Ohio State survived Nov. 17 at Maryland, but the Buckeyes’ 52-51 overtime escape of the Terrapins brought forth an alarming performance before the biggest weekend of the season. OSU’s defense got gashed by UMD’s offense for 535 total yards and 339 rushing yards, and now Michigan comes to Columbus for Saturday’s noon kickoff on FOX from Ohio Stadium with an improved unit behind junior quarterback Shea Patterson and company.
Ahead of the de facto Big Ten East Division title game between No. 10 Ohio State (10-1, 7-1) and the No. 4 Wolverines (10-1, 8-0), will the Buckeyes’ defense be able to keep OSU within striking distance? With the result fresh in his mind as he fielded questions from reporters after the one-point win at Maryland Stadium in College Park, Md., defensive coordinator Greg Schiano shared thoughts on the setback and what it means before U-M.
Greg Schiano
On approaching Maryland’s two-point attempt…
“All those special situations, you have it game planned and you practice it at the end of the week, that’s what you do. You do the end of the game play that was there and you always do the two-point plays, so it was no surprise. Kids new what the call was going to be so we went out there and we actually got picked a little bit and we were fortunate that there was pressure in his face and (sophomore quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome) threw an errant ball.”
On giving up 51 points at Maryland…
“It’s certainly not what you set out to do. If anybody would have told me this morning that that was going to happen, I would’ve said, ‘No, that’s not going to happen.’ I thought we practiced very well. I thought coming off of last week that we tackled very well. I just felt like the kids had a really good grasp on what we were doing. It didn’t turn out that way, but to answer your question specifically, I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this. This is different than what we’re going to do. And when I get on that bus, I’m going to start looking at team up north, six days to get ready for what we’ve been able to and they’ve been able to make one of the biggest games in college football this year. So I’m looking forward to being part of that and I’m looking forward to start doing it.”
On getting ready for Saturday against Michigan…
“You know, every week is its own entity. I don’t think you can, when you look at things, I don’t glue them all together. How ready? Look, we’re as ready as we’re going to be. We need to put together a good plan. We’re going to have a good week of practice. Two very focused teams will show up on Saturday.”
