Postgame Quotes: Vols 28, Ohio 19

Sept. 17, 2016

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Tennessee Head Coach Butch Jones

(Opening Statement)
"First of all, we got another gritty win. We had some individuals step up. I'm really proud of Baylen Buchanan. He's an individual whose reps have been very minimal and he steps up and really made some big plays for us. We were shorthanded in the secondary. Justin Martin was out with an ankle injury. He turned his ankle on Wednesday in practice. I give him a lot of credit; he told me that if I needed him that he would play. He suited up and was on the sideline coaching them up. I told him that he had a big hand in that victory.

"Cam Sutton will be out for an extended period of time. I will know a little bit more tomorrow. I feel for him and his family. This is an individual who is a role model for what a student-athlete is and what it takes to prepare week-in and week-out. You give me 11 [players like] Cam Sutton, and we will win a lot of football games. It is very unfortunate. Football is a humbling game. As a football family, we will be there for him.

"The big thing for us is consistency. We started fast on offense by going down on the first drive and scoring. I liked the intensity of our football team. Then their punt team was on the field twice, and we give them the football. We can't have the catastrophic penalties that we had. This football team lacks consistency right now. We had a lot of momentum-killers from penalties and too many balls on the ground, but our kids keep fighting and persevering and finding a way to win. Offensively, we went on an 11-play drive for 90 yards and a touchdown. There were some things that I liked; we threw the ball better today, but we still missed some wide open receivers. That is due to a combination of pass protection and stepping up in the pocket.

"Our goal was to be 3-0 at this point, and we are 3-0, but I think everyone will tell you that we have to get a lot better as we start conference play next week."

(On update on Reeves-Maybin's injury status)
"His is a shoulder injury. We will know more tomorrow, hopefully. We anticipate having him back this week. I'll know a little bit more on his status probably tomorrow."

(On what they have seen from Baylen Buchanan)
"We have really challenged him with his intensity. During the last week, he has really stepped it up. He is a youngster that has had a great advantage, learning from the best-of-the-best in Cam Sutton. I think he has gained confidence as the season has progressed. You never know. You're always one play away. He was our fourth or fifth corner, and then all of a sudden, he was on the field for three and a half quarters, helping us win a football game."

(On what he saw from Derek Barnett)
"He was playing Derek Barnett football. He had a relentless approach and was relentless to get to the passer. We needed that. I think it sparked the defense and defensive front. It's great to see a performance like he had. We are going to need that down the stretch here."

(On what he thought about the offensive line)
"I'll know more after I watch the video. From the view on the sidelines, it is premature to comment on it because I want to go back and watch the video."

(On the turnovers and penalties)
"I'm not happy with it. That is not the way we play football around here. Penalties are inexcusable. The balls on the ground are inexcusable. That's not how we are going to play football around here. Our players understand that, but I am pulling my hair out because we have never coached a football team that has been like that. It's bizarre ways that we are dropping the ball. It's untimely. Those are part of the momentum-killers. We will go back to work again to correct that. We can't do that in conference-play, or we don't have a chance. We have to clean those things up in a hurry. That falls on my shoulders, and I am going to make sure to point it out, and we get better at it. You guys are at the practice, you see the Maxim One period and everything we do. We have to take tremendous strides in doing that. We have a formula for winning, and you can't put the ball on the ground. We are fortunate. You could say that we didn't turn it over that much, but five balls on the ground is inexcusable."

(On Alvin Kamara's performance)
"I thought he stepped up and had some explosive runs for us. He gives us a different dimension when we move him around. He added a spark to our offense that was great to see."

(On if he is surprised by the team's play despite experience)
"It is uncharacteristic. It's something that these individuals haven't done before. It's a point of emphasis, and we have to improve on it and get better at it. It will be a point of emphasis every time we carry the ball. We will practice it. Thank goodness we haven't turned the ball over much and that we have done a good job of recovering loose footballs, but I don't know what else to tell you besides they are inexcusable plays and we will get better at it."

(On having to shuffle the offensive line so much)
"We are searching for the best five that give us an opportunity to win. I know all of those individuals are very prideful. They will continue to work and get better, but we are searching for the best that give us an opportunity to win. There is an intensity and consistency that goes along with it. There's a pride in your performance. It starts on Monday and goes through Friday and gives you the opportunity to play winning football on Saturday."

(On whether or not he is seeing the mistakes in practice)
"That's the thing that is frustrating. You don't see it in practice. We do one-on-one periods. We do all these things. We coach them on every single rep and that's the thing. We've got to take it to the game now. We'll continue to preach it. We'll show it on video. We'll show the reasons why. It's all about the football. That's the thing that's frustrating. You don't see it throughout the course of the week, but when the game counts, you're seeing it. Like I said, this is uncharted territory for us but we'll get better. That's the only thing we can do."

(On the offensive line struggles)
"I think you just nailed it. That's a group that has to work collectively as one. All individuals need to become one and work together as five. If one individual has a fundamental mistake or a breakdown, it's magnified because that's what you see. That's why I don't want to pass judgment until I have watched the video. We also did some really good things. We had an 11-play, 90-yard drive. I thought we did some good things offensively, but the thing, just like putting the ball on the ground, is a level of consistency and the ability to sustain an 11, 12, 13, 14 play drive. We still had way too many negative yardage football plays. If we're going to play action pass on first down, we can't have 2nd and 19. We can't have 2nd and 14. You'd rather have 2nd and 10. So those are the things that I'll look at and we'll do our due diligence on. I'll know a little bit more on Monday because a lot of times what I've found is it's four individuals doing the right thing and one individual has a fundamental breakdown and everybody sees that."

(On avoiding offensive lulls and Josh Malone's touchdowns)
"I think it starts in practice first and foremost. It starts in the meeting room and intensity about yourself with mental effort and mental intensity. It starts there. It starts in the team meetings and then it transcends when you go into the weight rom. It filters over to when you go on the field. That's something we're going to continue and we have to do a much better job as coaches of demanding that and demanding that we do things right. These individuals work exceptionally hard in practice, but it's taking the fruits of your labor of your practice and applying it to the game. We do some good things and it's a level of consistency. That'll continue to be demanded in practice. It will be demanded in the film session. It'll be demanded in everything that we do.

In terms of Josh Malone, I'm really proud of him. He's really stepped up and made some big-time catches for us in some big-time situations. He had a couple touchdowns today. Again, he's another individual who has grown in our program and he works exceptionally hard every day. Josh Malone has had a high level of consistency week-in and week-out, day-in and day-out in practice and it shows on gameday."

(On the difference in the red zone)
"That's what I told the football team a few minutes ago. Our red zone efficiency is what won us the football game. It first started defensively in making them kick field goals. Obviously, that's our goal and that's the plan. Offensively, it is scoring touchdowns in the red zone. To me, that was really the difference between winning and losing today, the red zone efficiency on both sides of the football. We still have a long way to go in terms of our special teams. It's still not where we need to be. I thought Aaron Medley kicked the ball very well. Any time you can kick the ball through the end zone is a great kickoff defense. I thought he did a great job that way. I just think Baylen Buchanan is a great illustration to a lot of our younger players. We're decimated right now with injuries, so we're going to have to rely on some more individuals. Nobody was even talking about Baylen Buchanan last week, and now all of a sudden everyone is talking about Baylen Buchanan. I'm very proud of him because he just works every day. We're going to need some other individuals to step up. It was great to get Tyler Byrd out there. I thought Tyler did some good things. Jason Croom stepped up and had the one big third down catch. Josh did a great job of hanging in the pocket and took a shot and Jason made a diving catch. Those are one of those two to three to four to six plays in a game that mean the difference between winning and losing. It was great to see Jason out there. We have to have some youngsters step up starting SEC play next week."

(On Florida week)
"It's the most important game because it is the next game. Is this game our season? No, every game is our season. I appreciate the nine-game winning streak. That's something that our program is proud of. I think it's the first time since 2004 and what you see is a football team that, it may be ugly, but we found a way to win. I think everyone knows we have to play a lot better to continue that winning streak. We're going to play a really good football team coming in here. We all know about them, and it's going to be a great challenge for us again. I want to step back too and enjoy the win. Nine straight, first time since 2004, there's been a lot of hard work and effort that's gone into it. I think the gist of the matter is we have to get better in a hurry, starting tonight, starting tomorrow and starting Monday."

Tennessee Defensive Back Rashaan Gaulden

(On Baylen Buchanan)
"Seeing Baylen grow up before my eyes, that's just very encouraging. He made some plays out there. We saw it in his eyes all week that he was ready to go and he stepped up when the opportunity presented itself."

(On Todd Kelly Jr. helping with defensive checks)
"You just look at the way we ball, TK (Todd Kelly) has been in the system for a while and if anybody needs help with a check, TK will come up and help us out. Just from the whole defensive standpoint, it's next man up. Colton Jumper, he's very capable, he's a very good middle linebacker. Cortez (McDowell) when he jumps in for Jalen (Reeves-Maybin) no big drop off. We're all ready, next man up and we just executed."

Tennessee Linebacker Cortez McDowell

(On young players stepping up)
"We had a couple young guys step in today, make some big plays for us. That goes to the week of training (we had). We're proud of those guys who come in and stepped up today."

(On benefit from other players stepping up)
"It creates a lot of confidence in those guys who stepped in today. For myself and Baylen (Buchanan) it was really a confidence check for us. It's really what we're going to take from today's game, how we're going to apply it for the future. How we're going to get better from it."

Tennessee Offensive Lineman Jashon Robertson

(On the offensive inconsistency and what needs to be fixed)
"We had a better start than the last two games today, it is just a matter of keeping that same intensity consistent throughout the entire game; staying focused, taking it one play at a time and just focusing on the now instead of what happened before or what's coming up next"

(On the uncharacteristic mistakes that occurred throughout the game)
"It is just something you just have to focus on during the week of practice and prepare to really keen in on; like balls on the ground and different technical errors and things of that nature. It is just going back to the minor details and really honing in on those things that will get those [errors] corrected in the future.

(On Butch Jones comment about still searching for his five best offensive linemen)
"That should be the world you live in in a great football program. Day in and day out no one should be comfortable where they are currently in the program. Guys should be consistently pushing guys for positions and I think we are at a point where there are a lot of guys competing for a lot of spots and that is what you need. That competition everyday interpositionally and against the D-line and the defense that develops that mental toughness, mental focus and intensity that you need to have throughout a game."

Tennessee Defensive Lineman Jonathan Kongbo

(On the game slowing down)
"Yes sir, I think it's just familiarizing myself with the playbook. I feel like the first step is knowing your assignment and I'm starting to make that transition into playing fast. I feel like that's where the improvement is coming from."

(On being comfortable playing both tackle and defensive end)
"Yes, I've definitely gotten more comfortable with it. I felt like the first game I felt kind of uncomfortable at the tackle position but just going through the week with coach (Steve) Stripling and coach (Bob) Shoop we just talked about what I could do in there. I feel much more comfortable in there now."

Tennessee Defensive Back Baylen Buchanan

(On coming into the game)
"I've been preparing all week, just watching film, studying my assignments. When he (Cam Sutton) went down, it was just like, alright I have to step in. I just didn't want to let my team down."

(On the game slowing down)
"After the first drive it kind of slowed down for me. Of course the transition from high school to college (is hard), I just did my assignment, did my job and everything just fell into place."

Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs

(On Malone's progression as player)
"To see him play at a high level is definitely what I expect out of him week in and week out - it's definitely what he expects out of himself. When the ball is thrown in his direction he wants to make the play and keep the chains moving. He's definitely continuing to grow and we will definitely expect him to continue playing at a high level moving forward."

(On trust with Malone)
"Trust is huge and trust is built in the offseason in practice. You trust your skills, abilities and teammates and go out to make plays for one another."

(O-Line protection issues/early season struggles)
"I know they're working their butts off each and every snap to protect me and to open up holes in the run game. We come off the field and talk about different looks we are getting and the defense doing different things; having to adjust our calls, run calls. There's a lot of trust in that room. When a team comes in here (Knoxville) that they're going to give it their best shot. We are grinding each and every day now to continue to improve and win ball games. At the end of the day it comes down to execution on our part."

(On frustrations with offensive rhythm)
"We saw last week what five fumbles can do to a team, especially when you lose all of them. Luckily we were able to come up with all of them - turnover margins are the biggest deciding factors in ball games and we understand that we have to take care of the football. It's definitely not the style we play, what we preach and what our standards are. We will have to work on that - throw game, run game - and keeping the ball in our hands."

(On his running game)
"We called a little more, started doing some different things. In the 3rd quarter we started moving the ball more efficiently and owning it up front to give me more time to throw the football. We had a couple of big 3rd down conversions to finish out the game and keep the ball in our hands. It's a true testament."

(On the 4th quarter yards compared to rest of game)
"Mentality and execution to finish out the game strong"

(On SEC play)
"We are excited for SEC football. We are 3-0 going into this week and we are definitely excited about the upcoming game. We have things to improve on from this past game and we will go back to the film to see what we did well and what we can improve on to get ready for Monday to be a better football team at practice."

(On team heading into SEC play)
"I want whatever players can be most beneficial and can move the chains. We definitely have ultimate trust in each other, it comes down to details and the little things. It's hard to win in college football. Of course as a competitor I want the ball in my hands - I just want to win at the end of the day. That's my mindset every time I step on the field and that's what I'll continue to do."

Tennessee wide receiver Josh Malone

(On trust with Dobbs)
"I know if I run my route the right way and get open, I know Dobbs will put the ball where I will be able to make a play on it."

(Outlook on team being 3-0 going into SEC play)
"We have made progress from the first game and we still have a lot of small things we need to fix up, as a whole entire offense. As long as we keep improving and keep winning each week, we will get better and fix the small things from this week."

(On becoming a playmaker)
"If you ask any wide receiver that question they are going to tell you that they are the go-to guy. For me, I do my job on the field and stay patient."

Ohio Head Coach Frank Solich

(Opening statement)
"I thought it was a good football game. I thought both teams played hard, played for four quarters. There were a lot of things in the game that could of went a little different for both teams that would of made a big difference in the game. I really am proud of the way our kids battled and doing it for four quarters, putting themselves in a position to win the game. It became clear that you can't let them get explosive plays on you when you're whatever we were as an underdog. I don't know how many points it was, but whenever you're an underdog you don't want them scoring fast. The other thing they were so good at was special teams, one of the top teams in the country in punt and kickoff returns and that can get a game out of hand very, very quickly. I thought the game plan we had for special teams was really good. I thought it held up today and I think that allowed us to stay in the ball game, as well as playing fairly well on offense and fairly well on defense. Sure we'd like to have some plays back but so would they."

(On losing a running back in the second half)
"It takes you out of some of your offense, without question. You'd like to use Papi [White] a lot as a wide receiver, bringing him in motion, fly sweeps, do a lot of things with him, and in order to do that you have to have Vinny [Emanuele] in the game. As you know, that was a true freshman walk-on that stepped into a pretty big situation here today. Our top three running backs were hurt, our top two coming into the game were not available, A.J. [Ouellette] had surgery today and Malik couldn't make the trip because of an injury, so Dorian [Brown] had to take the vast majority of the reps, but he got hurt. That had some effect on what we planned to do in terms of different formations, different schemes, it took us out of some of those. But I'm not so sure if we would have ran the schemes and formations we wanted to that the outcome would have been any different. We played a very, very good football team and they made some plays, we made some plays."

(On the trouble scoring TDs in the redzone)
"You don't want to kick field goals. I don't think there's anybody in the business that wants to kick field goals, but you want to keep yourself within a score of your opponent and we were able to do that by kicking field goals, so we do that. We keep ourselves within a score and that allows you ... they had the ball on the ground four times, if we had gotten one or two of those, who knows how that would have played out? So we kept ourselves in position by kicking field goals, but it's not what you're after, it's not what we're after, it's not what anybody's after, so there's a lot of work that needs to get done with our redzone offense and actually our redzone defense, if you look at the entire season so far. We'll see how that all plays out, but I know this, you don't want to try and go for touchdowns and not make them and all of a sudden find yourself outside of a score to be in the lead, outside of two scores to be in the lead, outside of three scores to be in the lead. If you can put points on the board and keep yourself within a score that's what you're after, but bottom line is you're after touchdowns if you can get them."

(On how similar Butch Jones' offense is compared to his time at Central Michigan)
"You know I don't know. That was a long time ago when Central Michigan and Ohio faced one another in the MAC, but I'm sure everybody continues to add to their offensive thinking and updating it, and you build it around your personnel. You try to recruit to what you want to do but when you get guys in you have to work at building around what you're putting on the football field. I think he's [Butch Jones] good at that, he's good at making adjustments and doing the things he needs to do to put his team in position to win, both offensively and defensively, and you know special teams wise."

(On where it starts preparing for Tennessee's offense)
"Well, they have really good skill people. They have a quarterback that can throw and run. They are hard to tackle, all the backs. Hurd is big powerful back. Just hard to bring down, but he has good quickness and good movement. But everybody who seems to touch the ball for them has the ability to make you miss and get yards after contact. We needed to tackle a little bit better than what we did today to hold up on defense a little bit better, but we need to do a few things on offense too."

(On WR Sebastian Smith coming back)
"It's the first time that he was healthy. He really hasn't had that many practices, so I think he tired out some but he kept battling. He's a great receiver. He's got decent height. He will go up and battle for the football. He's a long strider, but he's got good speed. He can make the tough catch. He can be a special receiver."

(On the wide receivers play with running backs hurt)
"We thought coming in that we had really good depth at running back, and really good depth at wide out. That has held true, but we are getting to the bottom end of the depth with the running backs. Getting Sebastian [Smith] back was a big plus for us in terms of our receiving core. We have a lot of guys who can go up and get the ball and run good routes. I think we can be an explosive football team, but we have to get ourselves healthy again."

(On the defensive line play)
"Well, we did put some pressure on Josh [Dobbs]. Tarell [Basham] was up here and made the comment that we kept him from being comfortable in the pocket. I think that was true. I think we had enough pressure on him when we didn't sack him to make him somewhat uncomfortable in the pocket. I thought that was a huge plus in what we were getting done defensively in getting him off balance a little bit."

Ohio Wide Receiver Sebastian Smith

(On the red zone chances without touchdowns)
"We went in there and scored points with field goals and worked with what we could. My teammates, they fought hard the whole game. I'm proud of them. I think we gave them our best shot and that's was the plan for what to do."

Ohio Quarterback Greg Windham

(On Tennessee's rush defense)
"Their defense front, they have a good front four. They played their tails off. Hats off to them. They played hard."

Ohio Defensive Lineman Tarell Basham

(On the team's feeling at halftime)
"That was the most hungry point in the game for me. I feel like the defense and the offense as well, it was the most hungry point in the game. Knowing that we are still in the game at halftime, knowing that we still have two more quarters of football to be played, knowing that we are willing to go out there and lay our bodies on the line for whatever the coaches want us to do."

(On not capitalizing on fumbles)
"It was very frustrating. For a defense, loose balls, we want to recover those. That makes a big difference in the game. If you look at the stats in any college football game, turnovers definitely play a big role. Those four loose balls, any of those being turnovers could have been a difference to this game."

(On wanting to make a point playing against Tennessee)
"I wanted to show what we could do as a unit. We have a really good team, a lot of guys who played their heart out tonight. I just want to give all the credit to them. In my four years of playing for this team, I've never seen a group of guys play so hard for one common goal. It was amazing in the midst of it. I'm not going to hang my head, because I know I have a group of guys who can go out and win every game if we really put our hearts into it and play as hard as we did in this game."

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