Indiana University Athletics
Coach DiNardo's Weekly Press Conference
9/24/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
September 24, 2002
Bloomington, Ind. -
Opening Statement
First Big Ten game, on the road against Ohio State. You could call this a pretty traditional situation in regard to Big Ten being a pretty physical conference that makes its living on the run game. Ohio State would fit that bill. I think whoever can run the ball and stop the run will probably have the edge in this game.
Q: Maurice Clarett is a running back and a true freshman, should he be a candidate for the Heisman Trophy?
I think he's really good. If you didn't know he was a freshman and were watching the tape I don't think you would say he's a young player. I think that is probably a pretty good way to evaluate him. He was with them in the spring and historically he's been to more classes and he's done more things than the traditional freshman. Anyone who can be considered the best player in the country, regardless of age, should be considered for the Heisman. I haven't seen enough of those type of players other than him. I can't imagine there are any better or much better than him, if better at all. I don't think it will happen just because you're fighting biases towards underclassmen, geography and a few other things. He's pretty good.
Q: How do you simulate a player of his caliber in practice?
We will just try to go good against good and because of our numbers we work against each other quite a bit. The best way to simulate is just to keep doing what we're doing in regard to our defense competing against Yamar (Washington), Brian (Lewis) and Chris (Taylor). That's all you can do.
Q: Is Ohio State as physical or more physical than Utah?
They are comparable, they are pretty close. Some positions might swing one way, some positions might swing the other way. I think you saw Utah go into Ann Arbor without their tailback. The teams are probably pretty close.
Q: Can you talk about your own running game a little?
We plan on doing it the same as we have to this point with Yamar playing the first two series and Brian coming in on the third series. We haven't really talked about how we are going to do it this week. My guess is that we will continue with that. We have two days of tough practice and you have to get through those before you can think about rotation.
Q: Evaluate where your offense is now and now that you are going up against Ohio State's defense.
We're much further along than we were coming out of the first two games. As far as our offense, from the Tuesday before Kentucky they have really made some progress both in practice and in games. We are still turning the ball over too many times. We have 13 turnovers, more than anybody else in the league, and that's way too many turnovers. But I think we have made a marked improvement since Tuesday prior to Kentucky. We were inept against William & Mary and Utah. This weekend will reinforce that to be competitive in this league you have to stop the run and be able to run the football. You don't have to run it 70 percent of the time but you have to run it 50 percent of the time if the numbers on defense allows you to do that. If they move their pieces into such a position that you are balanced number-wise in the box and you can't run it, you're never going to win in this league. If you have to defend the pass by displacing your people on defense, if they can run the ball on you, you'll never be successful in this league. This is a good game to open up and reinforce what we have to do in this program. That is to be able to stop the run defensively and run the football offensively. When I say run the football offensively I don't mean 70 percent of the time, sometimes it might be 40 percent of the time and throw it 60 percent of the time. That's what this offense does for you. If you can't run it in this league, at the end of the day you are going to have a bad year.
Q: Do you feel that this team is building an offensive identity?
Absolutely, without a doubt and without question.
Q: How do Brian (Lewis) and Yamar (Washington) complement each other?
They are a little different, but I don't know that we need nicknames yet.
Q: With the quarterback change, what has changed on the team? What do you attribute the progress of the team to?
I attribute it to ownership of the team by the players. I believe that you can stand in front of them and say that if we continue at 25 percent first and ten efficiency, if we continue to turn the ball over three times and the opponent doesn't, if we continue to be not very exact and not attentive to detail, we're just going to get worse and not better. You can say those things to them because they are all true and factual and no one can deny them. Until they take ownership of it and until they realize it's first and ten, until they realize that they're in the red zone, until they realize that they are playing the game. Whether we are second and six or second and ten has something to do with the play call but it has much more to do with their efforts. I attribute the progress we have made to the players. They have made it important and they have done a good job with it.
Q: You have had some trouble at the beginning of games and getting off to a slow start, can you comment on that?
We haven't stopped an offense yet. They have scored every time on the first drive. We've emphasized it and we're just going to keep plugging away at it. To Central Michigan's credit, the no-huddle and all that is a very effective strategy and a very good way to move the football. We obviously worked on it - we knew it was going to happen. We hired officials Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to help us with the tempo so it wasn't a surprise, but it sure looked like we didn't know what we were doing. That was only one game - we can still get better on that first series.
Q: Have you had a chance to look at the tape from the Cincinnati vs. Ohio State game and what are the things that OSU did well?
My sense of it was that the Cincinnati guys were really excited to be playing Ohio State in Cincinnati. There was tremendous emotion in the favor of the University of Cincinnati. The University of Cincinnati is a good football team. It's a team that has really benefited from the scholarship limitations. They have found their niche in college football in a positive way. They have good players. You look at Cincinnati's roster and they are good players. There is consistency in the coaching staff. You look at the emotion of Cincinnati even though they are not getting one tenth of the attention that the Ohio State program gets and most of those kids know each other because both rosters are predominantly Ohio kids. I don't think anyone who knows the game expected Ohio State to go in there and have an easy day. I think everyone expected a close game, but an Ohio State victory.
Q: You are dealing with some serious depth problems - how are you dealing with the personnel problems? Will you be making any personnel changes?
Yes, we've made some personnel changes but not many because we don't have many to make. We usually go into the fifth week of the season changing the practice routine. For instance, Sunday night we're usually in light bulbs which are shoulder pads, helmets and thigh boards. This time of year we switch that and we take off the shoulder pads and put on spiders which are just to protect the shoulders. We will be in full pads today and light bulbs tomorrow. Thursday we'll be in light bulbs. Practice will now be two hours where it's been two hours and fifteen or twenty minutes. The next step, later on in the year, we'll take them out of light bulbs on Thursday. You decrease the amount of contact and the amount of time you are on the field and that helps certain positions. You're much like a heavyweight boxer because you want to throw a punch, you want to beat the person that you're fighting but your body can only take so many blows. You can't stop practicing, which is what they would want to do - they being the team. There's a happy medium in there that we are trying to get to. Usually the fifth game on an 11-game schedule - this is a 12-game regular season schedule. The reason that we would do that this week instead of next week is because of our numbers. That's a long answer for: we're trying to adjust to our small numbers.
Q: What is the status of Kyle Killion?
Killion is not practicing today but there is a chance that he will play.
Q: What are your scholarship numbers down to now?
I want to say we are at 55 guys that can play that are on scholarship right now. That's down from the original number that was down. That's taking away Derek Barnett and Joe Gonzalez. We have more than 55 on scholarships. I don't want to make it sound like something that it's not. I want to say we have 55 that can play in the game today that are on scholarship.
Q: Have you ever had to deal with low numbers like these before - maybe when you were at Vanderbilt?
This is probably the smallest number I've dealt with. Vanderbilt was low, but I don't think it was this low - I know it wasn't. When we first went to Colorado we were 30 under the limit as well but the limit was 115 and 105 when we were there. The percentage was the same, but this is a low number.
Q: Can you evaluate the importance of the run defense on Saturday after Central Michigan?
We have a lot of improvement to make. We struggled stopping the run on Saturday for a couple different reasons. It's a new week and it's a new attack. We've got some new players in there this week. We've just got to get 11 players in there this week and try and get them in the right position.
Q: What would you like to see the offense improve on?
Stopping the turnovers and improving the run game - those are the two big hurdles. Not that I'm a golfer, but much like a golf swing, you have to break it in parts and when you think you've got one improved and you move to the next that other one has to continue to improve. First and ten efficiency was the issue against Kentucky. We were better against Kentucky on first and ten. That carried over into the Central Michigan game. We struggled in the red zone against Kentucky. We made that our point of emphasis and Central Michigan we were three for three. Obviously, for us to have success Saturday against Ohio State we have to continue first and ten efficiency, continue the red zone, being more consistent in the run game and stopping the turnovers. If you improve the turnovers and something else and go back to your old ways in the red zone or first and ten efficiency that's the issue.
Q: Is there a reason for the turnovers - carelessness, not valuing the ball?
All of those things, but I would have to break down all 13 of our turnovers. The two that happened Saturday, protection fell down and we threw it away. I'd like not to be critical of an individual because that doesn't solve the problem. We could have sat on the ball at the end of the first half - you could blame it on me. When I came here I made my mind up I wasn't going to be that kind of offense. Most of the times I would have sat on the ball - I don't think that's the answer here at Indiana. We have to be wide open and free-wheeling. Sitting on the ball going into a three point deficit against Central Michigan didn't seem like the right thing to do. You can blame that one on me. Some people would have just killed the clock. I have chosen to be free-wheeling from now until the end. As we improve then we're going to be really good if we can take the same attitude.
Q: I'm curious about the injuries on the defensive side of the ball. What becomes the biggest challenge in dealing these injuries?
From a technical standpoint holding the point at the line of scrimmage and being physical at the line and stopping the run. That's always the most challenging thing. You have to be careful how you practice. These guys are at practice every day. It's going to be a little different than it's been the last week. Going out today and pounding the living heck out of each other - that doesn't make a lot of sense. Although I do believe that's how you get ready for a football game on Tuesday. We just can't afford to do it. If I had my druthers we would go out there and have a pretty physical practice today if we had our numbers because I believe that's the way you get ready to go to Columbus. Why would you want to get ready any other way? We just can't do that because of our numbers.
Q: How big of a disadvantage is this becoming to you?
Long term and short term I have put us in this position in a certain regard because I have set a standard that I knew wasn't going to be met by everybody and we were going to have attrition. I'm not going to complain about this because one of the reasons that we're dealing with this is because this is the way we've chosen to build a program. We've had guys leave the program because it is most difficult, perhaps, to be part of a rebuilding process. I've brought some of this upon myself in the name of what you saw the second half against Central Michigan and William & Mary and hopefully what you are going to see in the future here. It's painful perhaps, but it is a sign of progress and there is a methodology to it, it's not just trying to be a hard guy.
Q: Is there anything you can put your finger on as far as how you were able to shut down Central Michigan in the second half? Was it attitude?
Certainly, I think that is a lot of it. When you think about that these guys have never had a winning season and we're down by three and then the offense fumbles -we're down by ten. We go in and make all these halftime adjustments that we think are going to solve our problem and they come down and score a field goal - we're down by 13. We fumble the next drive. They could have went up by 20. It doesn't look like we were doing a great job coaching there. It's the kids hanging in there and the fact our kids didn't go in the tank is what won the game. That's a byproduct of the standard that we've set that has cost us some numbers.
Q: In Chicago this summer you said that being around a few leagues, any university can decide to excel in anything it wants to. In talking to Indiana what did they say they had done or have plans of doing to excel at football?
We didn't get into long-range discussions. I really didn't think it was appropriate at the time. When I say that, first of all I really mean it and I really believe it and I also believe that it works hand in hand. For the university to embrace a football program there has to be some signs of improvement because you never know if you have the right guy. I may not be the right guy. That still doesn't mean that Indiana can't do it. What is to say that I am the right guy? I have to take the first step and show the university that we do have a successful plan and the thing is going to be moving in the right direction. There is incredible financial risks involved in this thing. For a university all of a sudden to make all these commitments to a coach and extend themselves financially and have the wrong guy, it doesn't make any sense from a business standpoint. They can do whatever they want, but they've got to make sure that it's being led the right way. I don't think anyone is going to go on blind faith. This thing is going to go in increments. That's exactly how it's worked since I've been here. Our facilities have improved already and I think we've improved as a football team. We have to take the next step and then we will. I think that's probably true of any department on campus, any dean or any professor. That's probably have universities are run.
Q: Also in Chicago, when asked how you were going to turn this program around your immediate reply was 'with good players.' Having been on the job for nine months now, do you have any more of a feel for how you're going to improve your talent in a state with Notre Dame and Purdue and when you're surrounded by states with schools that might have first dibs on the best kids?
The issue now is that every year we have to upgrade our talent and that's no different from any other program in the country. That's not meant to be negative towards our present roster because I certainly don't want to do that. So the issue is can we find 25 players, regardless of who else recruits our area or who else wants them. It's a big country. Can we find 25 that are good players that can come in and help us right away. It's all relative. We may be recruiting players that some of those schools are not recruiting. We may be recruiting some of those today and a month from now they tell us now. Or maybe 10 of them are interested in us and some of those other schools and two of them are interested in a month. That's still progress, that's still improvement, we're still upgrading our roster. Again, I don't say that to be negative about our current roster but the issue is improvement. Are we going to go swing the bat with all the guys who have had the top five recruiting classes in the country the last five years. I don't know that that is going to happen. I know that we have to improve and we ought to be able to find 25 guys that can help us take the next step - not the final step.
Q: Is recruiting at Indiana anything like recruiting at Vanderbilt?
It's very similar in a certain regard. There are not enough players in the state of Tennessee though Vanderbilt is obviously a private school. There are not enough players just in the state of Tennessee and there aren't enough players in the state of Indiana to build a program. There's a little bit more of an academic checks and balances here - by institution, not by NCAA or even Big Ten legislation. That's similar because Vanderbilt has their own standards aside from the SEC and the NCAA. We are semi-national in recruiting strategy which is similar to Vanderbilt. There are certainly a lot of similarities. It differs probably that we are certainly not an elitist admissions university here and we pride ourselves on that. Vanderbilt would probably say the opposite - they probably pride themselves on being an elitist admissions institution. That's probably the biggest difference.
Q: When you looked at your schedule could you have ever imagined your first six opponents would be undefeated?
I knew the first one would be (laughs). I never even thought of it, it is an interesting stat. No, I didn't think of it.
