Indiana University Athletics
Coach DiNardo's Press Conference
10/22/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
October 22, 2002
Bloomington, Ind. -
Opening Statement
We're back to work today. Illinois has had the week off so they are obviously a little ahead of us on the game plan. It will be good to get back to work, it always is after a game, win or lose. We worked a little bit Sunday as we usually do, but we're back at it today.
Q: Can you talk about restarting practice last week and what do you think the team learned from that? What do you expect this week?
I thought they learned from it. I'd be surprised if we had to do the same thing again this week. My suspicion is that we won't have to do it this week. It's just growing pains and like I mentioned after the game, it's a positive growing pain because if we didn't win the game before we probably would not have had to do that. But we'll find out today.
Q: After looking at the film, why was there such a turnaround after the first quarter?
You always make some adjustments. I don't remember the specific adjustments. You make them after every series. Basically what you're doing is you're saying `are they defending us like we thought, are they coming at us like we thought?' If the answer to that question is yes, you just continue to call the game. If the answer is no, that's when your veteran coaches separate themselves from non-veteran coaches. But you're always making adjustments. It may have been just more settling down and getting into the flow of the game as much as anything.
Q: Might they have understood more the mental side of the game?
You don't know. It's one of those things, but my suspicion is it was some of that as well. The other thing is the other team is playing as well. You don't have total control over the situation - you have total control over one half of the situation. But the other team is always playing and dealing with their mind games, too. Are they thinking about next week's game, are they thinking about last week's game. My suspicion is in last week's game, we may have been thinking a week ahead - the coaches as much as the players.
Q: Can you talk about the correlation of good practice to a good game?
It's the million-dollar question, but I do believe this: it accumulates. You can have good practices and play bad, but that good practice is going to help you somewhere down the road. If not this Saturday, it might be next Saturday. I do believe that you can have bad practices and perhaps play well. When you've been in coaching, you've seen both sides. You practice like heck and you laid an egg, you practice terrible and you played great. But both add up eventually. If you have a bad week of practice and still play well, somewhere down the line, that bad week in practice is going to hurt you. It accumulates. If we don't practice well this week, it will have some bearing on the Illinois game but it will definitely have a bearing on the season. There's no other way of explaining this. That's kind of how I have sorted it out in my mind.
Q: Up to this point, how would you say the team has practiced?
It depends on each week. Off the top of my head, I can remember practicing well for Kentucky. I thought our best week was the week of Wisconsin. Some of the others, if I don't remember, it probably means it was an average week in practice.
Q: In your mind, was there a regression in the points of emphasis against Iowa?
The hope is that once we emphasize the red zone, it doesn't mean we stop coaching it but the mental side of it, they should know the situation the next time we're in there. You emphasize short-yardage one week, which we've done. There is a good possibility you're going to achieve what you emphasize. But you can't emphasize everything every week. My answer before the Iowa game as to what we emphasized was the mental game - to no avail. We can't start over with all of these elements. You hope there is some kind of retention into those situations. The reason we emphasized was not necessarily because we were disappointed, but it was that we needed to as coaches as much as they needed to as players. Again, I go back to that it's going to be 15 months before we go through everything once.
Q: Is there a reason for the red zone problem?
Well, we've had some penalties down there. Saturday we had first and goal and we jump offsides. It goes from first and goal on the seven, back to the 12. A five-yard penalty at first and goal in the high single digits is the most difficult thing you can do. Usually red zone has something to do with running game efficiency because as the game shrinks, you can't throw the ball as efficiently as you'd like. We were moving the ball mainly in the air Saturday, so I'd say it'd be lack of run game and penalties would be the most difficult thing in the red zone.
Q: How do you overcome that?
You emphasize the run game. You might reduce your menu of plays, make the game plan simpler down there. Perhaps practice it more until you feel you're capable of it. We go out and practice two hours on Tuesday and two hours on Wednesday and you start the season with a fairly balanced practice schedule where you might only go down in the red zone Tuesday and Wednesday and you might go back on Thursday. It's all within a two hour practice, you can't add time otherwise your team would be fatigued. Ten years ago, I probably would have stayed out there for four hours, but you want them ready on game day.
Q: Are you satisfied with the way Gibran Hamdan has come along this season?
No, not with the interceptions. You can't throw interceptions and win.
Q: Can you talk about Bryan Robertson and do you feel comfortable with him - to what point?
High 20's probably. We might do a little further out, but when you're in the middle of a drive and say it's third and ten or third and fifteen on their 35, I may say to (offensive coordinator) Al (Borges) don't go for the first down, get me to the 25. I manage it that way. If the drive stalls, you look where the ball is, that's easy. The hard situations are where you're in that pre-red zone and you're making a decision to go for the first down and throw it and go to the end zone or to throw it underneath, there's no way the defense knows they're defending you for a field goal. In those situations I'd say high 20's. From fifty-yards or long distances I might give it a shot. That's more drive stalling. When you're trying to manage the field goal, you're trying to get to the high 20's.
Q: How do you rate the play of Damien Jones?
He's made some progress. He's a young guy. Every snap is really valuable. It's important to Damien, which I appreciate the most. He's got an outstanding work ethic, he very rarely gets a loaf. His mistakes are typically young-people mistakes. He's pounding the ground after a bad play, those things which drive me absolutely out of my mind. Those young things you have to go through. I have no problem with his work ethic, with his intensity. I really like him a lot, he's just a young guy who makes young mistakes. He knows that. He and I talk about it all the time.
Q: Can you give an evaluation of Illinois?
Offensively, they are leading the league. They just roll up the yards and the points and score over 30 points a game. Offensive line, I'd put them in the category with the Iowa's and the Ohio State's and the better o-lines that we've played. They're playing two quarterbacks which no one really likes to do. Brandon Lloyd is terrific, (Antoineo) Harris is terrific. Walter Young is a really good player, he's a great competitor. A very experienced line with some real skill behind them. Defensive front, they're a pressure scheme. This is the second year they're in the pressure. They're going to blitz us, they're going to get after us. They like to make something happen. (Jerry) Schumacher's a terrific linebacker. One of the better players on their whole team is from Merrillville, Eugene Wilson, a fabulous player.
