Postgame Quotes - Charleston Southern at Indiana

Indiana head coach Tom Allen

TOM ALLEN: All right, a little soggy, from the monsoon we just went through. But really happy with our players. Every win is a big win, I think. You just don't take anything for granted. Any time you can shut somebody out, I don't care who they are, collegiately, it's not easy to do. It's our first one since '93, and that's a big deal, so I'm really proud of our guys.

Played a lot of different guys, had a lot of guys out, so for them to be able to execute against a challenging offense, that was a positive for sure. Glad we got a lot of guys on the field.

I think we came out of it clean injury-wise, which was really huge for us. Get a chance to get some of these guys back for next week.

Holding them to zero passing yards, only the second time in school history that's happened, and zero completions, which is -- I guess that's -- the last time was '85. So really, really -- that's not their thing. I get that. But they had a lot of yards and catches last couple weeks.

Just attention to detail. That's what you have to do. And then offensively, just very frustrating with the fumbles. It's just not the way we have to play. That's kind of the only negative that I saw that stuck out to me. Peyton threw for over 300 yards, first freshman to do that since '06, and Taysir had over 100 yards receiving. First time since '08 we had a freshman do that. A lot of positives there. Simmie had 10 catches, almost 100 yards, and I felt like that was a touchdown, but that's not my call apparently. They didn't confer with me on that one.

But just always want to take every win and enjoy it and realize that it takes a lot of work to get those. It was a team we were supposed to beat, and we did, and so we just realize what we have and watch the film tomorrow and get ready for the Wolverines.

Q. Talk about this game for Peyton.
TOM ALLEN: Yeah, it was huge. For me I wanted to be named as the starter, have the whole week to have to deal with that, talk to the media, know you're going to be the starter, and prepare accordingly. You know, and then not come off the bench like he's done the last couple times he's been in there. I thought that was important. He seemed to be very calm and ran things and protected the football, had that one pick that was tipped, but just really, really important, I think, to get this game under his belt to go back into Big Ten play. Good flow for us on that.

Q. Talk about Taysir Mack.
TOM ALLEN: You know, he's one of our faster players on the whole team and really encouraged by his progress. He's a guy I identified through fall camp that I really thought had did some good things in the spring, had a good summer, did some good things in fall camp. So wasn't consistent once we started playing and then he got a chance to play because of some injuries. He's a guy that's got really good speed and made some catches and did some things with the ball after he caught it. Good job on that.

Q. Obviously Nick went down early, Donovan didn't play, Taysir steps up; how pleasing is that to see a guy when he has a chance to make plays --
TOM ALLEN: You know, it's what you have to do, and we make a big deal about that to our team, but talking about it and then going out and doing it are two different things. So to see them go out and play to that level was encouraging for sure, and we need it. Our team, we need those explosive plays, we need the ability to get the ball on the perimeter and make them pay for loading the box, and do a good job of yards after catch.

Q. You've talked about the need to fill depth, so how valuable was it today to get the No. 2s a lot of work in there?
TOM ALLEN: No, I think it's extremely valuable for sure, because once again, practice reps are important, but they're not the same as game day reps. Played a whole bunch of guys on both sides of the ball, and I just think that the more they play, the better they're going to get, and just being able to execute our defense, execute our offense, special teams play. Played a lot of young guys on special teams that we had out there, so pretty clean across the board in all those phases. A lot of positive things to build off of.

Q. Talk about the chemistry with receivers. I think Simmie only had one time where he was targeted. Just for Peyton in his first start, how impressed were you with the way he was connecting with guys?
TOM ALLEN: He was. He just seemed to be comfortable and in rhythm. He was just kind of methodically distributing the football to a lot of different guys, and just didn't seem -- they were bringing different looks and schemes and trying to get after him, so I thought just seemed very -- almost what I expect because that's what I see in practice. But I thought he did, the game just kind of seemed to be very -- slowed down for him, and he was able to distribute the football, which to me that's what a quarterback does is distribute the ball to your playmakers.

Q. When the rain starts coming down like that, how much does the focus kind of shift?
TOM ALLEN: You know, I never thought about that. I just thought about protecting the football. I thought for sure we were going to get a takeaway it was raining so hard and they're an option team, so I was thinking that, and I think our guys were getting excited. We had one practice I remember during fall camp where it just poured like this, and the guys get all juiced. So it was just -- to me I wasn't worried about guys getting hurt. I'm past that. You've just got to play football.

Q. Talk about the alertness of the quarterback and getting in on the fumble.
TOM ALLEN: Yeah, I think that's a small thing, it's a huge thing. We don't want to put the ball on the ground, and he was literally -- I watched the whole thing, and he was moving towards it, and just a heads-up kid. That just kind of really defines him, just kind of the guy he is, and when you're always on top of your stuff, he literally is the -- we've said this for a long time, he's the first person at every single thing we do. He's the first person on the field at every practice. He's the first person every single meeting. Doesn't matter if it's position meeting, offensive meeting, team meeting. He's always that guy. And this has been just kind of the way he's -- that's his identity. That's how we know him as.

And so when the guy is like that, it doesn't surprise you when he's kind of right where he's supposed to be on the field, as well, and kind of doing the little things that add to winning football games. I think that's kind of a great little picture of how he does everything.

Q. What do you do during the week to work on the fumbles?
TOM ALLEN: Well, we worked on it a lot this week. I'm going to go back to the film and kind of watch each one and evaluate when they happen, how they happen, why they happen, because to me, we work on it as much or more than anyplace I've ever been. To me it's just a matter of us making it continue to emphasize -- I want to go through and watch each one of them and break down why that happened.

Q. Are you concerned about the big-play potential?
TOM ALLEN: I mean, you have to have that for sure, and I think that -- I know the rain in the second half was a little bit of a variable with that, but I think it's more about taking what they give you, you know, and so we'll look at it and continue to do that, but yeah, we've got to -- my thing is this: We want to build a football team that plays to the strength of our team, and that's from a defensive perspective, special teams perspective, and your offense. All three working together to win games, and we're just trying to build a -- that's why to me the fumbles were just such a huge negative because that's not part of the formula. But the other three phases, working together, taking care of the football, moving the chains, methodically moving the chains, and then you take your shots. And the thing is you've got a chance to make several big plays and then you get some of them called back, so that's frustrating. But at the same time, when you play great defense and you're really good on special teams, then that's kind of what you want to be able to do is control the football, and from a tempo perspective, whether you need to go fast, slow down, whatever you need to do, to ultimately win the game.

Q. I think you held them to 134 yards of offense. Early in the game you have a big stop on 4th and 1. Do you feel like that kind of set the tone?
TOM ALLEN: It did, because they got a couple 1st downs and a couple bad fits on the option. Once we got that 4th down stop, they never really kind of threatened after that. I think those stops are big. Psychologically, your confidence on one side of the ball, how they approach us after that, they kind of started 4th and 1s they ended up punting because they felt like they didn't want to put us in a bad spot again.

Q. You had a quick change after one of the fumbles, Jake gets a big sack on the 1st down and they end up with minus 11 yards, out of field goal position.
TOM ALLEN: Big time, yeah. We just keep preaching our defense no matter what happens. Something like that, we take the field, we put out that fire, and we embrace it. We embrace the opportunity to put the game on our back and put those situations in front of us where we've got to make a play, and that's what we want to be able to do.

Q. I know the option is kind of different from what you guys see a lot, but two option teams, you've done well defensively against both of them, what does that say about the character of your defense?
TOM ALLEN: I think the discipline shows. I think the maturity of our guys. We do have some older guys on that side of the ball. They're very coachable, and they believe in what we do schematically. I told them we had a good plan, we believed in the plan, and they executed the plan. To me, it's about being disciplined, being good tacklers. If you want to stop the option you've got to tackle extremely well, have disciplined eyes, assignment sound, and we played two of those teams, and I'm really pleased with the way the guys responded.

Indiana Players Postgame Quotes

DL Jacob Robinson
On getting a shutout:
"It's awesome. The shutout was our number one goal we had talked about a lot this week about dominating. That was our one word, dominate, and the shutout was huge. It hasn't been done since 1993, which we take a lot of pride in. We gave up some plays here and there which we need to be better at, but for sure that shutout was awesome."

On the quick change after a turnover:
"It's a quick change of pace, obviously. We turned the ball over and it's something that we've got to rush who we send out there and they have to be ready to not let the other team get anything out of it. That's what we went in today wanting and that's what we got."

WR Simmie Cobbs Jr.
On Taysir Mack's day:
"He practices like that so it's great to see him put it together in a game. He made the plays we expect him to make."

On team culture:
"I feel like since I've been here it's always been like that. Everybody is just so welcoming and once you get together it's just a bond that you build and you start to think less of home and start making this environment more of a home because we see each other on a daily basis more than we see our family."

On rapport with quarterbacks:
"We take huge pride in making plays and whether it's Peyton or Richard, both are going to step up and make the plays. They are trusting in us once they throw the ball that we'll come down with it and we take pride in that."

QB Peyton Ramsey
On his first start:
"I felt like I did good. Like you said, I've played in each of the last four games so it wasn't new to be out there playing, but it was a huge confidence boost to go out and get a win.

Coming in knowing that you're the guy didn't change preparation, but it's easier to get into a rhythm in practice and get the reps you need. You might not be getting certain plays in practice, so it helped me get into a rhythm and into my comfort zone."

On his fumble recovery for a touchdown:
"I was just carrying out my fake and I saw the ball on the ground, so I just jumped on it."

On what's working with Simmie Cobbs Jr. and Taysir Mack:
"They were just getting open. I was going through my progression, going through my reads, and they were open so I threw them the ball."

On his relationship with Taysir Mack:
"He was the open guy. But we did come in with the same class and we have a good relationship. We've gotten a lot of extra throws together, but it's mainly that he was the open guy so I was trying to deal to him."

You talk about taking it one game at a time, but did it help having an opponent like this to come in where you can try things and be a little experimental in your first start?
"I think so, because our schedule gets really tough. Big Ten play is not easy so I think it was good to play a team like Charleston Southern—not to take anything away from them—but it was good to try some things and get a game under my belt."

WR Taysir Mack

On his play today:
"It's a good feeling. Knowing all the hard work and everything the team puts in during the week, seeing how we executed today—there's no better feeling."

On breaking away from defense for his second touchdown of the game:
"It was just all in the moment. I caught the ball and looked it in, just things that we practice. Our coaches are very precise with details, making sure we look the ball into the tuck and explode afterwards. Whenever we catch a ball in practice we give a 10-yard burst, just so we know that we're breaking away."

On Peyton Ramsey's play with wide receivers
"Peyton is a really good quarterback. That's something he and I have talked about since we came in as freshmen—waiting for our opportunity. We practice with that in mind, we sit after practice and go over the little things technique-wise. You have to give it up to everybody on the team, because we know how it hurt to lose last week so we came together and realized we needed to do more. So we started doing more: staying after practice, getting more catches, getting the tempo right. The outcome has been good."

On chemistry with Peyton Ramsey:
"During the summer, Peyton and I came out here. Hours and hours just running routes and working on timing. We spoke about it when we first came here on campus, we told them what we're capable of and we just know that we need to be patient, when our time is going to come and when it did come, we performed."

DL Mike Barwick Jr.

On getting three-and-outs:
"That's always an important thing for us. We want to go out there and get a three-and-out and get off the field as quickly as possible. That's what our coaches preach, and I feel like we did that today."

On fourth down stops:
"The fourth down stop was big. Like I said, we just want to get off the field at all costs. If they go on fourth down, we have to be ready, bow up, and make the play. It was just a great game all around for us."

On the first shutout since 1993:
"I didn't know. That's big for the program in general and our defense. We're on the up and up."

On preparation for playing Charleston Southern:
"I think we're a great defense, but it's all credit to our coaches who prepare us really well. We were in practice all week running reps for that kind of offense. Our scout team does a great job when they run the other team's offense. It's a combination of a lot of things that prepare us for the game."

Charleston Southern Head Coach Mark Tucker

On the game...

"Big Ten venue. I felt like our kids played hard. We had our opportunities to keep some things going and made some mistakes, good defensive players forced some issues with us. We killed a little of our momentum. We keep it a 17-point game, got two turnovers. One deep right out of the gate, early in the second half. We need to go punch that in. We can not take a sack at that part of the field when we are threatening to score points, just by field position alone. Some of our youth in some places stilled showed up today. You have to be right, you have to take advantage of every single opportunity in this type of venue and this type of game when you're playing up. We didn't catch the ball well today at all and we had our opportunities."

Indiana University Athletics

Postgame Quotes - Charleston Southern at Indiana

Players Mentioned

Simmie Cobbs Jr.

Peyton Ramsey

Jacob Robinson

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