Indiana University Athletics
Postgame Quotes - Indiana vs. Michigan State
9/22/2018 11:46:00 PM | Football
Opening Statement
TOM ALLEN: Disappointing performance and outcome tonight. Had a great opportunity as a program and didn't take advantage of it. Thought we were inconsistent in a lot of different areas. Definitely some positives to build off of, but got a young football team that didn't respond to some key situations and made some poor choices. And just feel like that Michigan State's a really good football team. We knew they were. Big, physical, I thought the receivers very good, very quarterback. And we had several takeaways defensively, I believe we got four, but still not enough. Very, very disappointed in our running game. Offensively just something that -- you got to run the football. And it really puts a ton of pressure on you when you can't have time to function in the both the pass game and then moving the ball in the run game. So that's an area that really bothers me. So we have to address that in order to move forward. But the bottom line is it's one game and we'll build off of this, we'll learn from it and we'll press on and we'll become a better football team next week because of tonight.
Q. Do you feel you guys need more explosion plays, I think you only had a couple of them tonight?
TOM ALLEN: Yeah, there's no question.
Q. Do you feel Penix could potentially be a part of that?
TOM ALLEN: I thought Peyton played really well, but at the same time you got to be able to do some things to get him off. So obviously not good enough offensively and so, but then defense had their chance to get the ball back and give our offense a chance to go win the game and the defense did not take care of their job. So it's a team loss.
Q. On that play that they scored the touchdown on the jet sweep. What happened?
TOM ALLEN: Yeah, great question. You know, obviously they had rushed about 50 yards up to that point and our defense had played really, really well against the run, against a team that prides themselves in running the football and we played a coverage, we were trying to be a little more aggressive because we knew we had to get the ball back, so if you don't get the ball back then we would never have a chance. So you kind of take an opportunity, we chose to kick off because we thought we could stop them, get the ball back and go score a touchdown to send it to overtime. But one play, one long run, guy misfits it and then we pulled our safety to try to get an extra hat at the point of attack and called a coverage for that and then he took a bad angle. But therefore once they got cut off then there was nobody there. So that's disappointing because we work that concept a lot and you got to execute. Obviously we were down to our third string husky at that point in the game, but we got to get some younger guys ready to roll. So, but that was just an opportunity that we had in front of us as a defense to finish the game and be the reason why and we didn't execute. That's on me. I'm in charge of the defense on this whole team.
Q. Their drive at the end of the first half, you seemed pretty animated about the touchdown and then the other thing is what was your view of the targeting on Marcelino?
TOM ALLEN: Well, you know the reality is this, they have a 220-pound plus running back that, if you watch film, he runs people over at times, he makes people miss, he's a very good athlete and then when you're a defensive guy and you're trying to tackle that guy and then he slides all of a sudden at the last second, that's tough. But that's the way the rules are written right now. And I don't control the call, I don't control the rules and how they're interpreted. I thought with the reviewing of it that we would at least not get that portion of it, but we didn't. But yeah, as I told our team, I'm in charge of addressing the officials, not them. So I know it's frustrating, but that's not their position, it's just mine. And obviously it's a tough call, tough break for Marcelino and it wasn't a malicious thing, it wasn't a dirty shot at all, it was just playing football. But trust me, he's not the only one that's been a victim of that rule and it's just the way it is right now. And then obviously I felt like there was offensive interference on the touchdown and obviously they didn't agree with me. But that's what I felt and I'm not going to sit there and just act like it's okay. But I don't, I'm not going to -- I just do my job. So if I don't like it, I'll make sure they know that and that's the bottom line. But I don't control that, we just got to press on.
Q. I suppose you got to give Michigan State credit for their front seven, but on your end how do you diagnosis some of the problems not being able to run block, pass block?
TOM ALLEN: Yeah, too much pressure in the past game only our quarterback and not enough -- we ran for 29 yards. That's with a lot of sacks, but that's very, very disappointing. So we have to address that as a program as a team and it has to change. They're number one in the nation in run defense, but you got to find a way to run the ball. It's just a tough sledding today for our offensive line and they have been great so far, but they didn't have a good night tonight and they didn't play to our standards and we got to get better.
Peyton Ramsey, QB
Were they as a good of a front defensive seven as you've seen?
"Yes, they were good, tough and physical. They came down hill and made things really hard on us in the run game and pass rush."
What was the challenge in being able to stretch the field tonight? Was it just hard with the running game not really going?
"Yes, I would say that. When you struggle to run the ball, it's harder to throw the ball. They were dropping guys in the coverage and that made it a little bit tougher than we anticipated to throw the ball down the field."
Whop said you changed the play on the 65-yard touchdown where you found him up the middle. What did you see to make the call?
"I just saw the middle of the field open and I knew Whop was going to beat him. I trusted him and trusted that he was going to make the play for me and he did."
Whop Philyor, WR
Let's talk about that 65 yarder…
"It was just a good play call. Peyton changed the play (at the line). He went down the middle for a touchdown."
J-Shun Harris II, WR/RS
What do you guys feel you need to get more explosive plays? Longer runs? Longer passes?
"I feel like we're doing the right things. We just got to catch the defense in a bad position. I feel like we are calling the right plays for the most part. We just have to make plays on the outside."
Khalil Bryant, DB
You guys had your moments on defense. You also had your moments against you. The jet sweep obviously hurt at the end. What did you see on that? Why did that play go?
"We were in a man call. So, the jet came, everyone had to bump over. A crease got created and he broke off from us."
Q: Was there a defensive call change right before the snap?
"I can't say that it changed. We just have to be better on it. That's all."
Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio
Opening Statement
"How about a big win for our football team tonight. Great football game tonight. A very competitive football game, I felt as we played through it. Our defense played extremely well throughout, gave up the one long one, but we sort of rallied up and stopped them in some sudden change situations where they got the ball and put us in difficult situations.
"(We had) five sacks, 2 interceptions, I think two fourth down stops, we stopped the run and closed down some passing lanes. We played very well there. I thought they had been running the ball effectively.
"Offensively, big plays by Nailor, who has two big touchdowns and good execution by Lewerke on the one and then Nailor and blocking does it all in the 75 yarder, which couldn't have come at a better time. It deflated everything for them.
"We've got to run the ball more effectively. It was tough sledding, and we can't hurt ourselves with errors with penalties. We've got to make better decisions at times with the football. We put the ball on the ground too much.
"Special teams, I thought, played pretty well. We punted a couple different guys. I thought our kickoff was very good into the end zone. It was a big fake on the field goal. It was well executed and well drawn up.
"We came away with a win. It's exciting we got the Brass Spittoon back for another year. I thought we had great focus. We talked about what our identity as a football team is coming into here. Who are we going to be? We've got to start building our identity. We had to come with full focus. I thought we had full focus throughout the entire trip, especially today. I knew that we would play hard, and I knew that they would play hard because that's their M.O. I thought we came with focus and came to play."
Coach you mentioned about the inability to run the ball and setting up that fake field goal, there were some jet sweeps in the red zone, is that part of the inability right now and the struggles in the red zone to run the ball?
"We need to be able to run the ball inside, but we also need to have perimeter runs, getting the ball in the air and to the edge. It's all a part of our scheme. Every football team has to get the ball to the perimeter and they also have to be able to get the ball inside. There are a lot of people up in there, so it's tough to say until you watch the film.
"As I said always, one guy can break down into the interior of the offensive line and that can create a problem for everybody. Or It could be the tight end, or the fullback, or the running back. It could also be the play call. We are going to continue hammering at it. You have to give Indiana credit too, because I thought that they played hard. They played well. Coach Allen is a defensive coach and he has his guys ready to play too."
