Right: Apparently, Coach Tressel is interviewing for Eric Wedge’s job. Would Jimmy T. use the “bunt” as an offensive weapon?
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Ah, it’s that time of the week Buckeye fans as Lord James Patrick Tressel addresses the media-type folks at Jack & Benny’s on North High Street and Hudson.

Going incognito, which means I pull on a wig and wear glasses, a goofy golf shirt, and khaki Dockers to look like every other reporter who covers the Buckeyes, I am armed with my laptop and a hand-held voice recorder to bring you Coach Tressel’s press conference.

Each week, Coach T. names the players of the game from the following weekend, which happened to be Wisconsin. The Buckeyes walked out of Camp Randall Stadium in Madison with a 20-17 win over the Badgers, last Saturday.

Junior running back Chris Wells was the Offensive Player of the Game after rushing for 168 yards on 22 carries and a score.

Coach Tressel on Beanie:

I wasn’t a hundred percent sure how much he could play because he’d only carried it a dozen times the week before and for him to step up after Boom got hurt and carry it over 20 times was a real plus for us, and to me, he looked healthier than he’s looked since preseason. And he got a little sore after the game, but in the last couple days he’s felt good and he was our offensive player.”

The Defensive Player of the Game was sophomore Ross Homan. He had 10 total tackles, one tackle for loss, and a fumble recovery.

In his opening statements, Coach Tressel talks about the Wisconsin game:

They went up into a tough environment against a tough team and kept playing and playing and believing and we were awfully proud of them for that. At the same token, we also know that we’ve got to play a lot better than that if we’re going to have a chance here in the Big Ten. The thing that jumps into my mind the most is you can’t have the ball on the ground as much as we had it. I think it was on the ground five or six times. Good fortune was with us where we only lost one of them.”

Later, a reporter asked Coach Tressel if the last drive of the Wisconsin game would give Terrelle Pryor a boost of confidence:

The thing about Terrelle is, he’s only going to think about the things he didn’t do well. That’s his nature. And I hope it gives him confidence that, hey, I can do that, because he’s his own biggest critic, he should have made this throw, should have made this decision, should have read that, I had the dig on the one route, all those things, but he’s a perfectionist. That’s what he is. And he’s not going to stop competing until the game’s over.”

Then Coach T. was asked if there are any similarities between Terrelle and Troy Smith:

I think Terrelle and Troy are very different, but yet I think they do have some similar characteristics, and that might be one of them, is that they’re highly competitive, hold their teammates accountable, and not bashful.”

Following that question, Senator Sweater Vest was asked about what impressed him the most about that last drive vs. Wisconsin:

To me, the thing that jumped up at you is we just held in there and hung in there. I think the first play of the drive, we had a route open and we didn’t hit it, so we’re second and 10 and to me it was just the fact that there was a focus that as long as we had one more play, we’ve got a chance.”

During the player’s press conference following the Wisconsin game, Terrelle said he still thought he made some “young” plays out there before the last drive and Coach Tressel was asked what he thought that he meant by that:

Well, I think that a young thing is a thing that you haven’t slowed the game down and just made a crisp decision, the right decision. The thing about Terrelle, as I said, he is going to analyze every single thing that he didn’t do perfectly, and if he threw it too soon or if he could have hung on or if he didn’t look at when the first option was taken over and he didn’t look at the dig or whatever it happens to be, he’s going to be tough on himself from that standpoint, and he is going to really focus on what he didn’t do, where the rest of us sometimes focus on what he does do and maybe that’s why he gets good, because until he plays a perfect game, I don’t think you’re going to see him smiling and happy in a post-game thing because he’ll be thinking about that one pass he should have made or one check-off he didn’t do or something like that.

Jimmy T. was then asked if he was surprised by Terrelle’s poise:

I heard one analyst say he had spring practice so he got to learn the system, and I’m thinking, I don’t know where he was at spring practice, he came in in August. For a guy to come in in August and step up — he’s passionate about learning. He’s got an innate need for information and some guys don’t have that. Some guys would just rather go out and play, but he wants information because he wants to play as well as he can play.”

Also during the press conference, Coach Tressel was asked what he thought of his defensive line so far this season:

I think they’ve been solid. I don’t know that they’ve been out of this world and I think they know that, that we’ve got to get better, we’ve got to play lower, we’ve got to play faster, but it’s still a team defense and I think it’s not like we’ve had D linemen out of a gap or missed assignments or those kinds of things, but winning comes down to defeating the guy trying to block you and being in your gap and defeating the guy trying to block you and I’m sure we have to get better at that.”

Tags: Buckeye Football, Tressel Talk //