TRANSCRIPT: Tressel's Post-Game News Conference

COACH TRESSEL: Ugly day out there. Well, when your defense can throw another shutout, makes it a heck of a lot more fun. We talked all week about playing fast, especially on offense and defense, coming out and getting after it. Also playing very focused. And there was talk all week long about how bad the weather was going to be and all this and that and we continually talked about the fact that we've got to be focused regardless of conditions, delays, lightning, six-hour game, whatever, we had to stay in it and I thought our kids really did a good job focusing and the run game was called upon when those conditions got horrible and thought they delivered. And the second half we got to throw a little bit, but our defense was playing so well, and I just thought our kids came out of the gate in the Big Ten the way that you should.

REPORTER: Coach, this is three games you've allowed one scoring drive in three games, the four-yard drive against Southern Cal. What is it about -- what are your impressions of the defense? What is making this so effective that you've gone two straight shutouts and really three games with only one scoring drive?

COACH TRESSEL: I think it starts with we've got great players, we've got talented players, no doubt about it. Secondly we've got a great staff and they do what our kids do best. I think our defensive guys do a fabulous job preparing. They spend lots and lots of time. There's a lot of pride and legacy in being a Silver Bullet at Ohio State, something that's been going on for many, many years and they take a lot of pride in making sure that they can uphold that tradition. They play hard.

REPORTER: They really never -- if you look at the game, they really never threatened, close one time before the half, but really it looked like all day --

COACH TRESSEL: We thought when you can control the trenches, which thus far we've done a pretty good job with that, you've got a very good chance when you've got guys in the back end that are very disciplined and do what they're supposed to do, they know that the other guys are going to be putting some pressure on the opposing quarterback.

REPORTER: Coach, Ross Homan looked like he got banged up there, can you give us an update on his status?

COACH TRESSEL: I really don't know, I saw Andrew Sweat in there playing, but I don't know any more than you do.

REPORTER: The interception by Brian Rolle stopped that first drive, I don't know if it was a tone-setter, but three picks I think you had all today.

COACH TRESSEL: Yeah, I think that was huge. I thought that was a huge momentum change. They came in and made a couple first downs, made a couple good plays, and then when our guys were where they were supposed to be and B. Rolle was on the spot and picked it off and got it back there and -- you know, we only got three out of it, which you'd love to be able to get seven when you get great field position like that, but that set the tone for them that it was going to be difficult to score on us.

REPORTER: Jim, you talked about relying on the run game today. It looked like the run plays you were using were a little different than other games, not running out of the I very much and running out of the shotgun, was that something they couldn't stop what you were doing or did you during the week make the adjustment you wanted to run more out of those formations?

COACH TRESSEL: As we studied ourselves after three games, we fell as we looked at the efficiency of some of those things that they were very good, that our running backs did them well, our linemen blocked them well and that those were things that we could build upon and so, yeah, that was -- whether it was raining or snowing or sunshine, that was a conscious thing for us to be running what we did.

REPORTER: Jim, just overall, give me a feeling for how you felt the offensive line played today. I think Mike Adams got the start, but Justin Boren seemed to be more active, do you feel like you can use him more? He was coming off the knee thing in the preseason, but overall how you thought they played.

COACH TRESSEL: I thought we played a little faster with a little bit more confidence in what we were doing and I think in part as Coach Bolls and his staff sat down together, they now had a chance to watch the kids for three games, see what they were most confident doing and see what we could build upon and I thought the plan they put together was excellent.

REPORTER: Can you talk about the decision to go for the touchdown there on fourth and two in the end and do you think going for that sort of sent a message going into Big Ten play here?

COACH TRESSEL: Well, you had a couple decisions to make, one, you could kick a field goal and there's a little bit of risk involved in that if they block it and take it back for a touchdown because it was still a three-score situation. You know, we only had 23 points. We thought there was less risk in going for it. If we go for it, we don't make it, big deal, they're 97 yards away, but they still have three scores to do. All of a sudden if you have a mishandled field goal or whatever and it goes the other direction, you could be sitting in there like late in the Navy game where you're saying, wait a minute, this wasn't supposed to be like this the last few minutes. So that was the decision we made and, no, I don't think it was to send any message because we don't -- you know, the next teams we play are different teams and whole different set of circumstances.

REPORTER: Jim, how gratifying is it to be able to count on the run game like that when the weather gets bad and when is the last time -- O-2 in the first half and no pass yards, do you just keep calling runs until they stop you or what?

COACH TRESSEL: Well, we wanted to lead with the run and mix in the pass had it been a beautiful day, we wanted to be very balanced, but that didn't make sense with the circumstances. It was hard to throw the ball, but I think it was even harder to catch it. That ball you kept seeing it squirt through their hands, our hands. That was -- there for a moment, when everyone's jerseys were totally soaked, there's no way to get the ball dry, so it just made sense. How gratifying was it that it came through? Very gratifying, to be able to build upon a ball game like this, I think is really going to serve the offense well and get us ready for the next test which happens to be on the road.

REPORTER: Are you surprised that after three years of excellent play by Laurinaitis that Rolle's made so many impeccable plays already and also playing fast, is that like the perfect thing for him?

COACH TRESSEL: B. Rolle loves to play fast as do all his other comrades on the defense. B. Rolle was ready to play last year. I mean, he was prepared and so forth, but he had some guys ahead of him. Marcus Freeman and James and so forth. But B. Rolle could have stepped in last year. He had a whole spring this year to kind of take charge and then he had all of preseason and he's like the rest of our defensive guys, they study the heck out of the game and they want to be good. They want to be like the great Silver Bullets that have worn these jerseys, so that means a lot to him and I'm not surprised that he is playing well because B. Rolle is a good player. One more and then I'll let these guys take over.

REPORTER: Coach, you mentioned that the focus of the guys during the rain and it seemed like when it really started to come down they really embraced that, dancing around, having a good time. From a team chemistry standpoint, do you sense something special about these guys? And if I can get one more after that, comment on Lawrence Wilson considering everything he's been through.

COACH TRESSEL: He's got to be exhausted after his celebration. He'll go to bed right now and sleep for two days. People that persist -- and it's hard. I don't know if you've ever had a knee surgery or a broken leg or whatever and you see all your buddies out there playing and they're getting on the plane and heading to away games and all you're doing is stopping in the training room, I mean, it's hard and he had to do it for two years. And to see him have a play like that, it's awesome. It really is. He's like the rest of those guys. They study the game. They know what is needed. These guys have fun together. They did embrace the challenge of it being Illinois. Illinois is a good team. Last time they were here, they beat us.

So our guys did embrace the challenge. They embraced the challenge of the horrible conditions and if you didn't have focus, you might slip up. But our guys love a challenge, and they know the next one is a night game on the road, hotel an hour and a half from the game, and we've got to go and I think our guys are anxious.

REPORTER: My colleague says you ought to rename this place the Swarm Center, can you talk about the defensive mentality today?

WORTHINGTON: Personally I know our coaches want us to fly around the ball and make sure something happens, as far as somebody missing a tackle, Silver Bullets, I mean, bullets is fast, we want a mentality that we want to get to the ball, have at least five or six guys at the minimum and we did a good job doing that today.

REPORTER: Kurt, I'm wondering if you could comment on the play Chimdi made.

COLEMAN: It was a great play by Chim. They ran basically four down the field and it put me in a bind because I was trying to split one and two and Chim did a good job of rerouting them and running with them. I was just hoping he could make the play because I wasn't able to get there and he did a good job keeping them out of bounds.

REPORTER: The focus of this game, we've all talked about the shutout, but the offense scored 30 points and that's really good. Can you talk about just how you felt today out there. How you think the offense did as a whole.

SANZENBACHER: Well, I think it was a challenge for us overall dealing with weather, but I think we knew that coming in. Defense made it easy on us the past couple weeks. When you get shutouts, the pressure's off of the offense to make plays, but I think Coach Bruce talked to us a little bit before the game, told us we were going to have to be runners because he's a thoroughbred fan, so as the receiver corps we had to go out there and block, do whatever we had to do.

REPORTER: Defensive guys, what statement do you think you guys have made over the past few games?

SPITLER: I just think we showed that we're ready to bounce back after that loss to SC and we're always looking forward, always trying to better ourselves and I feel like each week we've taken a step in the right direction and this is just another week and we've got to prepare like we've done every week so far and better ourselves next week.

COLEMAN: I think the great thing about this defense is we're hungry and never satisfied with what happens. We had a shutout last week against a great opponent, but we knew Illinois was going to come in with a lot of fire so we had to match that excellency and exceed it so we had to get out there and exceed everyone's expectations because we know we're the best.

WORTHINGTON: We have fun out there. We work hard in practice. Some Saturdays we like to get out there have fun, let loose. All of us did a good job having a lot of long drives and whatnot, special teams put us in great field position. So special units just did a great job of capitalizing and preparing good things for us.