Ohio State has officially arrived in Dallas amid some pretty windy conditions on Sunday night, so now it’s time to continue prep on site for the College Football Playoff quarterfinal matchup with the MiamiHurricanes in the Cotton Bowl Classic.
Upon arrival, however, two Ohio State players were made available to the media, and good on the program for making two Texas natives available to preview the matchup and what it means to be back in their home state. Those two players were running back James Peoples and linebacker Payton Pierce. Both have been very important rotational pieces of the lineup this year, and both have to be excited about having family and friends available to see them in action on the biggest stage of college football.
We are on site in Dallas and have the full transcript of the question and answer session for Pierce as we continue to bring you content leading up to the next step on Ohio State’s journey to defend its CFP national championship.
Q. How was that landing tonight?
LB PAYTON PIERCE: It was good. Glad to be here. It was a little cooler than I expected.
Q. I was going to say, you’ve lived in Texas. You know it can change in a heartbeat, right?
LB PAYTON PIERCE: I know. I was here a couple days ago for Christmas, and it was like70-degrees. Now it’s like 40-something.
Q. What’s the excitement like for a guy like you coming back to your home state? You’ve beenhere before but to be here again with such a game?
LB PAYTON PIERCE: Yeah, I’m super excited. You grow up watching the Cotton Bowl, so it meansa lot coming back and doing it again. It’s a dream come true.
Q. For you, you guys have played here now for the third straight year. How does that routinehelp you guys?
LB PAYTON PIERCE: Yeah, I mean, we know how to handle it. We’ve played here before. Ourcoaches and staff do a great job of getting us prepared, and we come in and do our job and headout.
Q. What’s the mood in this team as you arrive here to play this game?
LB PAYTON PIERCE: I think everyone is hungry, ready to go back out there and go play. I mean,everyone’s excited, having physical practices and stuff. Just ready to put it on the field.
Q. Is there a different mood to the defense, especially coming off the first loss? They only scored13 points, but they had a drive. How would you describe the dedication of the defense headedinto these games?
LB PAYTON PIERCE: Yeah, no doubt. I think we’ve got a couple weeks to work on ourselves andjust keep getting better when we didn’t have an opponent. I think those past couple weeks havebeen great, just getting better and stuff, just staying physical and practicing hard. And we’reready to go out there and play.
Q. What impresses you most about the Miami offense?
LB PAYTON PIERCE: I mean, everything. They have a good run game. Quarterback (Carson Beck)is great. They did a great job against A&M. So we’re just focused on us, trying to get better, andgo out there and stop them.
Q. When I say Keionte [Scott], what’s the first thing that comes to mind?
LB PAYTON PIERCE: Fast. He’s good. He’s really good, fast, and athletic. He plays all over thefield, wildcat. Yeah, we’re ready to go play against him. It will be fun.
Q. What do you think the team, as a whole, rededicated itself to in the last several weeks?Ryan Day said the small things, the little things, maybe you let slide as the season goes on.How would you describe what y’all really put a pinch on the last couple weeks?
LB PAYTON PIERCE: We got to tone all our fundamentals and stuff like that. We got to look backat — self-scout ourselves for the last couple weeks. It was good. We got to get better at a lot ofdifferent things. I think we’re just focusing on playing a fast, physical game.
Q. When you look at the running back (Mark Fletcher) for Miami, how do you get ready to defend against him in a great game like Texas A&M?
LB PAYTON PIERCE: He’s a big, physical player. We’ve got some big, physical running backs atOhio State. So just practicing physical, hitting each other, and it’s going to be fun. As a linebacker,we love playing against big running backs that like to be physical. So it will be a fun game.
Q. Kayden McDonald in a nutshell, the guy’s a unanimous All-American. They’re already talkingabout him in Miami, about how impressive he is on video and stuff. What does he bring to thetable in a game like this?
LB PAYTON PIERCE: He makes being a linebacker pretty easy being behind him. I’m excited towatch him play.
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This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Ohio State linebacker Payton Pierce, Texas native, talks Miami matchup
