Toledo postgame press conference transcript

Toledo Press Conference Transcript

Mike Jacobs: Listen, I’m really proud of the way our guys competed, right? For all 60 minutes, as we talked about early in the week. This has traditionally been a place where we haven’t played our best football.

I’ve got a lot of respect for Coach Uremovich. I thought his team had a good plan today. I thought they played extremely hard, certainly caused us a few issues. As far as the day went, listen, huge day on the ground. I’m really proud of the way our offensive line played. We were down a couple guys in that position group today. And to step up and gut out 352 yards today on the ground, I think says a lot. That’s a statement type deal, right?

They were physical, they were relentless. Our running backs, again, you see that by how deep our running back room is. And it can be anybody, any day. I’m super proud of those guys. Obviously, the tight ends and the pass protection. And when we needed critical plays, we made them. I didn’t think we were overly complementary today, right? We were moving the ball, but we weren’t getting points, or we were sputtering out on offense. Defense was getting holds or stops.

We just couldn’t sync them together until right before half. I thought that series where we held them to a field goal attempt in under two minutes, I thought we did a good job managing the time, used our timeouts to give us a chance. We’ve seen John Alan really execute the two-minute [offense] at a really high level.

And so, fortunately, they missed it. And then we get the ball, and we go, what, 90 yards or something, in less than 1:30. I thought that was the critical swing in the game. So there are some pockets of really good football. There’s some stuff we did exceptionally well. There’s some tremendous efforts. And then there’s a ton of stuff we gotta clean up.

But again, I just told the team that half the teams in America are gonna lose today, and the Rockets didn’t. So we’re not gonna pout about it. We’re gonna look ourselves in the mirror. We’re gonna correct the stuff we didn’t do well throughout the course of the week. And we look forward to seeing everybody at home for Buffalo next weekend for homecoming.

Question: Coach, was that kind of the philosophy, especially in the second half? It just felt like you guys were a boa constrictor, just kind of slowly grinding them down. Did it feel that way? Was that kind of the emphasis?

Jacobs: I like to score fast and a lot – that’s what I like to do, right? It’s like NASCAR, I wanna drive fast and take chances. But we also have to be smart. And listen, you’ve seen us go really fast and score points. And you saw us today just grind out yardage and clock. You’re gonna win some close games. And that’s a good thing, right?

When you win different kinds of ways, when you beat people by a bunch, you execute a crazy game against Temple. You played really clean football in all three phases last week. And today we had a gut out of win.

I’m proud of what they did and how they did it. It was just kind of whatever it took, right?

Question: Did you feel vindicated after you guys punted on fourth-and-1, and then they end up getting the safety?

Jacobs: Yeah. Listen, I thought our defense had been doing a good job, right? We’d held them pretty well in check since the first drive really. We had two penalties on the first drive. I think we settled in and then we only ended up with five on the day. It just felt like they all happened on that first series.

So, we got it out of the way early. But yes, proud of the defense for getting us back. You remember I played for Jim Tressel. [Laughs] So we’re gonna punt it and make them go 95 yards or whatever. And when you’ve got a great defensive line like we have, where they’ve been getting in the backfield and forcing some TFLs. You saw a massive play there. I thought that was big.

Question: What went into the decision with five seconds left in the first half to go to the end zone instead of taking the field goal?

Jacobs: Based on what the time is left, you always say, hey, listen, the ball’s gotta go in the end zone or you gotta throw it into the bounce house up top, right? But we need at least one second because we’re out of timeouts. JAR’s a really savvy player. Daryl did a good job staying alive as the play developed, and JAR delivered a strike. That was a massive play for us.

Question: How would you say your team handled the first MAC road environment? Obviously, this is a place you’ve talked about that Toledo hasn’t had the most success historically, but just the way that they handled it, especially down the stretch when Ball State started to make their move.

Jacobs: I’m proud of how we played at the most critical times. There’s a bunch of stuff in between that needs to get cleaned up. As far as going on the road and winning conference games, that’s what’s ailed us, right? Over the years, we get sky high for big games and then we’ve found a way to not play our best at certain times.

Kudos to Ball State, but I thought our team handled the travel piece really well. I mean, they were ready to play. We just didn’t execute at a high enough level, and we’ll correct all that stuff. The good news is it’s correctable, and we won. So, I’m proud of how they handled it. We’re 1-0 on the road.

Question: What did you say to Zock when he picked up the fumble?

Andrew Zock: He told me to give the ball back to the official.

Question: Yeah, I was worried that they had mentioned that we were gonna get a potential delay of game. We talk about celebrating with our teammates. So, we all get a little excited sometimes. I’m sure I was super delicate and nice about it, too. [Laughs]

Question: Zock, what was your perspective on that play, just getting that ball?

Zock: I came off the edge. I saw the quarterback sitting there holding it, he was about to let it go.
And I was right there at the perfect time. Got my hand on the ball, got my hand on him. The ball was actually sitting up in the air. I thought one of my teammates had caught the ball out of the air. And then, I was trying to find what was going on in the pile, and the ball just popped out next to my feet. I just landed on it.

Question: CJ, for you, just the ground game today, what can you say about your guys’ efforts?

CJ Miller: I think we did pretty good today. I feel like I haven’t been playing to my standard. And with Coach Jacobs and my coaches just letting me know, hey, I’m good or whatever. So I just came out here and played my game today.

Question: It felt like this was the first game since Week 1 where you guys really had to lean on your defense. The offense has been playing so well the last three weeks. Finally, you guys kinda are the ones to step up to the plate. Ball State threw the two-quarterback system at you. They threw the fake punt at you. You had those three penalties on the opening drive, yet you only had two the rest of the game. Just talk about the way the defense as a whole really handled all of those scenarios and the way they just really stayed disciplined.

Zock: I’ll say we practice all those scenarios. We talk about a fake punt, you gotta expect that, especially with a team like this, we’re at their house. They’re trying to get a win, a big win. So you gotta expect everything like that.

And just overcoming adversity. Obviously, we gave them the penalties on the first drive, and you can’t beat yourselves, but sometimes it happens. You’re just playing football and mistakes happen, but we knew to overcome those. And as far as the offense leaning on us, like you said, the past two weeks, past three weeks, it seems like they’re just scoring every drive. They do a great job for us, and they’ve bailed us out at times. So we know we had to step up and do our part.

Like you said, we didn’t play the most complementary football today, but that’s something we’ll get cleaned up next week.

Question: Coach, I think Rubenstein got a first down in this game, too.

Jacobs: A big one.

Question: What can you say about him and the depth of the running game?

Jacobs: I think what you’re seeing around the country is, with a lot of the roster transition, depth is an issue, right, at a lot of places. And what’s been neat for us is, man, it seems like somebody new has stepped up every week in a critical moment. We’ve had consistent guys, but I think that was a big third down, if I remember correctly. And again, another local guy that just fought his tail off.

He's a walk-on. I mean, how many times have you heard me say that? I’m proud of all the guys today. Again, I’m never gonna feel bad about winning a college football game. We’re gonna be realistic that we gotta clean stuff up, but we’re not gonna pout.

Question: Speaking to those guys that are consistent for you, it seems like, and rightfully so, you really trust Connor to step up in a fourth-and-1 situation. Speak to what he’s been able to do in the trenches for you guys.

Jacobs: I think really all the running backs, but Connor in particular, he’s added a wrinkle for us.
You add an extra body when the person in the quarterback position is a runner. And so that’s been a wrinkle that's been really good for us. And we trust them to get a yard, we trust the O-line. Sometimes we did it today,

Things we gotta do better – we were 8-18 on third down offensively. We gotta be better. Now the critical ones we got, and then we were 2-4 [on fourth down]. So you take it, you’re 10 of 22, that’s gotta be up closer to that 50 percent range in my mind.

Question: A term you’ve used when describing the offense, when you guys are playing in rhythm, you say ‘on schedule.’ Just that score right before half, I know you guys were forced to play with tempo because of the time that was left, but with playing with tempo, did that help?

Jacobs: Listen, we press the pace at practice. And we work two-minute a bunch throughout the week. We’ve had an opportunity in games where we’ve been able to execute it. When I say on schedule, I’m just talking about being efficient on first down. So it’s anything over four yards. So that allows you to, if we need to go fast, if we need to go no huddle, we’re able to do those things.

And again, John Alan’s proven to make a bunch of good decisions. We can give him a couple different play options. And I thought Cris Reisert called another good game.

Question: Any update on Newell? How’s he doing?

Jacobs: Jake had a lower leg injury. I won’t know much until Sunday, probably Monday when we speak next, so I’ll have a little bit more of an update.

Question: CJ, I think it was a career-high 196 for you today. How did it feel, especially to close out the game the way you did with that long touchdown run?

Miller: It felt good because, like I said, I haven’t been playing particularly good. And I’ve been having Coach Jacobs and all my other coaches just tell me, hey, I'm good, just keep playing my game. So it just felt good to go out there and play well.

Jacobs: It felt like he’d been pressing. He’s been great for us. He's done everything we’ve asked. And I trust him. I’ve been in battles with him. I know what he does when the game’s on the line. I’ve seen him make those plays, and he saw it today, when we needed it, when we needed hard yards. Really, the combination of all three of those guys provided. But certainly, CJ, late in the game, the combination of size and speed is tough for people.

Question: First two 100-yard rushers for Toledo since 2023 in a single game. How do CJ and Connor complement each other so well in the run game? And what kind of spark does each of them provide for your offense?

Jacobs: I mean, listen, they both have the ability to run with speed. They both have the ability to put their helmet down and run through folks. So when we keep coming at people in waves—Ison’s a little bit the same way—It’s a bit demoralizing when the next guy in is as good, as fast, as strong. There’s just no fall off. And I think that’s where they play together well.

Thanks, guys. Appreciate y’all being here.

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