that alright. Our guys executed the plan, we knew that their intermediate passing games and quick passing games were something that they were very effective at this year. I think we did a pretty good job, they completed some slants that kept drives alive that we wish we could have back. The guys really did execute the plan real well, I am proud of everything they did there's no doubt.

On Kenny Willekes...
I noticed he made a couple big plays early, that was a factor all day. You know he is going to be, you know when a big game like this and Michigan, where you noticed him fly all over the place. Same thing against Maryland and every single game that we play. That's who Kenny Willekes is, that's what coaches, teammates, media and fans have come to expect. That's what we love about him. He was definitely intense today, his eyes before the game, he played on their side of the ball.

On when the offense is struggling...
If you don't want to be out there for a long time. I think if you watch NFL football and all levels of football now, turnovers are absolutely the key. I think if you look at us, first and foremost on the defensive side of the ball which is what we are always going to do, we needed more takeaways to get off the football field. We're going to first evaluate ourselves and say 84 plays is too many, what can we do differently. There's no doubt as a game wears on and gets longer that it gets more difficult on the guys when they are on the field more. I think that every opportunity they get to go on the field, their mind was right. That's all they can worry about, when they are walking on the field right now, having their mind right. We kept talking about 12-round fight and every single snap, play it like the first snap. Don't try to do too much as the game wears on, and we're behind trying to make plays. Keep doing what we did, play one and keep your eyes where they were, play one. They stayed focused, and they did. They fought until the end.

On fear that you have to get a takeaway on snaps...
We definitely talk about it on the sideline because if you are behind in a game, what game changers are there that you can make defensively. Come up with a turnover that results in a defensive score, that would be huge. When you are behind, regardless of why or how, whether it's 55-54 or 3-0, when you're behind the way to change the game is to get the ball. Yes, as the game went on we talked about it more and more. I think we ripped at it; we'll go back and watch the film. I know we had some hands and some potential interceptions that we didn't come down with. Certainly that's discussed and certainly as the game rolls on we know that is what we need to do to change the game and change the momentum.

Michigan State junior quarterback Brian Lewerke

On being able to fell comfortable throwing the ball…
I can do better. Never want to blame an injury but it has been the theme for the past couple of weeks. I do not want to make excuses, just a mindset you have to get through.

On putting Rocky in…
I know I can't make some throws that I want to with how my arm is right now. Just trying to give Rocky a chance because his arm is a lot stronger and ready to go.

On field position…
We weren't set up in a good spot in the second half, but not much you can do. You can try and run it out, but the run game wasn't working, so we had to open up and pass it.

Junior LB Joe Bachie

On his performance during game...
I thought we played really good as a defense actually, and it was kind of special teams games. You look at them having five punts down inside the 5-yard line, and that's a drive killer for offenses. We look at that every week, where we start our drives at. It was just a tough special teams game.

On dealing with the field flipping like that…
We have to try and get a turn-over; we couldn't get one. When we get the ball back and defense tried to get to the 50-yard line, we got to get a turnover in that situation because it turns into a continuous punt, and in those situations, you'll never win.

Junior S David Dowell

Preparing for the game…
Ohio State has a great program and a great team. I just tried to prepare the same way just like any other team and that's what I did this week. It is frustrating when offense can't match what defense is able to do when their supposed to. It's a team game and team sport. We all are Spartan Dawgs and there were definitely things on defensive we could have done better to not allow them to score in the game. But we're not pointing figures, we just have to keep moving forward and get ready for Nebraska next week."

Senior S Khari Willis

On watching offense play...
I think that a field position thing. They probably have to play better, but it's my job as a leader and our job to pick them up when there not playing well as they usually do. We are not going to point the finger. We had so times where we gave up some points and, in those areas, we jumped off sides on the drive they scored. So, there's things enough to go around for everybody. There's thing we could get better at, but I feel that we came out and competed.

On what is why like to be on defense so much of the fourth quarter…
I think you just have to keep at it, and I feel like that's a part of it. Sometimes you're going to be on the field longer games than other, but you just have to keep at it. I feel like that was our mindset to keep them out of the end zone. We did it most of the time, but the last drive they were able to punch in. We made a lot of plays in the fourth quarter, but we got to finish drives better than that.

Redshirt-freshman QB Rocky Lombardi

On offense starting inside the five...
As a field position game, their punt team did a really good job at punting us deep. I missed some throws that I should have hit, and I just couldn't move the ball.

On offense not matching defense…
It's really frustrating because of what you just said the defense was playing fantastic and you can't win a game just scoring six points. It's pretty frustrating as a defense, for us because we want to provide for them.

Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer

Opening statement…
I'd like to thank Buckeye nation for supporting us out there. It was great to see them in the corner of the endzone. Also, I just want to say I have tremendous respect for their program and coach Dantonio, we knew exactly what this would be, and it went that way. It was November football at Michigan State. Mike Weber ran for 100 yards, and I would have to say 75% of those were post contact yards so he ran really hard. Everything about going against that defense was really hard. I'm really ecstatic for: our defense, our punter and Terry McLaurin. You go back to Bradley Roby, Devin Smith, Denzel Ward, Gareon Conley. We call them the "gunners". Terry is as good as there is. He's taken over the title of the best I've ever had because what he's done for our program. He's blown out now, he almost couldn't go, but he knew how important it is to down the ball inside the five yard line.

On playing Tate Martell…
It's tough yards down there. So we're just kinda searching. We had that turnover down there, but I think he's a guy that we'll do more of that. When you start to get to that part of the field, it's rugged, so I think we'll be doing more of that.

On what's going through his mind when it's a punting game…
We were just playing the field position game. We kicked it five times inside their six yard-line. In those conditions, that was the difference. We always talk about the offense's job is to get two first downs, get to midfield then get inside the ten yard-line. I can't imagine a group of guys that works harder than our gunners.

Ohio State Junior Quarterback Dwayne Haskins Jr.

On how the win feels…
It was electric. To get a win like that meant a lot for a lot of people. We did not play our best ball, but the good thing is we have another game to play. We have a lot of potential to get better, but it was a tough team. They are the number one rush defense in the country and they gave us a tough time, but it wasn't supposed to be easy.

On field position…
When you start on the two, you have to get the ball out of the end zone area just in case you get a sack or penalty. We had good field position for most of the game and our goal was to get two first downs. It would give our defense a chance to stop the offense.

Ohio State Senior Wide Receiver Terry McLaurin

On if he'd rather catch a touchdown or make plays on special teams…
To be honest I don't really care. When you have a fifth-year senior, you want him to be able to do everything, so I made some plays on the perimeter blocking, I made some plays through the air, and I made some plays on special teams. I pride myself on being a leader for this team and making plays when we need it, no matter how tired I am.

On dealing with Michigan State's defense…
We had to keep pushing it and it worked out for us because we had really good field position. Defense played outstanding today, so give them credit. We are going to continue to try and get better at the red zone. To be honest, I really think it came down to us being tough down the stretch. We did not get tired and our offensive line was moving them off the ball when we needed first downs. We picked up some big first downs at the end.

Ohio State Sophomore Safety Brendon White

On what the last couple of weeks meant to you…
It is starting to become more real now. I'm starting to be a big part of the game plan now, so I'm having to lock in more, stay prepared, stay ready, stay focused and don't get sidetracked.

On what it means for the defense to have a game like this…
I think it comes down to the brotherhood. We are super close together and we are out there for our brothers. We are not going to try and do too extra. We are not trying to play for ourselves, but we play for our brothers. If that works out, then the rest takes care of itself.

Players Mentioned

Matt Allen

Joe Bachie

Luke Campbell

David Dowell

Brian Lewerke

Rocky Lombardi

Cody White

Kenny Willekes

Khari Willis

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