Indiana University Athletics
Kris Dielman Press Conference Comments
11/19/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
With a team dominated by freshman and sophomores, do you think they know the importance of the bucket? Do you feel like maybe the bucket isn't as important this year?
It's sad for the seniors because we never had a chance to go to a bowl game. In the future that's going to change, but for this year this is our bowl game. So that bucket means everything to us. There's no better feeling I've ever had in football, from high school and when I was younger, than running off the field with the bucket in our hands. That's just a feeling that former players that have won the bucket can tell you. Unfortunately, we don't get to experience running off the field of a bowl game with a trophy in our hands. So, this will be a big game for us and a good game for the freshmen. They will get a taste of how the rivalry is going through practice and especially when we get to Lafayette.
Is there also motivation that you can keep them from going to a bowl game?
Absolutely. Of course. That's just a little more icing on the cake, add a little more fuel to the fire.
What have you said to the coaching staff or the younger players about this game?
The coaches have done a good job. I think Coach Kish has a good idea of what this rivalry is about. He's been on the other side, he coached at Purdue so he helps out a little bit. The way the coaches did it, they had the seniors come up and give our take on the rivalry. It's a little different than any other game because it's our rival, an in-state rival on top of that. But we're still going to go about it the same way, getting ready for it this season. It's just going to have a little extra to it.
Looking at the Purdue offense, how is the defense going to handle that?
Everybody thinks we're a struggling defense, and at times we are, but if we come out there and we play as good as I know we can like we did against Wisconsin and at times against Iowa. I don't think we'll have any problem with handling their offense. It's a good offense, but when we're clicking on all cylinders and filling our gaps, we're a good defense and I can see that happening against Purdue. We've just got to get prepared and get a lot of film study in.
What has happened these last few games?
It's a bunch of things that kind of snowballed. When one guy misses his gap, it puts another guy out. If I don't fill my B gap, I'm making it that much harder on the linebacker. It's just a lot of things and it kind of comes with having a young defense. You guys might not see it, but it has improved in a lot of parts of defense. I think next year for sure, our defense is going to be that much better than it has in the past because they'll have another year under their belt.
How important was the play of the freshmen against Penn State?
It was extremely important because it was one of our goals to get three or more turnovers against Penn State. For (John) Kerr, Buster (Larkins) and Damien (Jones) to step up and get key interceptions at times when we really needed them, that was big, especially since they are all freshmen. It kind of sucks for me because I'm not going to be here next year, but in the future there are going to be a lot of plays like that. We're going to have a lot of young guys stepping up as they get older. Those young guys stepping up will only carry over into Purdue.
Talk about your four years here and the disappointments and successes?
It's been quick. I can't believe I'm sitting here now talking about going into my last game. It's gone quick. As a freshman I came in here under Coach Cam, yeah, we might not have won as many games as we should have - could have - but individual accomplishments, yeah I've made some. Big Ten honors at tight end last year. But I would put all that away just for the fact some of the friends I've made and some of the relationships I've developed have been awesome here. Yes, I would have loved to have gone to a bowl game and whatever, but with the old coaching staff and then with Coach DiNardo and his coaching staff, those are the relationships that are going to last forever. It's not going to be so much about remembering the games because that's such a small part of college football when you see us out on a Saturday. It's the practices that we go through and the winter and summer conditioning and the spring ball that no one ever sees other than the players. And when we come up and beat Purdue, that is just a little extra. I've had a good four years, I can't complain.
