Stroud: “I know I’m a great player”
Ohio State redshirt freshman quarterback C.J. Stroud attempts a pass in the third quarter of their 41-20 win over Tulsa. Photo by Sam Fahmi/Columbus Wired.
Ohio State redshirt freshman quarterback C.J. Stroud doesn’t care what you think.
He doesn’t care what the media thinks.
Really, he doesn’t care what anybody else thinks, for that matter.
“I feel like I’m getting better and better every week. I know a lot of people probably don’t agree with that but that’s OK. I have a God-given talent and every time I go out there, I give it my blood, sweat and my tears. And if that’s a problem with the media or whatever or whoever it is, I mean, it is what it is.”
After the ninth-ranked Buckeyes’ 41-20 win over Tulsa on Saturday afternoon in Ohio Stadium, a somewhat agitated Stroud took to the podium for their postgame press conference and addressed some fairly tough questions.
However, he shrugged them off with a glare in his eye because he feels he is great and won’t let anyone convince him otherwise.
“I’m going to keep my faith in God and my teammates and they have their faith in me and I’m just gonna keep going. I don’t worry about the negativity, I’m all about being positive and I feel like I’m a great player. Of course, everybody has mistakes but I know I’m a great player.”
It seemed rightful he was put on the spot about his spotty performances because it’s been feast or famine for the youngster the last two games.
After throwing for 484 yards last week in a loss to Oregon, Stroud seemed to struggle against a Tulsa defense that came into the matchup ranked No. 106 in pass efficiency defense and 89th in passing yards allowed, going 15-of-25 for 185 yards, one touchdown, one interception and one fumble lost.
“Every game is a learning aspect for me, I’m only a 19-year-old redshirt freshman,” he said. “It’s no excuse but I still have a lot of football to learn.”
In comparison to their previous two games, the Golden Hurricane (0-3) let FCS UC Davis quarterback Hunter Rodrigues air it out for 311 yards, one TD and no interceptions, however, they did hold Oklahoma State QB Spencer Sanders to 173 yards on 15-of-26 passing with two TD tosses and one pick.
Stroud said Tulsa was “a great team and a great defense” but he definitely should have played better and attributed his tough day to Tulsa’s somewhat unorthodox defense.
“Yeah they run a 3-3-5, so anybody who knows football knows it’s very tough to play against.”
For those unfamiliar with defensive schemes, the 3-3-5 is a defense that uses three defensive linemen, three linebackers and five defensive backs. It’s typically used by teams that don’t have great depth on the D-line or are looking for more speed especially when incorporating a blitz.
He said they knew after watching game film, it wasn’t going to be easy getting completions and Tulsa’s style was to lure him in with allowing short passes to lull him into a sense of security and then confuse him with a zone that would force him into either an incompletion or turnover.
That’s how, he said, they were able to pick him off.
“They just want you to snap the ball every play and get five, five, five and then if you get greedy, that’s how you turn the ball over and that’s how it happened.”
Head coach Ryan Day said he still felt his starter threw some good passes.
With a caveat or two.
“I still think he threw some good balls (but) he did miss a couple, sure,” he said. “There’s still a lot of good going on.”
Day pointed out that there were some times that the “bad” passes weren’t entirely Stroud’s fault.
Like the drive near the end of the first quarter, down 3-0, where Stroud threw a dart on the run that was placed on Olave’s numbers but Olave uncharacteristically dropped on first-and-10 at the Tulsa 32 that would have given the Buckeyes another first down. Instead, OSU went three-and-out and ended the drive with a Noah Ruggles 43-yard field goal that tied the game at 3-3.
Or the 47-yard pass he completed to receiver Chris Olave that finally gave Olave his first reception of the game but was called back because of a facemask committed by offensive lineman Paris Johnson, Jr.
The next drive, though, Stroud came back with his lone TD pass when he found receiver Garrett Wilson to the right side of the end zone on a drag route good for 12 yards.
“It would have been nice to get that throw to Chris, that was a big-time throw. But he came back with the touchdown play to Garrett. I thought the game coming off of last week (against Oregon), he’s played well. He’s going to miss some throws but he’s learning, he’s growing, it’s his third start so we’ll keep a look there.”
Day said he would like to see Stroud improve on his anticipation and field vision moving forward and will continue going over tape to see exactly what kind of adjustments can be made on a continual basis.
“I’ll watch the film and see. It’s week-to-week. You know, it’s anticipating, seeing things, maybe and preparing so that when you get out there, you’re anticipating, not reacting.”
The win puts Ohio State at 2-1 with their next game at home against Akron (1-2) who are coming off of a 35-14 win over the Bryant Bulldogs, an FCS team.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. and will air on the Big Ten Network.