Ohio State Buckeyes College Football Pregame Quote, 01/15/2025

On Carnell Tate stepping up in the Cotton Bowl:

Carnell has played good football for us all year, and we were going to need everybody on offense, and we’re going to need him in this game as well. He’s going to have an opportunity to have great matchups, and he’s got to win. I thought he did that in the game, and you can see all season he’s getting better and better.

On the job, Mickey Marotti and his staff have done to prepare the team for a long season:

Mick, to me, is the best there is in the business, and his staff is equally as good. Not only do they bring energy and passion every day in the Woody, but also just the understanding of sports science. I think his staff does a great job of the old-fashioned work ethic, disciplined leadership, accountability, and resilience mixed in with the sports science of every day. Taking a look at the workloads. Even going into this for the first time in the playoffs, what was the workload? How do we adjust things?

On how the season has related to the saying build the bricks as a foundation to survive all these storms:

There’s going to be over 100 bricks when it’s all said and done in that foundation. And when you get to this point, you look at that and it makes you realize where you are right now and that you were able to withstand some storms along the way. But now we got to go finish it. It’s one thing to build the foundation up at this point, now you got to go finish it off. And we get a chance to finish it this week.

On Will Howard’s biggest impact on the Ohio State team this season:

Leadership. Certainly performance has been excellent, but it’s leadership to me. It’s putting a team on your shoulders. We’re going against a quarterback who’s an excellent leader as well, so it’ll be a battle. But the way that Will can take the team on his shoulders and not only lead the way but also pump guys up. He’s got a good positive mindset.

On the offensive line rotation:

It’s been a group that’s had a lot of different combinations all year and I think it’s become a very resilient group. They have to be at their best this week. They’ve got to finish the job, and a big part of this game is going to be up front on both sides of the ball.

On the idea of leaving no doubt and how it relates to the season:

That’s it. You’ve got to leave no doubt, that’s it. And whether it’s a game or a season, we’ve got to finish this thing the right way. Whether you’re talking about that foundation and building what you wanted to get done this season and finishing it the right way or leaving no doubt. I mean, all those things come into play, and it was all for this moment right here.