Indiana University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Indiana vs. Western Kentucky
9/19/2015 8:23:00 PM | Football
Indiana Head Coach Kevin Wilson
Postgame Press Conference
Opening Statement…
"It was a tough game and our guys really fought hard. Nice to see our guys keep battling in what we're doing. We've got a lot of improvements that we've made but a lot we can keep making.
"Early we fell behind, but I think we settled down. I think the goal line stand was pretty nice, certainly huge, and then to take it 99 yards after that, that was very outstanding. I think we had an interception down there tight that led to a 96-yard touchdown drive. So great responses, great stops, great responses.
"Another pick by John Crawford there which was awesome. Blocked field goal by Nick Mangieri. Punt return, Mitchell Paige. You're in a one-possession game, that's why, again, we're up 10 and we went for 7. That's why when we had the ball we were running boot passes. We needed to keep the gas on because we knew we needed to score and we needed to score a touchdown.
"I really appreciate the way the guys keep battling. I give a lot of respect to that team because they were awfully good. I think somebody had them rated top-30 in the country in one of those magical polls and that's very deserving.
Again, proud of our kids. What excites me is they're buying in and they're getting better, and there is so much we can keep working on. So it's good to have a nice victory and we'll keep moving forward and we'll have a great challenge in Winston-Salem."
On the team's third quarter success…
"I'd like to tell you something magical. We don't go in there and yell. I'd like to say we're doing something fancy in practice, but we're not. I do think we have a strong team, physically strong. I think we're mentally getting stronger. I think as the game goes on we gain a little momentum as we play.
"I think also, in this day and age, it's very easy as coaches that we can get in the way and there is a bunch of clutter. We have way too many formations and concepts and blitzes and coverage. If you're not careful, you get all over the place. Once you start playing, you start seeing how they're really attacking you. You watch three, four, five games and every week's different in how people attack you, I think sometimes it's a matter of us as coaches -- I think the players settle in and get stronger -- I think as coaches it's eliminating clutter. Really, what do you need and what do you get to?
"And I think our coaches and players have been together enough now that we understand some things and we can get to some things. I'd like to say it's something earth shattering. It's not. It's a little maturity. I think it's a little elimination of things at halftime, getting in a good rhythm and just plain work."
On Jordan Howard's performance…
" Yeah, I think he gets stronger. I think the line is pretty good. I think the O-line is good, and the tight end group, we've got a bunch of those guys out there playing football. We had almost 60 rushes. I'm sure Nick's got a scramble or two in 27 passes. So when you play a game in college football spread and you're 50-plus rushing attempts and 30 or so passing attempts, that shows that you've got a little bit of rhythm going there.
"I thought they started very much in a run-oriented offense that set up their pass. I thought we got going when we ran the ball coming down to the one-yard line and we really got into some rhythm. I think that just kind of transitioned our coaches' thoughts and we got into a good sync.
"So Jordan's strong. He's matured. It's kind of how he played last year. He's a guy that gets stronger as he goes. Also think that's a sign of Coach Hill, those fourth and fifth-year O-linemen. I think you keep those fourth-year, fifth-year tight ends. Those guys kind of wear on you a little bit and that's good to see."
On the adjustment in tempo…
"Well, sometimes I think we can go fast and get some missed alignments, and we scored a touchdown going fast. We got them in a busted coverage. We weren't quick enough. They didn't get it out, and it was a freebie. Sometimes you get some negative plays going fast because there are a bunch of funky looks you get.
"Just as the game went along, there was a time when we started huddling. We changed some verbiage, but we thought they were on to some things. It's one of the reasons we huddled. Don't let them hear the call. Again, we're just trying to max it out.
"We are a better team when we stay in rhythm though. So even though we huddle, we still didn't try to hold it, hold it, hold it and then come out. We don't like to walk to the line. So even though we huddle up and try to use the clock, we didn't want to get in non-attack mode. So we have a way of doing that. We hold up, let 20 seconds go off and then come up and we're kind of playing in our rhythm if that makes sense.
"That's why we ran those bootleg passes. If you run it inside, they have too many guys in there, so you are only getting 1,2 or 3 yards. Jordan was getting 4,5 or 6 yards on the passes because he was running hard."
On the team's defense…
"Yeah, they were pretty good. In this day and age of college ball, the way they came out and shut them down in the third quarter, gave up a couple big plays, but that's going to happen. I'd like to see us wear our body language a little bit better when it's not going well. I think sometimes I'm watching Oklahoma and Tulsa, and it goes from 31-10, to 31-24 in 15 seconds because they bomb it. Onside kick, Hail Mary, boom.
"In this day and age, you've got to snap it. That's why when the old school says run the clock out, I was telling K.J. you've got to go score. If they would have had a timeout, we would have tried to score, but we didn't need to in the end, so take a knee. How about in a couple weeks everybody says, hey, you should run the clock down and kick the field goal. Anybody watch the Giants the other night? That worked out pretty good. You've got to score.
"Our deal was we had to go score. This was a game that you need to score touchdowns. We needed to get turnovers, which we did. So, again, I think the defense, you can skew those numbers. It's a better defensive crowd, and that was an offense -- that kid's going to throw the ball in two seconds. He's throwing it to dynamic players. I didn't expect it to be a shootout, but I didn't expect it to be easy.
"I think our defense has a lot of improving they can do, but I don't dislike the way they played. You can look at that all you want. You've got two turnovers. And they're 5 of 11 on third down. We're 8 of 12. You're winning the turnover deal. They throw the ball 46 times and they had 26 rushes for 84 yards. So, we made them one dimensional. When you get somebody one dimensional, you've got a chance.
"We give up a couple plays to the young DBs, but those young DBs make plays, and we've got to keep playing with them. It's kind of fun."
On Jonathan Crawford…
"He's talented. He's long, tall, range, he's played a lot of sports. He's played a lot of ball. He wasn't playing with his thumbs. He's out in the backyard playing basketball and football. He's got good awareness and good feel. He's played sports, and because of that you get those kids down south and they play -- you get kids that play multiple sports and they're used to playing ball. He's a good ballplayer. He's a great athlete and a really good ballplayer."
On what happened on the last drive…
"We thought we needed to score. So it wasn't like just try to get a first down. That's why a couple of those runs were huge by Jordan. We huddled up a couple and milked the clock, but we didn't lose our rhythm. I mean, that was big.
"We were trying to score though. We weren't trying to run it out. We were trying to score. We were trying to take time and we were trying to score. You cannot sit on the ball with a team like that. We didn't get in the end zone, but we've got problems and we're going to try to correct those problems."
On Nate Sudfeld…
"On that throw, we talked about it before the drive. We were going to do it on third down. It was a tempo play because we thought we could get it going tempo. We changed the formation, and we said if we do this play, we've got a chance to get a single shot to the boundary either to Ricky or Simmie, and then of course we had good protection and then Nate delivered. So, again, Nate's pretty good.
"I don't know necessarily how many great players there are on offense. But when you put them all together – a veteran line, good tight ends, good skill players outside, strong backs, a good quarterback – and you get them playing together collectively, it's pretty good.
"We were complaining about how bad the offense was doing. I think we've got the leading receiver, leading rusher, second quarterback in the conference. It's nice our standards are getting so high in stats and everybody complains. That's a sign of our program growing. We kind of like that. We take that as a positive challenge and we embrace that. Our kids like that. That's a lot of fun."
On winning three close games…
"I think one, the way we prepare, but two, we've talked about it's not the way you practice, but the way you bring it. I think a couple kids told me, even though we've got a bunch of good kids, this is the best senior leadership because they've been with us all the time and they totally get it.
"I asked Corsaro after practice 'Hey, man, you know why I kicked that field goal?' He said 'Coach, I'm the only guy here crazy enough that likes you. I've got you.' Those guys are in sync with us. I think part of it is our seniors, our leaders. Marcus Oliver is all over those guys. That does a lot for us. They are totally invested with us and they have no second doubts. They see it and they like it.
"I think the way last year ended, they knew it could have gone the other direction, even though we only won one game down the stretch. The way those kids battled, they came in here feeling we're kind of close and we had some bad breaks. In time there's going to be good breaks. Let's keep playing hard and make good breaks. It's good to be 3-0, but we've got a tremendous challenge. So we'll get over this one quickly and get on the Wake."
On the special teams unit…
"Again, you watch them play and you knew you needed to play well on all three phases. They had a great returner averaging 44 yards a return, so the kickoffs were awesome. I mean, you just took that out of the game.
"We talked a lot about not punting the ball a lot. We needed to go for it on fourth down, and of course the way the offense worked, the punting game wasn't an issue. But when you're going to play really good teams -- again, that team, if you can believe those rankings, that's potentially the third highest rated team on our schedule if you believe certain rankings. Whatever those star values of rankings are, whoever ranks those. So that being said, we knew we needed to be at our best in all three phases.
"We talked about it. We made improvement from week one to week two, and that was a great challenge on all three phases. Great returner, we won the return game. We won the turnover game. They came in plus four or five in turnovers. We won the turnover battle. We outrushed them. It was a physical game. That was good to see. We won the second half.
"There are a lot of things you talk about that you need to do to be a winning team, and that was nice. This team's good enough to keep going. Now you're going on the road and you're going to play four Big Ten teams on the road. And now you've got to bring that energy on the road, and you've got to create that energy on the road. It's the same field but you've got to learn to do that.
"So it will be interesting to see how far this team wants to go. They've worked hard, they've prepared hard. Now we're going to see how hard they want to push themselves against a really good team.
"Dutra played today. Fuchs played. You saw that. Injury-wise we're fine. Depth chart we're good.We played a bunch of guys."
On the team taking advantage of the opportunities they had…
"I'd like to say that we're sitting here and really stressing things. All we stressed about is that all that matters is the next play. I really thought Jonathan Crawford started celebrating too much and it's a ten-point game. Heck of a play. That's awesome, and I love the energy.
"So I don't want to lose the energy. We just had a very energetic locker room that was awesome. I never want to snip that energy. But there is so much football to play. Until it says double zeros and they blow the gun, you've got to get on to the next play. When it's good or when it's bad, you have to keep playing, and that's all we're preaching.
"Now, they're mature. I'd like to say we make a big chart of every stat. Our stat is we talk about you've got to play the next play. All that matters is what's next.
"Now, you know, we're sitting 3-0, and what's next is Wake Forest, and it's going to be a good challenge and we need a good week. We'll take it day by day and have a good one."
Indiana Players
Quarterback Nate Sudfeld
On 2nd half comeback…
"I think our defense made some plays. I think offensively we started to capitalize, but we still kind of stalled on drives. We should have put up more points than we did, but it was a good fight in the second half."
On Jordan Howard…
"When I got to know him, through spring ball a little bit, I realized he was going to be a special player. Obviously Tevin was awesome, but Jordan Howard fits our offense so well. Personality wise, he fits our team so well. He wears on defenses, gets the offense into 3rd and manageable. He has really opened up our playbook and given us good opportunities."
On Jonathan Crawford…
"I have been saying for a while, especially in our team meetings, that Jonathan Crawford is very impressive. In practice, he has been breaking on my out routes, and making me mad. I was just waiting on him to come out and let loose. It was really fun to see because that kid is going to be special as well. He is a gamer. He does not hesitate and he goes to the next play. We just have to keep developing him, but he is going to be a good one."
Running back Jordan Howard
On his ability to get stronger as the game goes on…
"I feel like, as the game goes along, I can get stronger throughout, and that is a tribute to our offseason workouts. I'm not sure why it happens; I guess the defense just gets tired of tackling me. I don't give in and I just love doing it to them."
On if he's shown people what he can do…
"I feel like we have shown people what we can do. This is not just about me, it's about all of us, the offense as a whole."
On adjustment from UAB…
"I feel like I have adjusted very well. They brought me almost immediately as a part of the family. They taught me the playbook and we just get along very well."
Safety Jonathan Crawford
On his first interception:
"I see all my threats are to the boundary. Coach is stressing that in all our practices, so when I saw him I just ran over there. I looked up for the ball and it was right there."
On his second interception:
"I just kept my eyes on the receiver, and when I saw that he was driving for a long time, I just ran over there, looked up and the ball was right there."
What he credits to his assertive playmaking:
"I practiced good this week, so I feel like it showed in the game."
On the second INT:
"The defensive line got good pressure, so credit to them, but I just read the receiver."
On the effect defensive plays have on the offense's next drive:
"I think they [offense] feed off of us [defense]. So if we play good, they'll play good."
On momentum of the defense moving forward:
"I think our confidence is high. We need to keep practicing hard. Attack downhill all the time."
Wide Receiver Mitchell Paige
On punt return in the first quarter:
"It started with great blocking. He bombed it, so I knew I was going to have some time to let them set up their blocks. The first guy was out there, so I had to make him miss, but after that there was nobody. It was just great blocking. That was a whole team return. Once I got through, I had the whole crew with me. It was an awesome play, and it was really cool to be running with all those guys. I didn't have to do much."
On second TD:
"Actually, I caught it and tried to make a move and almost tripped myself. I kind of juked myself out. He hit me just in the right way and kind of spurred me forward and helped me regain my balance. Then there was just nobody left. It was really good blocking by Isaac Griffith in front of me."
On winning the first 3 games:
"It was huge. Obviously we wanted to start off well. We kind of section it off as four game stretches, so we got the first three. It was really great to get those. We're moving on to next week to a great Wake Forest team. They're really improved. I think it'll be good to just go on the road and see how that is. We've been good at home, but we're excited to go on the road."
Challenges of taking energy from home on the road:
"It's creating our own energy. It's a hostile environment so we're not going to have our guys behind us. It's going to be their fans, so we've got to keep everything in house. Keep focusing on us and worrying about us."
On great play in the third quarter:
"Defense gives us a big spark in the third quarter. This year they've been playing really well, flying around in the third quarter. "
Western Kentucky Head Coach Jeff Brohm
Postgame Press Conference
On being outscored 21-7 in the second half…
"Well, for sure they came out in the second half and they played better than us and they deserved to win. They executed on offense, did whatever they wanted, didn't have to punt. Unfortunately, we could still move it on offense but we turned the ball over twice in a row. The first one I thought we had a touchdown, just kind of underthrew it and led it inside. Then the second (interception), we forced in there. Unfortunately for us we don't have that margin of error. We can't do that. We won our first two games by small margins and did everything right. We just have to get back to the drawing board. I thought our guys played hard and we made plays, but we just came up short."
On if Indiana made defensive adjustments in the 2nd half…
"No. I don't think we punted, so I don't think they really stopped us. I think we made plays, our guys played hard, we just had two costly interceptions. They ran the ball at will and controlled the clock, so we didn't get many possessions. I'd like to think we could stop the run better than that, but they have a good runner and a good offensive line. We couldn't get it done."
On Indiana's offensive line…
"We knew they were experienced and were going to do a good job. I thought that early on we did okay against them. But in the second half they dominated us and they wore us down."
On the blocked field goal…
"I think we were down 10, so we could have gone for it. I think we wanted to get the points and be within one touchdown of tying the game up. Unfortunately, I don't know if they got push, but I don't think we had very good height on the ball and it got blocked easy. That was a momentum-swinger as well."
Players Mentioned
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