CLAY HELTON
--on electing to kick a field goal on fourth-and-4 from the 10 early in the fourth quarter while trailing by 17
“You try to make it a two-score game. And I thought it would give us momentum, to be honest with you. Had plenty of time left in that game. And we got the ball right back. I think there was about eight minutes and some change on the clock there. You kind of do a two-score game. We actually got the ball back with 6:50, I think, was left and that’s what you wanted. At the end of the day, I thought the difference in the game was the early turnovers that created 14 really easy points for Ohio State, not getting the run game started. And then the second half when our defense was playing so good, just not finishing in the red zone. You have a defense that holds people to 290 yards, you look up and you’re putting yards all over the place. We just didn’t finish today. That, and the turnovers cost us.”
(Note: There was actually 13:03 remaining when USC kicked the field goal and 9:42 when USC got the ball back.)
--on OSU’s D-line
“We didn’t have a lot of mental (blown) assignments tonight. What we had was just physical beats. And they did a tremendous job. Thy held our run game in check. We’ve always had our issues when the run game does not go. And when it was passing situations, they got to the quarterback. I credit Sam. I told him in front of the team, I thought he was a warrior tonight. To get off the ground that many times and make the plays that he did, he showed his true class and character. But credit that Ohio State front. I was blown away by them tonight, and they’re truly a talented bunch.”
SAM DARNOLD
--on what happened on offense
“Turnovers. Whenever you turn the ball over that much, it’s hard to win games. I made a bad read on the pick-six. I shouldn’t have thrown it, obviously. He jumped inside of the receiver right after the ball was snapped and I didn’t see him. It was a bad play on my part. And the strip fumbles, when I’m in the pocket, those are tough. … I missed a couple throws, too, that I would have liked to have back that would have switched the momentum. There’s a lot of stuff where we shot ourselves in the foot.”
--on whether he ever had to be so decisive before
“They’re obviously a really good defensive line. They’re probably the best that I’ve played. Our O-line for the most part did a rally good job of picking everything up. I just missed a couple throws, like I said.”
--on his process now that the season is over
“Just talking to my family, talking to coaches, people who have been in my position before.”
--on how this game will impact his decision
“Right now I think I’m really just focused on just hanging out with my teammates for the next couple of days and really just saying bye to the seniors because they’ve put together such a great season. But it’s tough. I’ll look at everything and make my decision after that.”
RONALD JONES
--on whether it's his final game at USC
"I don't know, I'm still trying to figure it out, I need to graduate, things like that."
--on the biggest factor in his decision - draft evaluations, coaches, family, team
"Probably a little bit of all. I'm just going to need some time to think about it."
--on if this loss makes it tougher to come back
"Nah, because we have unfinished business, so it's just disappointing right now."
--on if it is more motivating then
"Yeah, it is actually."
--on whether Darnold returning would make him seriously consider returning doing so as well
"Oh yeah, most definitely. That's the man. You know, when you got him under center there's always a possibility of winning every game."
MICHAEL PITTMAN
--on how the game played out
“We thought we were going to make plays but they kind of out executed us. I feel if you looked at the stats without looking at the score, I feel like people would think we won. but they were just out executing us in the red zone, defensive turnovers and they were forcing turnovers and that’s how they got the win tonight. And I feel like our defense played completely lights out, hats off the those guys guys, Uchenna (Nwosu) and Cam (Smith), Vell (Marvell Tell), C-Hawk (Chris Hawkins), (Josh) Fatu, everybody. I feel like they played their ass off and they just played their hearts out and it’s just unfortunate that it happens the way it does. That happens in football playing against a good team like Ohio State. So we’re going to get better from this.”
--on how the defensive performance leaves the offense feeling
“It’s always like, it doesn’t feel good of course. Because I kind of feel guilty, I feel like I let my defense down and kind of let my seniors down. I didn’t give up but it just wasn’t what we hoped for or the outcome that we wanted.”
--on why the offense wasn't as sharp as usual
“I don’t know but any given day, you can play lights out or make some mistakes. So if we came out and played them again, I bet it would be a different outcome and a closer game and a different outcome. But it was just their night tonight so they’re going to be celebrating tonight. We left a lot of plays out there, our defense played great, we have a lot to work on for next season.”
--on if there was anything learned from how Ohio State performed on this stage
“To be honest with you, I thought the receivers did a good job all night. I’m not sure there was anything else we could have done differently besides the turnovers. Because again, our defense played probably the best they’ve played all year and it was just the turnovers that killed us."
