OPENING STATEMENT
First and foremost, really thrilled to get the victory today. Really hard-fought game. Conference game. You're talking about a rivalry game, too, with the trophy on the line. This is three straight years now where it's really gone down to the last play, last minute.
Both teams really played at a high level. Proud of our guys. I thought they played resilient. Had some ups and downs during the course of the game. Wasn't 100% perfect obviously. But that's what you expect in conference play.
I think the biggest, most significant thing is just the way we finished the game. They came out and scored on that opening drive in the second half. After that, we settled in. I think we won 13-0 from that point on. Close to being 16. Come up with that last field goal, I think we all breathe a little bit easier. Wasn't meant to be.
Great effort, but hit the bar. We got to go play defense. Defense really rose to the occasion. Thrilled to get the victory. Thrilled to see our guys with the trophy. Even better, we get a day off tomorrow. It's a pretty good day for us, just really pleased.
Q. You're always stressing complementary football. How important was that in the third quarter after you went behind for the first time to not only get the scoring drive but then the three-and-out?
KIRK FERENTZ: Those are all big. You could feel the momentum swing right there. We've had three games in a row now where we've had some ups and downs certainly, but not that tight of a situation. It was good to see our guys responded. They came back and responded. We didn't take control, but at least we gained momentum back, responded in a positive way.
The kicking game played a big factor today. We anticipated that might be something. Thought we might have an edge in the punt game, punt return game. That proved to be true.
The turnover battle, it's always a big factor and it was again today.
Q. This makes it six straight against Nebraska. What does that mean for you and this program right now?
KIRK FERENTZ: We don't tend to really look at things in the big picture. It's week-to-week, then year-to-year. Happy, just happy. It's not easy. Any conference opponent... It's hard to win conference games just in a nutshell.
If you can get a streak going, that's great. That wasn't first and foremost on our thoughts today. We knew we had a big challenge on our hands. Just glad we were able to get the job done today.
Q. On the first offensive series of the third quarter, you ran the ball nine times. It seemed like there wasn't a lot of consistency in the first half in that regard. How important was it to establish the run at that point, going forward on fourth-and-two on that drive, whereas you ran chip shot field goal range?
KIRK FERENTZ: On that point, I'm not sure if I was thinking rationally at that point. We decided, hey, let's keep pushing it. We were moving the ball, had a little momentum there.
Your point about the running game is spot on. We wanted to run the ball in the first half. We had a hard time. Give our opponents credit there. They threw a couple wrinkles at us that we were not playing very cohesively.
As a result, I don't know how many yards we had at halftime rushing, but it wasn't very impressive. Even in the second half, it wasn't always pretty, wasn't always smooth.
I thought the staff made some good adjustments, made some good tweaks. We went out and played a little bit more effectively and ran the ball a little bit more efficiently in that second half for sure.
Q. You alluded to this, but your defense shut them out for the final 27 minutes of the game. What did you see in terms of the adjustments your defense had to make to get that done?
KIRK FERENTZ: I don't know how big the adjustment part was. We knew coming into the game, regardless of what quarterback was in there, contain. The quarterback runs are a huge part of what they do. We faced that last week, too. We anticipated playing two quarterbacks a week ago.
This game, in my opinion, it didn't really matter which one was in there. They're both really dangerous, especially in the run part. Could be a designed run. They had those.
The improvisations, those are really difficult. If you don't keep containment against a guy who is pretty nimble, you're just asking for trouble. We had a few of those today, too.
I think we played a little bit better fundamentally in the second half, especially after the first possession. Even then, you're just kind of holding your breath. Back to '13, Ohio State had Braxton Miller, Hyde, some good receivers. They just stretch you thin. When the quarterback can really run and throw it, it puts a lot of pressure on you defensively.
Q. Does the 2014 Nebraska loss still bug you? Special teams played a big part in that game, but also played a big part in your favor today.
KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, no question. Funny you bring that up. I just mentioned it to a couple other coaches.
This is a much better deal. You rank games and all that. It's probably within the top five of the worst losses we had here. 22 years, that's about as bad as it gets. You can't cover a kick, turn it over in the red zone, give up an easy one before halftime. Hard to think you're going to have a good team, a team that's going to win consistently. That one is kind of burnt into my memory bank unfortunately. Probably never shake that one.
Q. What does it mean to have a special teams player like Terry Roberts? A position that doesn't get a lot of recognition. He just seems to make a play in the game every time he's out there. It's a selfless position. What does he mean to you and your team playing at this level?
KIRK FERENTZ: As you know historically we've had a lot of those good stories of guys that cut their teeth, get their feet wet playing special teams. It's so, so important, especially when you have a guy who is a real high-energy player a guy that brings energy. It spreads to other guys. Monte is doing kind of the same thing for us.
Terry by far, he's been extraordinary this year. Then the rest of the story is we kind of knew it was coming because we see him in practice. He's doing a pretty good job as a player, too, as a cornerback.
Going back to pre-season, he was really humming on special teams. You could tell it was important to him. He was committed to it. Boy, he plays with a lot of energy and toughness out there. It elevates the whole group. I think we all really appreciate what he's doing. He takes a lot of pride in it.
My prediction is at some point it's going to show up with him being an every-down player as well. It's all the same. Got to learn a little bit more about playing corner. It's hard to give a player that kind of energy and determination. It's been fun to watch him grow and develop.
Pretty sure another guy we stole from Kent State. Jovon Johnson. I could go right down the list. We may start getting hate mail.
Q. Talk us through the decisions to go for it or kick the field goal. I think you had time to think about each one of those. Do you listen to different voices? How do you decide when to kick the field goal? Who makes that decision besides you?
KIRK FERENTZ: You have analytics. Everyone has an opinion, right? Probably a little bit like baseball. You go with the book. I shouldn't go down that path. Yanked that good pitcher. I haven't watched any baseball this year, but I Understand a pretty good pitcher got taken out because he was on a pitch count.
A lot of it is how you feel. Going back to fourth-and-two, we had a little something going there. Gives you more confidence to go for it. When you're kind of sputtering, my mindset is a little bit more like we all want to go for it, we haven't played well the last seven snaps, all of a sudden we're going to convert a fourth-and-four. A lot of it is how you're feeling at that time.
But to the credit of the staff, they've been working on me for about six, seven years now. I'm starting to get worn down in that department. A little bit more open to risk taking, if you want to call it that.
