Post-Game Quotes: Ohio State

Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio

Opening statement...

Disappointing outcome obviously, I thought we had the right mindset coming in. We needed to play mistake-free football and we were unable to do that early in the game, we had two turnovers right off the bat. We missed one field goal, they missed one field goal and then they made the other one, so they're up three zip; I think that's the score at the end of the first quarter, but we're playing hard, making plays on defense and we put together a couple of drives.

But in the end when you look at the football game, we got to play at our best, which I don't think we did. We made some plays, but we also had some missed plays and some missed opportunities. But you also have to give them credit for the way they played. They're a very explosive team. With Justin Fields, we had people covered but couldn't quite get to him and he sinks out of there and runs for 20, 10 or 5 yards, whatever he needs to do. But he had some explosive plays and Dobbins got loose on us. But, I think our guys played hard and I don't think we stopped playing hard.

It was disappointing, but as I told our team in the locker room, "we'll always be defined on what we do next." We've got to rise backup because next week we go to Wisconsin. That's the growth we've got to take from this. They'll be things on the film that they say, "could've been this," "could've been that,", "could've stopped that," "good play by them" or "dropped a pass there." We've got to keep pushing. We had a chance to cut it to two touchdowns I think was the score in the third quarter. We missed a field goal due to pressure up the middle, we can't have pressure right up the middle. Credit #2 maybe, I don't know but we'll take a look at that. I'll take some questions.

On how does the defense respond when they have two three and outs, but then the offense turns the ball over...

I thought they responded well to be honest with you. We had one stop and they missed the field goal and then we had another stop and they made it. Those are successful things that you gain confidence after, and I think you should gain confidence after that. You get scooped up out of your gap, or whatever it is, but there were too many explosive plays defensively when you look at it. I also think that we got tired in the second half and fourth quarter. We did some good things to try to get back into it. But again, that field goal miss and we're down there with a fourth-and-5, we wanted to take the field goal to make it two scores, not three scores, but we had some things go on prior to that field goal attempt. But I don't think anyone plays the blame game in that locker room, we just keep pushing.

On only giving up 10 points in the 1st, 3rd and 4th quarter, what went wrong in the 2nd...

Well they hit the long one, I think it was 17-10 when they reviewed it to see if the ball was out or whatever. But it was blown coverage, that's something we've worked on but it didn't quite play out. They ran the route a little bit differently than we expected, so it's a big play for them. The other one was #22's big run when we tried to punch the ball out, we've got to secure the tackle so we can play another play. But we missed too many big plays and too many missed opportunities. We were down there and got a turnover, even at the end of the game we got a turnover, but then we give it right back to them. I thought Lewerke played pretty well, he put the ball on the money, but in the second half he got some pressure. When they knew we were going to pass, that was it. I thought they turned it loose a little bit.

On Justin Fields...

I told Coach Day before the game, "your guy is a little bit like Braxton Miller or J.T. Barrett, and he's like Haskins as well," so he was equally a threat. I do think he had some things going on in the secondary where he didn't find his guy right away, but he extended they plays. A great quarterback will extend plays. He extended plays with his arm and legs so he was a dynamic player.

On what MSU has done defensively in the past when they've had success against OSU...

Well I don't think we stopped the run, at the end of the day, we didn't stop the run effectively enough. They had too many explosive plays. What we've been able to do when we have won is limiting they're explosive plays. We have to keep them in the teens or twenties. They're going to play well defensively too. But it was too little too late I guess.

On an injury update on DE Jacob Panasiuk...

I don't have anything.

On how they move forward from this point midway through the season...

We halfway through and we're a 4-2 football team and at the end of the day, that's what we are, we're 4-2. We'll be defined on what we do next. We go to Wisconsin and that's our next challenge and they're very good as well. So we've got to get our mindset right and we've got to look at the film and say, "this could've happened," "we could've done better here," "hey, they made a play here" or whatever it is, but we've got to look at the whole thing in detail and look and see where we're at and get ready to go. I truly believe that you are defined as to how you handle problems and your next challenge. Regardless as to where we won this football game or not, that was going to be a challenge, what do you do next?

On if he's concerned about Matt Coghlin's confidence...

No, I thought he got pressured. I mean the guy ran right up the middle at him so we'll stay with him. He's a first-team all conference kicker last year so we'll stick with him, got to give him confidence, can't tear him down. Nobody else has proven themselves to be the kicker. We've got to protect better, they ran up the middle twice, one time he made it, one time he missed it. We're trying to fix it, so we'll look at that, whether he was pulled out of the gap or what.

On CB Josiah Scott trying to punch the ball out of an OSU player...

I thought Josiah could've hooked or swatted that ball away, but you gotta go for the tackle first and then go for the strip, that's the way we teach it. He just tried to make a play. He had the ability to run him down, but you got to make and secure the tackle on that. Again, JK Dobbins is a good running back, he's physical and durable, he's got speed. Someone said he got a little slower when he went to 215 pounds but I didn't see that, so I guess that's not verified and I'll cash that in as a rumor. But he's a good player and that's why we've said, hey, this is a measuring stick game. When you come down here, you've got to measure up. When they come up to us, you have to measure up. We've been in these games before and we've had a chance to win them, but not so much today. In the first half, we were hanging and it was interesting. But I think that the last two drives of the second quarter hurt us, it took us from 17-10 to 27-10.

On the five man rotation on the offensive line...

Well, we really don't want to burn a redshirt if the guy's only going to play a couple of plays. Right now, we've got three freshmen playing with the two's. You guys know that we had five offensive linemen out for this game. We've got guys who have started so that's not an excuse. We've got guys who are playing who've started. They probably would've been the guys starting anyway with the exception of one guy. Didn't want to burn a redshirt and as we go forward, if a guy is going to play 15 or 20 plays, we'll do that. But quite honestly, I thought we were protecting pretty well. We had time to throw the football and then when it became just a passing game, things have changed a little bit.

On if OSU did things today that weren't on film...

They ran the one where they ran that route and it was looked at, they ran that one a little bit different. But other than that, I don't think they did anything totally different. They played the inside and outside zone and the quarterback got loose. But what hurt us was the quarterback spring down the far sideline against us and him getting out of trouble a couple of times and throwing it. We missed a tackle or were not in our gap on a couple of them because they were just inside or outside zones.

On the pressure they generated on the first couple of drives...

I think we got tired. It's tough to keep playing. I credit our guys both offensively and defensively because we kept playing. We tried to stay in the fight but like I said we missed some tackles, maybe we weren't in the gap or we got scooped out of it a little bit. But we missed some tackles and they got in the secondary a lot; he's a good running back.

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day

I want to thank everybody who came out tonight with the blackout. I thought the atmosphere was awesome and electric. Third down was really loud. And a couple of drives there in the third quarter. I thought the crowd really played into it. We get the missed field goal, couple three-and-outs. And I thought was really important to play good in the third quarter. And the crowd was awesome all night. And really appreciate Buckeye Nation and their support.

What would you say was the biggest change from the first quarter to the second quarter?
Well, we got off schedule a little bit. We knew it was going to be hard to run against these guys. It always is. But on third down we didn't do a great job for a couple different reasons. And then we hit a third down in the second quarter, big third-down conversion, I think it was to K.J., and we got into a rhythm and we kind of go. And I think we wore them down maybe a little more in the second quarter. I didn't want to play too fast and keep our defense on the field at points during the game. But there were other times we picked up the pace and we ended up getting 74 plays. That's a good day for us. And I think when we can play with depth and we play 74 plays you can maybe wear some teams down. I think we did that at times, but they're stout in there, and it's hard to run. And so it was hard in there, but we knew it was going to happen. But we did face adversity. It was not a good quarter of football on offense. And, again, when you're playing against a team like Michigan State, things like that are going to happen. You have to respond and I thought we did.

Are you glad that you really did have a legitimate test tonight, that you're not going in the second half of the season without having been tested?
I feel like we (indiscernible) a Top 25 team in a great atmosphere against a really well-coached team, a really good defense, a really good quarterback — to hold them to 285 and to have 529, that's a good day. I think the best part about that is we all kind of got off the field feeling like we can't wait to get on the field to figure out where we can improve.

J.K. Dobbins, 826 yards through the season right now. How impressive was the 67-yard touchdown from your vantage point, and have you seen a transformation in his speed from last to this?
Yeah, I have. Yeah, I mean that was a home run hit right there that I think really changed the game. But up to that point we started to get it going a little bit but that kind of shifted and turned it into I think almost a 300-yard quarter. And anytime you can hit home runs like that in the run game, boy, it's a huge one. But it's one thing to go a 20-yard gain, but to come off the back end, and that was 60-something yards, 67 yards, that's a game-changer. To your point, there were times in the past where maybe he would get a little tired when he'd get to that 40-yard range, but he came out the back end of that thing. And that was really good to see.

You have a quarterback who just threw his first interception as a college football player. Is there much of a conversation when you comes over to the sideline?
Yes, the conversation was I told him it was my fault. The look was not the one we wanted in that look. And then I told him, I'm not always going to be right; you gotta make me right. And when the look isn't right, you gotta throw the ball in the stands and live to see another down. That was my fault. It was not his fault. It was not to look we wanted on that play. And I'll take the blame for that one.

How much more do you learn about Justin in games where it's not all perfect the way it may be was or seemed to be the first five weeks?
That's what I've been really looking forward to seeing, how he was going to respond, because early on there were some mistakes made. That was not a good quarter of football. But that was good. It was hard. Kind of guys digging at each other, kind of grinding, yelling at each other, and so we've got to figure this thing out. And we did. And that was one of those boxes you check off.

Before the season, you had kind of talked about the six-game chunk before the first bye, almost felt like maybe thought it would be a learning experience before you guys would sort of reach that. You're 6-0 the way you're playing. How is it going?
I think the chemistry of the team is very good. I think the leadership is strong. I think that we're playing tough. I think that we can learn a ton from this game, though. And I think that this is a perfect opportunity to sit back and look at these six games, evaluate where we've gone, where we are and where we're headed. But this was the perfect game to kind of do that. Again, you're going against a really good defense with really good players and a really good quarterback. They exposed some things that maybe we got away with in the last couple of games. The best thing now is to get on the film and work on it to get better.

What is it that specifically they were getting done up front defensively that gave you all problems? How satisfying is it at this point to have almost an answer for anything a team brings at you from a big-play standpoint, if you follow my drift?
They do a lot of things. When I say always — the majority of the time they have an extra guy in the box, whether you're playing 11 personnel or 12 personnel they always have another guy in the box. That's why they've been so good at run defense over the years; it's very hard to run the ball against them. And you've got to wear them down. You have to wear them down. And you've got to cover them up. The running backs have to turn four-yard runs into six. And then eventually over time, if you can start to run on them, you can maybe start to crack some. And that's kind of what happened. But the key to that is some of those play-action passes. Those kind of got us going a bit. The big one to Bin was huge, and I think that's some of those ones that we hit on the outside; as we go with tempo it really helped us get into rhythm. So, again, I thought we responded well, made some adjustments and went from there.

With the way that Justin came out, kind of seems like it was a little bit easy for him at times this year with his talent level. Coming out for the first two drives and maybe sensing that first bit of "oh no" of his young career, how did he handle that? Have you guys been preparing for that moment, and what was your thought process, the way that he handled that?
Yeah, those drives weren't good. We didn't do a good job on third down. It wasn't Justin. It was everybody up front. Some guys on the perimeter not doing a great job. And we were kind of just moping around a little bit. But as the leader of the offense you're in charge and ultimately responsible for it, and we've got to get it right. The same thing with me and the coaches, we have to take ownership of this too and figure the problems out. But that's what playing against a team like Michigan State in a Big Ten Conference game like this is. It's a hard. It's a grind and it's gritty. And it was great to see the guys respond especially in the second quarter.

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