Oct. 25, 1997

Ohio State vs. Northwestern Postgame Quotes

Head Coach John Cooper

"I tell you, this young football team amazes me. I'll be honest with you, I didn't like the opening kick (onside) because we worked on it all week. This is probably the most complete game we've played to date."

"Overall we did a nice job on both sides of the football. Once we got settled down, we did a good job both running and throwing the football."

"Both our quarterbacks did a great job of handling the football today. They did a good job of getting the plays in, checking their receivers. Stan (Jackson) did a good job carrying the ball for positive yardage. I thought he did a good job of running the offense and throwing the ball. Joe (Germaine), boy, he was hot."

"I think our defense is getting better. Those guys work hard in practice. It was a pretty complete victory for us today."

"If your hitting 10 out of 13 for first downs you are keeping the ball for a good period of time."

"Offensively we did what we had to do to win the game. Moving the chains. Our wide receivers Dee (Miller) and David (Boston) did a nice job."

"It was a good, satisfying win over a scrappy, well coached team. I've got great respect for Gary (Barnett), he's done a good job over there."

"We were able to get the ball back, Joe hit Dee with the post route and that was the key to get the touchdown before the end of the half."

"Our offensive line did a good job. We were able to get quite a few players into the game which is good."

"Our only injury was Winfield Garnett. He's sprained his ankle."

Northwestern Head Coach Gary Barnett

"A key turning point for us was at the end of the first half, when our offense failed to get a first down and we were forced to kick. And they went right down and scored."

"I think that I went in at halftime and was more emotional than I usually get. Whether I took a chance and went the wrong way, I don't know."

"In the second half, we just came out and our offense sputtered. We couldn't move the ball."

"On offense, they just caught on fire and we couldn't make any plays."

"We just didn't have enough in us to come back and fight them and do anything with it. I think the key to that game before it got out of hand, was the play of their quarterbacks."

"It's so hard to defense a quarterback that is so mobile like that. It showed tonight for us. We felt like early on, we had to take away the receivers and stop the run with seven guys. We did a pretty decent job in the first half but when we got behind, we started trying to come after them."