Indiana University Athletics
DiNardo Press Conference (9/7
9/7/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
GD: "We've got a tough game this weekend traveling to Oregon. We will start to get ready today."
On his concerns about Oregon:
GD: "They are a physical, veteran group for the most part. It is their first game, so we are going on last year's tapes so we don't know if there is anything new. It will be loud and tough to communicate, and it is going to be tough for us going up against one of the better teams in the Pac-10."
On the advantage of playing a game vs. their season opener:
GD: "I think it depends. There are advantages to both sides. If you already played you have some of the first game issues behind you. If you have not played, then you have not shown anything new on tape.
On the preparation for Oregon:
GD: "We will do the typical crowd noise drills with the speakers and stuff. We have to be careful with our audible package, but other than that, there is not much you can do."
On the effort of the running backs against Central Michigan:
GD: "The effort was good by everybody, especially the three tailbacks. I was glad we got three of them in and very pleased with their effort."
On what he is looking at between game one and game two:
GD: "I think some of our older guys can play better, especially some of the older guys who were banged up in camp. We had some older veteran guys who missed a lot of camp, and I thought they played average. I see them making great strides."
On his assessment of week one after watching the tape:
GD: "We could become better tacklers. We had trouble bringing Jerry Seymour (CMU running back) down. We had too many breakouts on defense, too many big plays. We did not have enough explosiveness on offense. We missed an extra point and we got sloppy in the end with the 2's, so those are some of the things we need to improve on."
GD: "On the positive side, our defense forced two turnovers and scored once,while setting us up for another score in the red zone. For the most part our kick game was very efficient. We only played one freshman. I do not know if we can continue to do that, but if we can, it will be groundbreaking in this program where we could actually redshirt an entire freshman group."
On what the team needs to prove to him:
GD: "I don't think they need to prove anything to me. We need to become a better road team. Most Big Ten teams are certainly challenged with conference road games, and we happen to be one that is challenged with nonconference ones as well. "
On what can be learned from last season's trip to Washington:
GD: "This one is a little tougher trip than Washington. If everything goes as planned, we will not get back until about three in the morning on Sunday. We miss class on Friday, which I don't like, because we have to leave early. Then we have to work on Sunday because Monday is our day off and if you mess with that, then you run into class conflicts on Monday, so this trip effects us academically more than Washington."
On the offensive line:
GD: "They graded ok. Some of the older guys could play better, but at the same time those were the guys who missed camp with injuries."
On the direction of the program:
GD: "I feel real good. We scored a lot of points. Our style of defense is closer to what we want to do; now where we go from here has to be answered. The stadium atmosphere was the best it has been. The physical size of our team has improved tremendously; you see our strong safety (Herana-Daze Jones) was our linebacker a few years ago. Our GPA is as good as it has been since 1985."
