Rutgers Football HC Greg Schiano's Ohio State Postgame Press Conference
Rutgers Football head coach Greg Schiano met with the media following the Scarlet Knights’ game versus Ohio State on Saturday afternoon inside of Ohio Stadium.
Following the game, Schiano spoke with the media to offer an immediate reaction to his program’s performance and talked about what he saw in the 11th game of the season.
Full Press Conference Transcript
Okay, guys, appreciate you covering our team. Tough one for our guys, tough one. The United States has got a really good football team, and I’m proud of our guys, but we just weren’t good enough today.
Questions?
Down 14-3 midway through the third quarter, number one team in the country. Are you encouraged by what you saw from your team in the first two and a half quarters?
GREG SCHIANO: “Yeah, but that’s not – yes, they did some good things, but we made mistakes that I think we need to stop making them if we’re going to have a chance to compete with a team like that. And it’s not just players, it’s not just coaches, it’s everybody, starting with me.
So we’ve got to get better, incremental improvement. The 24-hour rule, we’ll get back home, get to work on it and move forward. We’ve got a big game next week.”
You mentioned some of those mistakes, three of Ohio State’s touchdowns came within three plays after a defensive penalty. How much of an impact did those have in some of those stretches where you almost had to stop for a couple of them?
GREG SCHIANO: “Well, I mean, we’re off. The first one, we have a sack, or we’re off and we get a hold. I think it was a sack. Yeah, we get a sack and we get a hold. And then the fourth down play, I mean, we’re off, we get a penalty.
The third touchdown, I was proud of the guys. They started with the ball on the one-yard line. So we stop them coming out at half, which is what I said. I mean, we’ve got to come out and get a stop and then go score and win the middle eight and have a chance to take this thing into the fourth quarter. The whole plan was get it to the fourth quarter and see if we can’t win this game. And at points, I thought we had a chance to do that.
And, you know, they get the ball at the one-yard line on the sack fumble. I was proud of our guys. They stuff them, and they cause them to commit a foul and move them back to the 11.
And then that play, you judge for yourself. I mean, I’m not real happy with that play. And I’m not disappointed, and I’m not happy with that play.
Going off that, you were pretty animated with the officials after that play. Just what did you see? Yeah, there was a couple things today that I wasn’t pleased with. But, you know, they’re not perfect.
Certainly, I made my share of mistakes today. Everybody makes mistakes. I’m not, you know, we now have probably the officials’ worst nightmare is that we have iPads now.
So we can see it, right? So it’s disappointing when you see it. It’s not like you have to wait to get on the bus and watch the tape. You see it in real time or just about.
But, look, we’re not one or two penalties away from winning this game. That I can tell you. Would it have made it more interesting? Sure. But we wore down a little bit, I think. And we’re a good football team.
That play that we just discussed, were there flags that didn’t get called for your side? Or were some of the flags that called against you guys that you didn’t like? Just what were the other?
GREG SCHIANO: “Yeah, I don’t get into the officiating. Officials have a tough job. There’s eight of them. There’s 22 players. The 22 players are getting bigger, stronger, and faster every year. So, I mean, to make those calls in real time is a very challenging job. And I have a lot of respect for the job they do.
Do I get disappointed when I believe that a call was incorrect? Sure. But I also get disappointed when I make a bad call. We all make mistakes. Sam Brennan, a season-high seven carries for 16 yards today, I guess.”
Where is he in his comfort level getting back onto the field? And what did you see out there from him today?
GREG SCHIANO: “You know, we felt like their defensive front is so big and so strong that we felt like Sam maybe gave us something a little different. Not that Antoine and Benji aren’t strong, but Sam’s, you know, I don’t know, 15, 20 pounds heavier.
So we thought all three of them could kind of mix and match in the game today. Not many people have run the ball on these guys. You know, not many people have scored points on these guys.
You know, I looked and I said, oh, it’s 7.5, and then I looked a little deeper and they’re less than a touchdown a game average. So earlier in the week I said I thought they were really doing a great job. Matt Patricia comes in as the coordinator and does a great job defensively and really good, talented players. But at the end of the day, it’s about us in my mind. And we didn’t play well enough. We didn’t coach well enough. We need to go back to work and improve. Yep.”
You’re playing for a bowl game next week against Penn State at home. There’s going to be a lot of buzz for that game. Just kind of what’s your approach with the team going to be for that game? Just kind of how do you view the week you’re playing for your season?
GREG SCHIANO: “Yeah, I mean, the approach is the same as it always is. Circumstance cannot dictate your behavior. Is it exciting that you have a game that if you win you keep playing and if you don’t, ooh, yeah, that’s fun as a competitor. You love that. But the preparation, if you let circumstance dictate your behavior, you’re going to have a tough life.
And that’s what I try to teach these kids. You have to react to things. There’s no doubt about that. But you can’t let that be the impetus to what you do. Otherwise, you’re going to be chasing things the rest of your life. You have to learn how to put your feelings aside and make choices, and that’s what we have to do.
We have to lock in and focus and get better, and there will be stuff from this game that we can improve on and evaluate what Penn State’s doing and come up with a plan and go practice all week and get ready to go play.”
On that fourth and one in the first quarter, I guess, even before the timeout, was that your decision to go for it the entire way even during the timeout? What was the deciding factor that made you want to keep the offense on the field?
GREG SCHIANO: “Well, I thought it was going to be a game where we had to be aggressive, knowing how good they are. But I also know that not a lot of people have moved the ball on them in short yardage. So when you look at a two-game sample size or a three-game sample size, you can say, oh, they’re really hitting it, calling it right, doing it right. When you look at a ten-game sample size and there’s not a lot of conversions there, you have to.
But we felt like the risk was worth the reward because we needed to keep the drive alive, and we did. I thought there was things we didn’t then, but there were some things that we did that kept the ball in our hands, kept the clock moving. Again, there was a plan to try to get it into the fourth quarter and go win it, and we just came up a little short.
So that’s the way it goes. We’ll get better. And, again, I do thank you for covering us.
Appreciate you coming out. And get home safely. Thanks.”
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