Riley meets the press
October 13, 1998
(How nice was the win Saturday at Stanford?) That was a great win for this team. Every time we can put one of those strings - Im sure theres more out there - but every time we can put one of those behind us its a good thing. The best thing about winning a game and winning two in a row and being on the road is that our team just feels good. You dont always get rewarded for working real hard and stuff, but its a reward for these guys to this point for all the time theyve put in. And theres a good corps of senior leadership Ive talked about a lot. I think that all that is real important. We seem to have more ability to fight through adversity, because weve created adversity for ourselves at times. That is a real positive sign. I think you always have to remember, as a player and as a coach - and I suppose as a fan - that its a long game, it lasts a long time. Its three hours and 30 minutes, or four hours and 20 minutes even sometimes, and you just have to keep playing. If you do, and you do concentrate on the next play and on continually trying to make something go, then you have a better chance in the fourth quarter instead of kind of getting bogged down in mistakes or things that went wrong. We appear to have a better way right now to fight through things that happen negatively, and find ways to win the game, and make plays at the end to win the game.
(Ken Simontons 207-yard game at Stanford - how much was his doing, and how much was the offensive line?) Ken Simonton brings us something that great running backs do - he brings us the ability to not have to block everybody. Because hell make somebody miss. Hell fake a guy out, or hit the seam on a guy and gain three more yards, and thats really important because youre not going to get them all blocked all the time, but hes got the ability to make them miss if you give him a little space. If the defender hits him in the hole, thats one thing. But if hes got a little room, then hes not easy to tackle. Hes got good quickness. Hes better on a fast track - I think hes better on AstroTurf because of his quickness, but that was almost like AstroTurf at Stanford, it was a nice field. Thats something he brings thats different for us right now.
(Arizona is coming off two emotional weeks - catching them at the right time?) I dont even like to deal in that. I have no idea what theyre thinking about or talking about or whatever. I think they have a very good football team, and they played a great football team the other day and lost in what was a real good football game for most of it. So however they respond, and whatever their mental state is, really is of no concern to us at all. We have to focus on ourselves, and focus on what they do, and the abilities of the players in their positions. Thats really the key for us. Its our state of preparation that will be the key for us in playing the game. That other part of it is really hard to ... I dont even venture into it. Thats up to them.
(After four weeks on the road, a home game) Well, its been an unusually long road trip. But I know all of us are excited about playing a home game, especially coming back with somewhat of a high for the fans here that come to this game with us being 4-2 and being at home against a real good team - it should be a good setting for a game this week.
(How much of an advantage can you get from a big crowd at Parker Stadium?) I think its great to play in front of fans that are cheering for us. I think we all look forward to that atmosphere and all know it can play a part in a game.
(Arizonas dual quarterback system with Ortege Jenkins and Keith Smith) What theyve got is two starting quarterbacks. And they have allowed them both to play like starters - its like having a couple great runners; its not unusual to have different running backs go in the game if theyre capable of doing the job as a starter. And thats what they have, they have two guys who should be starting and they let them play. Ive been involved in that myself, when we played Brad Otton and Kyle Wachholtz for the whole year at USC, and we did it because we felt we had two guys who were both very capable of playing and both would be considered starters. These guys are both athletic, can both do a variety of things athletically besides throw the football, and thats probably the hardest thing. Smith is faster, but Jenkins - weve all seen him do some great things running the football. That in itself, one quarterback running around, is a problem and two of them somewhat fresh is a bigger problem.
(Same approach regardless of which quarterback they play?) Right now, were looking at it pretty much the same. We do have to be aware that Keith Smith is really fast - I mean, hes fast, the fastest quarterback in our league. When he gets loose, he can really gain yards. Jenkins can move around and hurt you, but Smith can run for a long ways.
(Is Terrance Bryant progressing as you had hoped?) I think so. Terrance is constantly learning and growing more accustomed to the speed of play and level of play were involved in, and has efficiently led our team for the most part. He will, I think, continue to grow and be more efficient throwing the ball. He has his ups and downs like we all would expect he would. Hes very cautious of playing the game, so theres a lot of careful throws. I think as he gets going, hell play with more confidence and thats something that will take a couple steps forward and a step back, and maybe within a game. I think thats what happened at Stanford. I thought he played pretty well in the first half, and then parts of the second half was really being cautious and not hitting the balls he would normally hit - particularly after he threw the interception. But I think he has a great character about him thats very important to his continued growth. Because of how he is and hes willing to work and accept coaching and all those things, that will help him grow further as a quarterback.
(What would a win over Arizona mean for both this season, and for OSUs program?) The one thing we really know is we have a better football team now than we did a year ago. And I felt like that going in; I just hoped that would be reflected in the win-loss column. You never know how its going to play out, I just knew we were improved and I knew our schedule was tougher than a year ago. So weve gotten to this point right now, and now every win is going to be really big for the continued growth of our team and program in general. A win this week would really kick us off into the next four games to keep going. Our focus has to be not on that picture down the road, but each game one at a time because each win will be big for us at this point. As we grow we can get five, and then heaven forbid six, then it would be huge. But we have to get five first, and it might as well be Saturday. But it would obviously be a great, great win.
(Offensive tackle Larry Ramirezs status?) Larry will play this week. Great story, great guy, probably the leader on our offense. Hes a very stable, tough guy. Likes to play. Was surprised and very excited they gave him the OK to go to Stanford. (Unable to play there, though?) No, he didnt. They put that thing on his hand ... as you know, all offensive linemen hold, and he couldnt hold with that.
(Your analysis of OSUs defense at Stanford) No. 1, we gave up to many real big plays; we dont want to do that. Stanford was leading the league in passing, or was second, going in. They looked like a very good passing football team. A team that is that efficient - you saw them, they were very efficient throwing the ball, good quick receivers, the quarterback had a better touch than I thought he had - they were very good. One of the keys to the ball game was that they couldnt run effectively. They had some runs, but I think they had a total of 86 yards. That could be another string thing, but it could be the first time in a long time that weve outgained a Pac-10 team rushing the ball, and we probably more than doubled their total, and that was the difference. So they got yardage a lot, but then couldnt capitalize. If you cant run the ball in the red zone, you can play pass defense there easier. The windows get smaller, you dont have the field to work in any more, and its kind of what resulted in the end of the game the interception. So the yardage totals are concerning because we gave up too many big plays, but the fact we came up with big plays and that we did basically contain their running game - didnt stop it totally - but contained it pretty well probably summarizes us on defense the other day. They were conservative in their protection, but they did a great job because they double-teamed Inoke (Breckterfield) a good part of the time. They kept a lot of people in, they were playing against a lot of our man coverage so you dont need a whole lot of people out when you play against man coverage. If you protect enough to let the guy be the guy, then youve got a pretty good deal going and thats what they did. So they had a good approach, the quarterback got rid of the ball, and they had receivers making plays.
(Does it help or hurt that OSU is spreading its passes around and doesnt really have a "go-to" receiver?) Its a good thing to spread the ball around, and I think the go-to guys kind of become that because they make a big play, and that builds on itself. I think that the more guys in our deal that can catch balls 15 to 20 yards downfield, the better off we are. We havent hit enough of those to really be consistent. Our slotback, Greg Ainsworth, because of our offense is going to catch quite a few balls. We have to make sure Tim Alexander gets his catches; we like our "X" receiver, too; wed like to get our tight end a little more involved than he has been but not a lot more. Wed rather throw the ball to somebody that can run with it afterwards, for the most part, but we need to get our tight ends involved somewhat in that intermediate deal, for sure. So I think the development of those kind of players come through playmaking and being consistent in that regard. Arizona has two great receivers, they are really good athletes. Thats the thing thats different about Arizona than four years ago. Theyve always played great defense, or just about always, and theyve always had great kicking teams. Their special teams are unique, if you look at them, compared to other teams in our league. They do a lot of things, formations, they have different ways to punt the ball - its pretty neat. They do a nice job with it. Now they have an offense that matches, and I think thats why their team has become a top 10, top 25 team. Theyve got those quarterbacks, two great receivers, the tight end or two, and a running game. They have a well-balanced offensive team for one of the first times. They were pretty good last year, and theyre even better now, and thats why theyre a different team than they used to be when the played great defense and kind of got by on offense.
