Watch the video above and read below for the transcript of Coach Leipold's press conference yesterday.
Coach Leipold
On Ohio's team, what stands out:
Despite last week's set back for them as well, excellent football team, had been playing very good until that time. They got banged up, things got away from them in the second half, really got depleted at the linebacker position, but Coach Frank Solich has done an outstanding job in his time there. The continuity he's had in his program with his coordinators -- excellent coaches as well -- I think they've been able to build a program in this conference that many coaches would want to emulate in his consistency.
Looking at a lot of the two deep, they're playing a lot of juniors and seniors and a lot of people like that. Very diverse in their offensive attack, excellent defense, front four that's very phsycial. Again, I've talked about the LBs and the secondary that's been able to make a lot of plays.
On the challenge of getting past CMU:
I know as we get ready to take the field here shortly I want to say it was different yesterday. Different, positivity on the approach I felt for a Monday. I know they're disappointed, I know they're not pleased with the performance on Saturday, and I look forward to this week's practice on how we're gonna approach this thing. It's a mature group, especially our seniors. They've been through a lot and they know now that we're getting past the halfway point here of the regular season, we've gotta make sure that we're maximizing our opportunities.
On making any 'significant' changes after two MAC losses:
We adjusted a few things during the open week, taking a look. We're always evaluating, we always will evaluate. We talked about we wanna make sure we're always creating competitive situations in practice, in the program. What's disappointing about Saturday's game and the margin and the overall performance is I think we came aaway from the Bowling Green game with a lot of positives.
And if you still look at what's happened since then, the defensive performance and the offensive ball control in that game, we had a lot to build on and to take the step back that we did is disappointing, but it doesn't mean that we can't get ourselves back where we want to be.
"Offensively are you pleased with things where they stand right now?" [sic]
No. Seven offensive points in this game, the last game we drove the ball pretty well. It's inconsistency right now, and we've gotta find ways to become more consistent in what we're doing. By no means in what our offensive potential is and what our offensive production is, it's not what it needs to be for us to be a winning football team.
"Is that surprising to you. That's the one thing going into this season people were confident."
I think when you look at it, when you look at the offensive experience by grade versus the defensive side, I can see it, by years of experience maybe not. Again, both sides of the ball are in their first year of things; it's not like we've never, we haven't had any running game, it's not like we haven't been able to protect and throw and catch, it's a matter of getting consistency and we have to get that going soon.
On flipping Guy and Manosalvas on the line:
We flipped them the last week, and that's the way we went. Really, last Tuesday on we decided to take a look at it, and we'll probably stay that way.
On Taylor leaving the game in the third quarter:
I don't know if I'd say 'doubtful' right now; questionable in that area. We'll have a better idea where we're at. ... As of right now I don't think he's practicing today. He was listed this morning as 'out.' I don't know if that changed, I've been tied up with a lot of stuff, so I don't think he's going today.
On Ohio's offensive style, more run-based than previous opponents:
They throw in some option, maybe not much as in the past, but mobile quarterback Derrius Vick has done a great job, they've run some option plays; Frank Solich's background at Nebraska, Tim Albin his offensive coordinator there, so I would expect always option to be a threat. It always forces you to be assignment sound.
What you see is multiple ball-carriers, I think five to six, that are averaging between 4.5 to 6.0 yards per carry, so multiple weapons they can go to. And likewise in the passing game, I think teams that are able to run the ball, in their philosophy, they'll have excellent play action pass. They're able to use six different receivers, and I think from about 12 catches to about mid-30s. Lot of weapons, lot of diversity. Excellent center, I think a unit, knowing Coach from years past, the pride that they're gonna be excellent up front and physical.