Jim Tressel Press Conference Recap- September 28th, 2010

As the Big Ten season is set to open, Coach Tressel addressed the media today to discuss last week's game against Eastern Michigan and the upcoming one versus Illinois.

Coach Tressel's Opening Statement:

Well, the Big Ten season is finally here. I thought our guys, game four of the nonconference schedule, worked as hard as they could to concentrate all week in practice and not look ahead and I thought we came out in pretty good focus and concentration on things that we needed to get better at. I thought we got better at some things. I thought once we got the lead, we slipped a little, but the good news was we got a chance to get a lot of guys valuable snaps.

I think our second line got over 20 snaps and had third and fourth team backs and quarterbacks and defensive players get a lot of good snaps, which you're going to need those guys at some point when you get into the ruggedness of the Big Ten schedule.

For the second string, opportunities for playing time will diminish as the competition increases, so the playing time they received last weekend was important not only for developmental reasons but for depth.

How many winning performances did the team individually have last week?

Didn't have a whole bunch of winning performances. Defensively we only had one. Offensively I think we had four or five. Didn't have a whole bunch of extraordinary performances from a grade standpoint. Our special units player of the week was Drew Basil, he got a whole bunch of chances. He got to kick it down there 12 or 13 times and I think he's coming along. He's going to be a very good kicker and he hit about three or four of them deep in the end zone and did a lot better job on his coverage. In fact, I think he had a couple tackles, which you don't always like that to happen, but he was up in there, it wasn't like he was dragging them down after they'd gone 60 yards. He was the special units player of the week.

John Simon was the defensive player and Dane Sanzenbacher the offensive player. Justin Boren was the offensive player of the week, graded very, very well and is playing very well. The attack force player was Jermale Hines who had a very solid game. So there weren't tons of winning performances out there, but our guys did what they needed to do and I know they're excited to get started in the Big Ten.

Many of the Bucks came up short of a winning performance in the eyes of the coaching staff. Freshman kicker Drew Basil has his best game yet, which is great to see as we move into the more difficult portion of the schedule.

Hey, what goes into a winning performance anyway?

Your technique, your execution, did you get the job done, so, no. I hope we grade -- this is one of the difficult things, because the graders are human. This isn't a computer grade or anything. I hope we grade the same way whether we won the game or lost it, regardless of who we played. I hope we're as objective as we can possibly be. Whether we're in a good mood or a bad mood, whatever, I hope we grade the same way. We challenge ourselves to critique the performance and not the performer, because sometimes you cannot be happy with a guy for a missed class or whatever and when we grade the film, we need to grade the performance, and so, no, the opponent really doesn't have a vantage point.

The coaches do not grade on a curve based on the opponent's ability; they really focus on the manner of individual execution rather than the outcome of a play. There will be plays that ended in a negative outcome, but many of the individuals receive a positive grade for executing their role in the play. Conversely, plays that end in positives (like a TP scramble for a TD) may end up with largely negative grades for the individuals.

Hit the jump for more from the press conference, including Coach Tressel's thoughts on the final score on Saturday, an injury update, and Illinois forecasting.

Did the staff regret running up the score on EMU?

Well, I'll say this, we did take the opportunity for our second team quarterback to get some throws, which we have to make decisions based upon what is best for our team. Did I wish for us to hit a 67-yard touchdown run, probably would have gotten more use out of a nine-play drive averaging five yards a play as far as numbers of reps and all those things. But it happened the way it happened.

I think when the score got up there pretty high, there was 9:35 left in the game and to me it would be more insulting to take a knee at that point in time, but again, I'll say this, I think Eastern Michigan is coming along. I think they're going to be a much better football team. You can see some good, young guys and do I like the fact that the score ended up what it did? No. Am I disappointed that we let our second and third team guys go in there and try? No. I mean, that's what they're allowed to do. It just unfortunately unfolded that way.

There's really nothing to apologize for. Ohio State is gunning for a national championship, and any time that can be spent getting better must be utilized. The 4th quarter was largely spent running the ball, but a worn out EMU defense lacked the depth to stop it. Perhaps fault OSU for scheduling EMU (but, really, the $800,000 check is needed by EMU to stay financially solvent), any time spent between the first and last second is between the teams on the field. As long as there was no blatant attempt to embarrass EMU, there is nothing wrong with the final score.

KenK asked about the EMU play-action pass that went for a big play down the seam. What happened there?

They did a nice job with a misdirection pass. They fooled us. And we didn't reroute a receiver, kind of snuck into the seam on us and it was, you know, one for their side. But there weren't any glaring things on those plays, other than they executed and you'd not like them to have quite that much time to throw that ball quite that far, but I'll say this, that quarterback stood in there and he got blasted a couple of those, and he put me -- I like that. I liked him when he was in youth camp. Both their quarterbacks were in our youth camp and I liked them both. I think Eastern Michigan is going to come along. I really do.

Coach Tressel confirmed my explanation to Ken in this thread. The linebacker bit on the run, and thus was not able to reroute the receiver from a clean release down the seam.

How's the team's health?

I think from a health standpoint we're, after four games, in pretty good shape. We should get Travis Howard back. Dorian Bell should be back. Jake Stoneburner, I'm expecting that we'll know a lot more Wednesday or Thursday. He claims he'll be fine. Sometimes when you roll those ankles, you can either get back quickly or not, and so we'll just have to see how he works. And knowing our trainers, it will be a progressive thing though. They'll have him doing certain drill things today and tomorrow, if he can do it all, they'll give him the green light. Chimdi Chekwa missed some time with some back spasms. He should be ready to go and, who am I missing there?

There's no need to rush Jake Stoneburner back before the Wisconsin game; Ohio State should have enough offensive capability to ably handle Illinois and Indiana without forcing an early return from injury for Stoneburner.

What about Illinois' CB Justin Green?

It's sort of not fair, is it? He's supposed to be playing corner for us. He's a great kid. What are you going to do? You make decisions and handle the adversity and deal with what comes your way and that's obviously what he's doing and he's got great speed out there. He's got all the things that you would love to have in a corner and he had an interception in the game Saturday or two Saturdays ago against Northern Illinois, spectacular play, but he landed out of bounds. He's a talented kid. It is what it is, I guess.

For anyone who doesn't know, Justin Green was committed to Ohio State for many months in the 2009 recruiting year, but he flipped to Illinois on signing day when Ron Zook promised him he could be a runningback. He's now a starting corner for the Illini.

And Illinois in general?

It's exciting to go on the road. We lose many of the advantages we've had for the last four games of the home crowd and our band being with us and the comforts of home, but our guys like challenges and I think they're anxious to get on the road.

Illinois had a week off, so it gives you a little bit of question as to what they might come out with from a difference standpoint. They have two new coordinators, so they're going to be a little different than they've been in the past, not totally different, but I'm sure we have not seen some of the favorite things that those new coordinators like to do. We've gone back and looked at film from whence they came and those kinds of things, but you don't really know how they're going to do that and especially with an open date the week before, I'm sure they'll be healthier than they've been and anxious to open the Big Ten schedule like we all are.

And interesting thing, the guys in our locker room who were ages 18 to 22 or whatever, in their lifetimes, we've played Illinois 19 times. There was a point in time where it was our longest running rivalry until, I think, 2003 or 4. 2003 was the last time, we didn't play them for many, many years, but we've played them many times in our guys' lifetimes and the record is 10-9. So in our guys' lifetime, they've known full well that the Ohio State-Illinois game is a big deal and there have been battles and they know we're heading on the road. They know we have to get to work this afternoon to prepare.

Coach Tressel's numbers are close; since 1989, Ohio State is 11-8 versus the Fighting Illini. Notwithstanding last season, Illinois usually plays Ohio State close, but I would have never guessed that the series record was only hovering around .600 over the last 19 years. Granted, most of those losses came pre-Tressel, including a terrible 5 year losing streak to start John Cooper's career. But motivation is motivation, and the coaches must find some way to force the players to respect a moribund Illinois program.