By Danielle Daniels

Kyle McCord OSU QB 10 7 2023 Postgame Press Conference #4 OSU 37 Maryland 17 .mp3

Ohio State signal caller Kyle McCord finished with 19 completions on 29 attempts for a career-best 320 yards and two touchdowns.

POSTGAME QUOTES

No. 5 Ohio State 37, Maryland 17
Oct. 7, 2023 – Ohio Stadium; Columbus, Ohio
Attendance: 104,974

Ryan Day, Ohio State head coach
On the start to the game…
“I couldn’t quite understand what was going on there on the first couple of drives. Didn’t quite get in sync on offense and then we had the botched snap. That was just a bad snap. It slipped out of his hands… But that is the game and we had to respond. I thought we did respond well in the second half. We got into a rhythm. The number one goal is to be 1-0 on Saturday, so check that box. We want to play well in the second half. Check that box. We wanted to start fast in this game and didn’t get that done. So we have to look at why that.”

On winning with the defense…
“I have no preference as long as we win. I think the defense did some great things this game. I thought Jim [Knowles] and the staff did a really good job with the game plan. I thought that they were a step ahead just in terms of the defenses that we were in. He did a great job of getting them in the right calls. There’s still a ton of things that we can improve on and get better at, there is… I think our guys are playing hard, and that’s the thing to me. There are certain things that we can clean up, some things that were close, but our team is playing with passion. They are playing physical and they are playing hard.”

On Kyle’s performance today…
“I think he would tell you that he felt better about the second half than he did the first. He made some nice throws, and wishes he had some back. I thought he played well there. I don’t know exactly what the numbers were in the second half, but that’s what our expectations are. I know he wants to be great, and we will look at it and try to get better.”

On containing the pass rush…
“Overall, the goal was to contain (Taulia Tagovailoa). He had 196 yards, 21-of-41, two sacks, and obviously the pick-6. So, if you had said that going into the game, I probably would’ve signed the dotted line on that one, so job well done.”

Josh Proctor, Ohio State safety
On his pick-6…
“We know they like to go with that little bunch and bring the running back out and then throw the check down. So my eyes were in the backfield and I was just reading and reacting, anticipating.”

On if he knew he had the interception while it was in the air…
“I did. My only thing [after the interception] was just don’t get caught.”

On maturing during his time at Ohio State…
“I think over the years I’ve learned and I’ve seen a lot and watched film constantly so now it’s all about just anticipating where to react and then go play ball.”

On his big kickoff return hit…
“I definitely felt it but in the moment we needed some momentum, we needed someone to step up, and that just felt like it had to be done.”

On what’s different about this defense from previous years in terms of a no-panic mindset…
“We’re just mature. We’ve learned, we’ve grown, we’ve been through the losses, we’ve been through the ups and downs and it’s all just coming to fruition right now.”

On big hits in the second half shifting the momentum…
“It’s a full momentum swing – you get the crowd into it. You get the sideline into it and you see everybody after that just feed off it. So it’s definitely fun.”

On increased pressure upfront helping on the back end…
“We always say, ‘we got y’all, y’all got us’. Before every drive we tell them, ‘we got y’all, y’all got us’. As long as we got each other’s back, that’s the brotherhood.”

On playing on another level this season…
“Everything is coming to fruition – I prayed about these moments, I’ve dreamt about these moments. Sometimes I had my ups and downs but honestly, I’m just living in the moment and I’m here now.”

On the safety room right now…
“It’s exciting and we’re confident. We’re a confident group. We know our jobs and like I said, we’ve been through the ups and the downs and we just want to trust each other and know that the other person knows what they’re doing at the end of the day.”

On feeling relaxed this season…
“This is new – I’ve learned, I’ve grown, I’ve prayed and I’ve changed a lot in these past years.”

On being able to get locked in on the second half…
“We always want to stop the run. That’s our biggest goal. That’s really our biggest thing going into every game. Other than that, it’s just knowing your job, doing your job and honing in on each detail, making sure you’re making a play when it’s your time.”

Cade Stover, Ohio State tight end
On the defense lifting the team up with big moments…
“It’s huge, they are playing so hard. They are playing awesome. Those guys have such a good scheme, are stopping the run and overall are doing really well which helps the offense more.”

On Ryan Day showing emotion on the sideline…
“That’s him. He’s a passionate dude – he cares about us. In my mind his actions were warranted even two years ago. He has bottled everything up and what he’s doing reflects on us and we have to play for it.”

On the difference in the locker room today…
“I think we have a lot of really good leaders. Like I have said, all of the pieces are there. We know the pieces are there. It’s just a matter of play here and there, then we are going to roll downhill from there.”

On if he thinks the offense can be what they want it to be…
“I think we’ll get there. I don’t have any doubt in the world . We got to get better in the first half after this game. But I think all the pieces are there. We’ve got to make sure we stay on the same mindset and continue to come up to the ball and pass the ball.”

Sonny Styles, Ohio State defensive back
On Josh Proctor’s pick-6…
“I think that it gave us a lot of juice. He got us going. Obviously he has been here a while – he’s a really good leader on our defense and for knowing him personally it feels really good.”

On Josh Proctor’s leap as a player…
“You can see the different focus in him. He’s laser focused like he is on a mission. It is just a different level of intensity.”

On coming back from the bye week and the amount of penalties the team faced…
“I think we just have to be more consistent. I think sometimes we get plays where guys get a little flustered sometimes and I don’t think guys are trying to be selfish on purpose. I think sometimes you get a little bit outside your body and you know that happens. We just have to cut that out a little bit. The bigger game is obviously what’s going to hurt us.”

On if he thinks the defense has to level up for the offense…
“Our offense is really talented. I think we as a defense take pride in it, we want to win the game, regardless of what the offense is doing. We take that, we come with that chip on our shoulder and we want to win the game.”

Steele Chambers, Ohio State linebacker
On today’s early struggles…
“I think we need to be more consistent. I think sometimes we get plays where guys get a little flustered sometimes, and I don’t think guys are not trying to be selfish on purpose; I think sometimes, you get a little outside your body. We just have to cut that out a little bit, because the bigger games, obviously it is going to hurt us.”

On Proctor’s pick-6…
“I think that gave us a lot of juice. You know, he got us going. Proctor is really good. He’s obviously been here for a while; he’s a leader on our defense, and for me, just knowing him personally, it feels good. You know, I think he’s been through a lot of injuries over the years and stuff like that, so it feels good to see him do good. He’s playing his best ball right now.”
 
On the safeties…
“I think we have something to prove. You know, I think last year we weren’t where we wanted to be. We have to play every game like we’ve got something to prove, because we do.”

Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State wide receiver
On what made a great second half performance…
“It all came down to execution and making big plays. The second half was a one-on-one matchup.”

On having perseverance and grit at Notre Dame and in games in general…
“Coach Mick [Mickey Marotti] trained us hard in the off season. In any highlights from games I think a lot of the credit goes to him and our other strength and conditioning coaches.”

On rebounding after getting his touchdown taken away due to a penalty…
“I’ve had a couple touchdowns called back this year now, so you get used to it over a while, so you just got to bounce back from it and move on to the next play.”

On presence of mind and lack of panic…
“I feel like Notre Dame was a big step for us. Scoring gave us a lot of confidence that if we need to go score, we can go score. Obviously, you want to score every drive, but we know when we really need a touchdown. I think we provided that especially in the first drive in the second half. We went down and found the answer there. So, I think overall just building that confidence in the whole offense.”

On any frustration in the first half…
“That’s just part of it. You’re not going to succeed as much as you want to all the time, it’s about how you bounce back from it. I think we did a good job at that in the second half. I think the growth and maturity of the team was a big step for us. It gives us a lot of confidence that we can battle back against anybody and we need to make plays.”

JT Tuimoloau, Ohio State defensive end
On recording a sack…
“It felt really good; got a monkey off my back. I just stay the course and just keep telling you to trust in Coach J [Jim Knowles] and the defense.”

On the difference in the two halves…
“At halftime we just had to regroup and decide to continue to play our game, p\lay a role and continue to get the ball to the offense and just do our thing.”

On Maryland scoring right after halftime…
“You know, people are going to score. I think it’s just a matter of if we bounce back or not. When they scored, we came on the sideline and just said ‘hey, we’re not going to let them score again,’ so I think we did that.”

On being a playmaker … 
“I think it’s just playing within a defense where everybody’s motto is ‘fly around’ and continue to play our game whether or not it’s me blowing it up. I think it’s just a matter of fact; we all play our role and do our thing. We just click and it’s kind of a chain reaction.”

On being able to turn it up a notch … 
“It comes with preparation, watching film with Coach J and watching film with the boys and, you know, getting information from not only Coach J, but Tommy (Eichenberg) and Tyleik (Williams) and just all of us being out there and communicating.”

On who is the most vocal on defense … 
“There’s a lot; Tommy’s (Eichenberg) there, Mike’s (Hall Jr.) there, it’s just all of us that I think play a role. We’re all hungry. We take in the things that we hear about our defense, especially the things from last year, and just add it to our pit of fire and continue to keep that chip on our shoulder and allow it to grow. There’s a lot of us that are loud; I really can’t single out one person.”

Mike Locksley, Maryland head coach
Opening statement…
“I will start by first of all giving Ohio State credit. They did a really good job of limiting the explosive plays and creating turnovers which, as we talked about with our squad, our winning formula is being able to generate explosives. Take care of the football on defense, limit the explosives and get turnovers and we didn’t do either very well today.”

On the Ohio State defense…
“I mean, their front seven is the strength of their defense. They play heavy handed, especially in the interior parts of their defensive structure… Give credit to Ohio State, they took advantage of some opportunities, things they must have saw on the tape because a couple of the plays they hit or plays that had hurt us before, and we gotta get those things fixed.”

On Marvin Harrison…
“I mean, we know how talented he was. And for a guy like him to still find a way to make plays, that’s the piece for me. As I evaluate how we played it, that’s the part that shows up and that we’ve got to get corrected because you know, anybody could tell you that Marvin Harrison is a really good player.”

COURTESY OSU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS