Indiana University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Virginia vs. Indiana
9/8/2018 11:59:00 PM | Football
Indiana Head Coach Tom Allen
Opening Statement
"Just so proud of our guys. Knew it was going to be a tough game. Weather was awful, but our guys just don't care about that stuff. Can't control the weather. I was really proud of the way they competed, proud of the way the offensive line responded to my challenge last week. To dominate the line of scrimmage against a team that has been really, really good against the run. Stevie Scott goes for 204 yards, second most in the history of our program for a true freshman. He never once fumbled the football, in those conditions it's really hard to do. We had only the one turnover on offense and ball security was great all night long. How about our young defense? They just keep coming, held them under 300 yards of offense, 16 points. Obviously at the end they made the huge stop to win the game and even on the interference call I said, hey, nobody complained, let's get fresh guys in there, use our last timeout and said this is what we got to do, we got to finish. We always tell them, you're going to have to play 60 minutes and beyond. We'll played to midnight, one, two in the morning, we don't care. So huge win for our program, great opportunity for us to continue to grow all these young guys we've got on the team and just really, really proud of this -- all, every single one ever them. So questions."
Q: I thought Stevie was a little hesitant running the ball last week. What was different tonight? He seemed to be hitting the holes a lot harder?
"Well, we obviously worked on that. It's just confidence. It's the second game now and I know you hear this all the time, but it's really true, you're going to have a lot of growth from week one to week two, for most teams. And then when you have 17 guys that play in their first college game, that's 17 guys that are now playing in their second game. And I just thought the whole week of preparation was different. I thought our week walkthroughs today were different, I thought our meetings today were different. We do a thing defensively where we call it Red Break Swarm and watch film. And just the way they make checks and they had a different air about them and they're just more confident. And I think Stevie the same thing, he just ran with confidence. And he's a big boy now and he's just naturally very strong, he has really good patience and vision. I noticed that right away in fall camp. I knew this kid was going to be special. Just didn't know when he was going to get his shot and obviously due to injuries and the situations we have right now, he got it early and he's taken advantage of it. So I think he's going to be a pretty special one."
Q: I know you weren't happy with the defensive performance last week, felt good about a number of things on offense. I imagine no second-half points this week will probably bother you a little bit, but the defensive performance, do you think this team is synced up in a good way right now, offense to defense and special teams too?
"I do. You mentioned some things that we have to address and I'm not happy about not scoring any points in the second half. We had a chance to put them away I thought with a couple of those tries, but we didn't. But they've got a good football team too. And then special teams, we got a couple blocks there on the field goals which were disappointing. And the conditions were, they were variable, I get that, but still it's no excuse. So, but then the defense responded. I just so -- I'm so proud of defense, I tell you. I take a lot of pride in that, there's no question. And I was really not happy with last week at all, and I know I said that, but I really was really upset, because I just felt like we were better than we showed. And so -- and I think we are, but doesn't matter what I think it matters what we do on the field and how we play. So they responded, their coaches responded and I really, I got after them pretty good because I just feel like that you've got to play great defense if you want to win games. And so today was a prime example of that. I tell you what, that quarterback he's special now in terms of athletically, and he is hard to tackle and he's a big man and he's got a different gear. So I was, I stayed up a lot of late nights worrying about that guy. So just really -- and even No. 1, I thought he ran the ball so hard last week and I was concerned about us tackling him as young as we are and he's 225 pounds and he's really strong and a senior and we've got guys that are true freshmen out there trying to tackle him. Four years, five years difference in age. So just really feel like that those guys responded and they got a chance to become a complete football team. When both sides of the ball put it all together on the same night and special teams does their deal and we just play a lot of guys and that's, I've said that all along, it's going to be our key to success and just keep our guys fresh and just keep bringing them."
Q: You mentioned the special teams. Anything in the moment that you can kind of diagnose what went wrong on those two plays there?
"Well, the first one we had a mistake up front with one of our guys. He didn't step down like he was supposed to. And the second one, the timing was too slow and the kick was low. So I felt like it was the snap because of the wet ball and getting it down. So it just too long in our timing of it, our processing we call it, and then the kick was low. But obviously we got, that changes everything. We get a seven-point lead instead of a four-point lead. And when you get the block -- we lost three points in the exchange when we got the block and they returned it for two points. And so we really loss six total points there between those two blocks. So, obviously, not happy with that, but we will as we did last week, it's a lot more enjoyable to correct those mistakes after a win."
Q: When you signed him, what did you know about him and what have you learned in the last two weeks?
"This is interesting. The last two running backs that we have signed I wasn't sure about either one of them. When we signed Morgan, I told both guys that they're both linebackers and running backs, and I said if it doesn't work out at running back, we'll move you to linebacker. And I told them both the same thing because I just knew they were two big, strong guys. You get a six-one, six-two guy that weighs 230 plus pounds out of high school, I figured we could find a place to play them. And they can run. Same thing with Stevie, we're like, hey, we're going to stop him on offense and we may move him to linebacker, but, so I saw some similar things, actually both guys had injuries in high school that ended their senior years, didn't have a lot of reps, and so we really didn't know. But I thought we had, I did, I thought he had something different about him. And then when he got to camp and we started watching him run I'm like, yeah, this guy is, he's going to be all right. So you just kind of get a body type that you're looking for with all these Big-Ten looking running backs and he almost weighs 240, so that's a big man, so and he's really naturally strong, he's going to get stronger with our staff. So he's got a bright future if he just keeps his head on straight and stays humble and keeps working hard."
Q: The first drive they kind of gassed you a little bit, but then after that, I'm sure it wasn't perfect, but really didn't have a lot of big plays and you guys really did a pretty good job. Did something you changed schematically or just the guys just changed the way they played.
"I will say this, I felt like I called a very conservative game from the perspective of I just wanted to let our guys get comfortable playing base defense. So I made a couple, I called a couple movements and some pressures early and I quit doing that, just because I felt like, let our guys get their feet set and play football. And then I got confidence to know, once we started stopping, that, hey, we can play that way. And we obviously brought some pressure at times, but I just wanted our guys, like you said, it's the youth and things are happening fast and the gaps, if you're moving, the gaps are changing and so I just wanted them to get their feet set, get grounded and play with confidence. Because I felt like, if we could do that and still stop the run that way, then that kind of, that's really the ideal when you're not taking as many chances."
Q: You said you liked the way your offensive line responded. Kind of what specifically did they do better that you liked tonight?
"We ran the ball really good against a good defense. I wouldn't say that the drives that we didn't finish were -- a couple of times we were bringing zero pressure, and then obviously you can't throw it as well as you like to because of the weather conditions, you don't want to turn it over, so you're in that little conundrum to decide what to do, but I just felt like the push off the ball, the finishing of blocks, against a team that basically just schematically are lined up to make the run game tough, and we still ran the ball. And I was concerned about our ability to run the ball against them, I really was just because I felt like they're a really good front seven defense and we thought that, going in, we thought that our best way to exploit them was through the passing game. And then it rains all day. I thought Noah was out there in the ark a couple times. But I just so, really, honestly, I was more concerned because of the weather -- and I didn't tell our team that -- but I personally was because of the matchup issues that that was going to create. We thought that we could throw the ball down the field and we still did. A couple of them were ugly throws, the ball was kind of wobbling, but I tell you what, just like we take -- and I told our team before this, this is going to come down to who wants to win the game. And there's a key third down for field position and you throw the ball up and Luke just absolutely wanted that football. And so we were able to throw the ball down the field at times enough and for a half that was huge, total score, obviously ended up being a winning score. So just things like that, just really just trying to establish the run game first, knock them off the football and then make some big plays."
Q: Can you talk about Haydon and what he was able to do in terms of the field position and some of those short field punts.
"Yeah, those were big. I was disappointed in the one, I think he caught it on the 12 or 13. I want it inside the 10 every time, try to get inside the five. I took the delay the one time because sometimes you get almost too close. And so you feel like I just wanted to maximize the clock and that way it keeps our timeouts for late in the game, which is, I'm glad we had that last one to use. And just things like that. So I was able to take a delay, give him a chance to, move us back a little bit and the ball was like on the 37 and so we could get, we call them goal punts for us because where they're at on the field. And so his value to this team, he had the one to pin them down inside the five on the three yard line there and it was tough conditions and he never muffed a snap. He just worked so hard on that. And our snapper, you know, just, you know, Dan Godsil is just awesome, he's so steady and just, Drew Conrad he won award for the game, just because he's so unselfish and he just does his job and most people don't even know who he is. But he's a tremendously valuable part of our team and he lives that every day because he cares more about this team than he does himself."
Q: Obviously the weather conditions dictating a more running attack tonight and knowing that and knowing that Stevie was probably going to be carrying the load there, any trepidation knowing you're putting the ball in his hands 31 times tonight as a freshman?
"Yeah, yeah. You got to believe in him and you got to let him go. And bottom line is you grow up really fast when you're forced to. And he's our biggest, strongest back. And I tell you what though, he's got huge hands and he's really strong and I think that that helps ball security. He just kind of swallows the ball up. And I just think that, yeah I think it was a little bit un-nerving for me because he is a true freshman and he is green, but I think we saw a guy grow up tonight in front of all of us and really proud of him. And the O line made it all happen."
Q: Forgive me if I'm wrong, but it felt like Reakwon spent a lot of time kind of shadowing Perkins. I don't know if that was design or by just call, but how big was he tonight? I know he's a guy that had a really good spring and hasn't played a ton through his career, but he's a guy you talked about leaning on defensively.
"Really proud of that young man because he stepped up. I got on him a year ago, I felt like Tegray had to play so many snaps because he didn't rise up and he didn't put himself in position for me to trust him to play. And so his spring was huge. He won MVP of our spring in a couple different areas. And just so proud of the way he played. You're right, that was an accurate assessment. And we had several calls where we spied him on the quarterback and he came up big. I tell you what, none bigger was Bryant's tackle there on that last drive on the quarterback and just, once again, he's not the biggest, the fastest or any of that, but his heart and his will is huge and he cares so much about this team and his teammates and he prepares and he is smart and he just does what he's asked to do. So a lot of guys like that have stepped up. And really proud of Reakwon and he just needs to keep climbing. We need him to rise up. And you're right, he has not played a whole lot, but that's changing and TD behind him played a bunch and Micah McFadden, he tackled him and he's a player. And all those linebackers -- I thought Dameon stepped you know and made some big plays and Thomas stepped up and made some big plays and, man, they're growing up right in front of us, so it was pretty cool to see."
Indiana WR Donavan Hale
Q: How was it catching out there with the weather?
"Just gotta make plays out there in these conditions."
Q: What are your thoughts on how Stevie Scott ran the ball and didn't turn it over in these conditions?
"It was huge. He obviously is going to be big for us in the long run, just need him to keep going."
Q: This team didn't really run the ball great last year, how nice is it as an offense to know that you can count on guys like Stevie to step up? Does that help you guys as receivers as well?
"Yes, obviously having the run game to open up the pass game for our receivers to go out and make plays."
Q: Tell me about the TD and what you saw. Once again, kind of like last week did you know it was coming your way?
"Yes, I was over there isolated and I just had to get open."
Q: You've had a good year starting off, tell us about the quick start you've had?
"Just have to keep going, build confidence and keep playing."
Q: What were your thoughts when they were driving, got one play left and they were throwing it in the end zone?
"Obviously, always on your toes but I thought our defense was going to come through and they did."
Q: The ability to finish, how big was that, that you were able to finish this game?
"That's our one word for the year is finish, and you know in previous years in the third, fourth quarter, second half it's been tough for us, so we just have to come out, stay consistent and finish every single game."
Indiana QB Peyton Ramsey
Q: How tough were those throwing conditions?
"It wasn't actually as hard as I thought, I came out of warm ups and got a grip on the ball. The toughest thing was when it got wet and it got water logged it felt like I was throwing a bowling ball, but then it would hang up in the air in the wind. For short throws, intermediate throws I didn't think it was as hard as I expected."
Q: What did you think about the way Stevie Scott played not only his yards but he didn't have a turnover?
"He grew up tonight and we had talked about that all week that we need somebody in that room to step up. He kept coming back after a big run and was like 'feed me the ball'."
Q: How much did the weather effect the game plan knowing it was going to rain all game?
"I think a little bit, there were some things you know certain concepts we were coming to. I would come off the field and coach would ask if I felt comfortable throwing the ball and in that way the game plan was the same when we did throw the ball, but yes you're right, we did run the ball a little bit more than we probably anticipated."
Q: How valuable is it a guy like Stevie it feels like he's always moving forward even if it's only a yard or two, he doesn't lose yards?
"Exactly, those 1, 2, 3 yards put us in easier situations especially in the rain when its third and 4 opposed to third and 8. Those yards become extremely valuable."
Q: When the running game is going that well what does it do for you as a quarterback? How much easier does it make your job?
"Especially in the rain you know everybody's going to come down into the box, they are expecting a run and ultimately comes down to throwing out on the perimeter to our big receivers, guys who I know are going to get open, guys that I can trust. I didn't make the most accurate throws tonight but guys went up and made plays and made me look good."
Q: Ty Fryfogle made a few nice catches out there what did you think of him?
"That's what we've seen from him, he is continuing to make big time plays and it's starting to come to light on Saturdays."
Q: Does that give you confidence having five, six, seven receivers you can go to?
"A lot, a lot of confidence. They are big bodied guys that can go snatch the ball out of the air."
Indiana LB Reakwon Jones
Q: Talk about how much fun it was to have it on your guys' shoulders at the end to win the game?
"It was a lot of fun. We emphasized since January finishing, finishing and closing games. It doesn't matter what happens or how they get there, we just have to go out there and compete. It was a lot of fun to see all the drills we worked on really come to life and happen in a real game."
Q: I don't know what the final stats were but after three quarters you guys had held them to just over 200 yards total offense.
"We were flying around. It was good to see everybody doing what they could, making plays and executing their job. I think it's going to give us a lot of confidence going into the rest of the season. We really needed that after we struggled last week, we know everyone knows we struggled. It felt like we really picked it up and I'm really happy with everyone on this defense. We take to heart when Coach Allen is hard on us and we love it and we love how we played tonight."
Q: Coach Allen was really proud tonight, what's the difference between this week and last week on your side? What did you guys do differently?
"We focused mostly. Last week we got away from our base rules and just got too involved in the game plan. They just went out there and ran basic stuff and we weren't prepared, we weren't communicating and this week we overcommunicated and emphasized that in practice. We held people accountable. If someone messes up, 'hey you know you got to go get them, you got to do this, let's not make this mistake twice.' It really helped the younger guys who came in and stepped in, with subs and definitely helped me. I focused on my run fits because I'm a linebacker and that's what I got to do first. It was a great week of practice, which I'm not surprised with the outcome of the game."
Indiana RB Stevie Scott
Q: When you came in here and Coach Allen told you to do whatever you could to step up, what was that like and what did you do to establish yourself at running back?
"I came in just wanting to be on the field and help my team win."
Q: What did you learn from the first game?
"I just got to run hard and run low. Don't leave any yards on the field."
Q: Are your surprised you ran that many times?
"Not really because in practice we run the ball a lot so I was just trying to prepare on it."
Virginia Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall
Opening Statement
"Hard fought game I thought we played hard and more aggressively. We were more assertive in the second half than the first. Game came down to a few plays with a chance to win right at the very end. I think Bryce (Perkins) showed a lot of courage and fortitude and gamesmanship. He gave us a great chance. Our execution was just not consistent enough. I think a tentative first half, a few key penalties mixed in. It was a hard-fought game, just fell short."
What was the last play, what were you kind of hoping for when you drove?
"Basically, it's for lack of a better term, big ben. So, there are three players that will go up for the ball and a trailer that will slide in behind in case it's tipped or knocked forwards. It was a nice throw, there was a bunch of hands that went up and sometimes you come down with it and sometimes you don't. Bryce gave us a chance."
What about your own offensive line?
"I think we struggled. Bryce is very active, so he was hard to get on the ground. He created and did a lot of things on his own. Indiana kept our run game going lateral more than downhill for a lot of the night which mitigated some of Jordan Ellis' effectiveness with 63 yards. We would like him to be over 100 certainly, but they kept him going lateral more than he would have liked."
How much did number 21 from Indiana, Stevie Scott the running back, surprise you or did you kind of know going in that he might be a threat?
"No, we didn't think that they would be able to run the football effectively, and so we learned a lot about our team today. Coach Howell and the defensive coaches made some adjustments the second half, but there is a lot of takeaways there that we are going to have to work on."
Opening Statement
"Just so proud of our guys. Knew it was going to be a tough game. Weather was awful, but our guys just don't care about that stuff. Can't control the weather. I was really proud of the way they competed, proud of the way the offensive line responded to my challenge last week. To dominate the line of scrimmage against a team that has been really, really good against the run. Stevie Scott goes for 204 yards, second most in the history of our program for a true freshman. He never once fumbled the football, in those conditions it's really hard to do. We had only the one turnover on offense and ball security was great all night long. How about our young defense? They just keep coming, held them under 300 yards of offense, 16 points. Obviously at the end they made the huge stop to win the game and even on the interference call I said, hey, nobody complained, let's get fresh guys in there, use our last timeout and said this is what we got to do, we got to finish. We always tell them, you're going to have to play 60 minutes and beyond. We'll played to midnight, one, two in the morning, we don't care. So huge win for our program, great opportunity for us to continue to grow all these young guys we've got on the team and just really, really proud of this -- all, every single one ever them. So questions."
Q: I thought Stevie was a little hesitant running the ball last week. What was different tonight? He seemed to be hitting the holes a lot harder?
"Well, we obviously worked on that. It's just confidence. It's the second game now and I know you hear this all the time, but it's really true, you're going to have a lot of growth from week one to week two, for most teams. And then when you have 17 guys that play in their first college game, that's 17 guys that are now playing in their second game. And I just thought the whole week of preparation was different. I thought our week walkthroughs today were different, I thought our meetings today were different. We do a thing defensively where we call it Red Break Swarm and watch film. And just the way they make checks and they had a different air about them and they're just more confident. And I think Stevie the same thing, he just ran with confidence. And he's a big boy now and he's just naturally very strong, he has really good patience and vision. I noticed that right away in fall camp. I knew this kid was going to be special. Just didn't know when he was going to get his shot and obviously due to injuries and the situations we have right now, he got it early and he's taken advantage of it. So I think he's going to be a pretty special one."
Q: I know you weren't happy with the defensive performance last week, felt good about a number of things on offense. I imagine no second-half points this week will probably bother you a little bit, but the defensive performance, do you think this team is synced up in a good way right now, offense to defense and special teams too?
"I do. You mentioned some things that we have to address and I'm not happy about not scoring any points in the second half. We had a chance to put them away I thought with a couple of those tries, but we didn't. But they've got a good football team too. And then special teams, we got a couple blocks there on the field goals which were disappointing. And the conditions were, they were variable, I get that, but still it's no excuse. So, but then the defense responded. I just so -- I'm so proud of defense, I tell you. I take a lot of pride in that, there's no question. And I was really not happy with last week at all, and I know I said that, but I really was really upset, because I just felt like we were better than we showed. And so -- and I think we are, but doesn't matter what I think it matters what we do on the field and how we play. So they responded, their coaches responded and I really, I got after them pretty good because I just feel like that you've got to play great defense if you want to win games. And so today was a prime example of that. I tell you what, that quarterback he's special now in terms of athletically, and he is hard to tackle and he's a big man and he's got a different gear. So I was, I stayed up a lot of late nights worrying about that guy. So just really -- and even No. 1, I thought he ran the ball so hard last week and I was concerned about us tackling him as young as we are and he's 225 pounds and he's really strong and a senior and we've got guys that are true freshmen out there trying to tackle him. Four years, five years difference in age. So just really feel like that those guys responded and they got a chance to become a complete football team. When both sides of the ball put it all together on the same night and special teams does their deal and we just play a lot of guys and that's, I've said that all along, it's going to be our key to success and just keep our guys fresh and just keep bringing them."
Q: You mentioned the special teams. Anything in the moment that you can kind of diagnose what went wrong on those two plays there?
"Well, the first one we had a mistake up front with one of our guys. He didn't step down like he was supposed to. And the second one, the timing was too slow and the kick was low. So I felt like it was the snap because of the wet ball and getting it down. So it just too long in our timing of it, our processing we call it, and then the kick was low. But obviously we got, that changes everything. We get a seven-point lead instead of a four-point lead. And when you get the block -- we lost three points in the exchange when we got the block and they returned it for two points. And so we really loss six total points there between those two blocks. So, obviously, not happy with that, but we will as we did last week, it's a lot more enjoyable to correct those mistakes after a win."
Q: When you signed him, what did you know about him and what have you learned in the last two weeks?
"This is interesting. The last two running backs that we have signed I wasn't sure about either one of them. When we signed Morgan, I told both guys that they're both linebackers and running backs, and I said if it doesn't work out at running back, we'll move you to linebacker. And I told them both the same thing because I just knew they were two big, strong guys. You get a six-one, six-two guy that weighs 230 plus pounds out of high school, I figured we could find a place to play them. And they can run. Same thing with Stevie, we're like, hey, we're going to stop him on offense and we may move him to linebacker, but, so I saw some similar things, actually both guys had injuries in high school that ended their senior years, didn't have a lot of reps, and so we really didn't know. But I thought we had, I did, I thought he had something different about him. And then when he got to camp and we started watching him run I'm like, yeah, this guy is, he's going to be all right. So you just kind of get a body type that you're looking for with all these Big-Ten looking running backs and he almost weighs 240, so that's a big man, so and he's really naturally strong, he's going to get stronger with our staff. So he's got a bright future if he just keeps his head on straight and stays humble and keeps working hard."
Q: The first drive they kind of gassed you a little bit, but then after that, I'm sure it wasn't perfect, but really didn't have a lot of big plays and you guys really did a pretty good job. Did something you changed schematically or just the guys just changed the way they played.
"I will say this, I felt like I called a very conservative game from the perspective of I just wanted to let our guys get comfortable playing base defense. So I made a couple, I called a couple movements and some pressures early and I quit doing that, just because I felt like, let our guys get their feet set and play football. And then I got confidence to know, once we started stopping, that, hey, we can play that way. And we obviously brought some pressure at times, but I just wanted our guys, like you said, it's the youth and things are happening fast and the gaps, if you're moving, the gaps are changing and so I just wanted them to get their feet set, get grounded and play with confidence. Because I felt like, if we could do that and still stop the run that way, then that kind of, that's really the ideal when you're not taking as many chances."
Q: You said you liked the way your offensive line responded. Kind of what specifically did they do better that you liked tonight?
"We ran the ball really good against a good defense. I wouldn't say that the drives that we didn't finish were -- a couple of times we were bringing zero pressure, and then obviously you can't throw it as well as you like to because of the weather conditions, you don't want to turn it over, so you're in that little conundrum to decide what to do, but I just felt like the push off the ball, the finishing of blocks, against a team that basically just schematically are lined up to make the run game tough, and we still ran the ball. And I was concerned about our ability to run the ball against them, I really was just because I felt like they're a really good front seven defense and we thought that, going in, we thought that our best way to exploit them was through the passing game. And then it rains all day. I thought Noah was out there in the ark a couple times. But I just so, really, honestly, I was more concerned because of the weather -- and I didn't tell our team that -- but I personally was because of the matchup issues that that was going to create. We thought that we could throw the ball down the field and we still did. A couple of them were ugly throws, the ball was kind of wobbling, but I tell you what, just like we take -- and I told our team before this, this is going to come down to who wants to win the game. And there's a key third down for field position and you throw the ball up and Luke just absolutely wanted that football. And so we were able to throw the ball down the field at times enough and for a half that was huge, total score, obviously ended up being a winning score. So just things like that, just really just trying to establish the run game first, knock them off the football and then make some big plays."
Q: Can you talk about Haydon and what he was able to do in terms of the field position and some of those short field punts.
"Yeah, those were big. I was disappointed in the one, I think he caught it on the 12 or 13. I want it inside the 10 every time, try to get inside the five. I took the delay the one time because sometimes you get almost too close. And so you feel like I just wanted to maximize the clock and that way it keeps our timeouts for late in the game, which is, I'm glad we had that last one to use. And just things like that. So I was able to take a delay, give him a chance to, move us back a little bit and the ball was like on the 37 and so we could get, we call them goal punts for us because where they're at on the field. And so his value to this team, he had the one to pin them down inside the five on the three yard line there and it was tough conditions and he never muffed a snap. He just worked so hard on that. And our snapper, you know, just, you know, Dan Godsil is just awesome, he's so steady and just, Drew Conrad he won award for the game, just because he's so unselfish and he just does his job and most people don't even know who he is. But he's a tremendously valuable part of our team and he lives that every day because he cares more about this team than he does himself."
Q: Obviously the weather conditions dictating a more running attack tonight and knowing that and knowing that Stevie was probably going to be carrying the load there, any trepidation knowing you're putting the ball in his hands 31 times tonight as a freshman?
"Yeah, yeah. You got to believe in him and you got to let him go. And bottom line is you grow up really fast when you're forced to. And he's our biggest, strongest back. And I tell you what though, he's got huge hands and he's really strong and I think that that helps ball security. He just kind of swallows the ball up. And I just think that, yeah I think it was a little bit un-nerving for me because he is a true freshman and he is green, but I think we saw a guy grow up tonight in front of all of us and really proud of him. And the O line made it all happen."
Q: Forgive me if I'm wrong, but it felt like Reakwon spent a lot of time kind of shadowing Perkins. I don't know if that was design or by just call, but how big was he tonight? I know he's a guy that had a really good spring and hasn't played a ton through his career, but he's a guy you talked about leaning on defensively.
"Really proud of that young man because he stepped up. I got on him a year ago, I felt like Tegray had to play so many snaps because he didn't rise up and he didn't put himself in position for me to trust him to play. And so his spring was huge. He won MVP of our spring in a couple different areas. And just so proud of the way he played. You're right, that was an accurate assessment. And we had several calls where we spied him on the quarterback and he came up big. I tell you what, none bigger was Bryant's tackle there on that last drive on the quarterback and just, once again, he's not the biggest, the fastest or any of that, but his heart and his will is huge and he cares so much about this team and his teammates and he prepares and he is smart and he just does what he's asked to do. So a lot of guys like that have stepped up. And really proud of Reakwon and he just needs to keep climbing. We need him to rise up. And you're right, he has not played a whole lot, but that's changing and TD behind him played a bunch and Micah McFadden, he tackled him and he's a player. And all those linebackers -- I thought Dameon stepped you know and made some big plays and Thomas stepped up and made some big plays and, man, they're growing up right in front of us, so it was pretty cool to see."
Indiana WR Donavan Hale
Q: How was it catching out there with the weather?
"Just gotta make plays out there in these conditions."
Q: What are your thoughts on how Stevie Scott ran the ball and didn't turn it over in these conditions?
"It was huge. He obviously is going to be big for us in the long run, just need him to keep going."
Q: This team didn't really run the ball great last year, how nice is it as an offense to know that you can count on guys like Stevie to step up? Does that help you guys as receivers as well?
"Yes, obviously having the run game to open up the pass game for our receivers to go out and make plays."
Q: Tell me about the TD and what you saw. Once again, kind of like last week did you know it was coming your way?
"Yes, I was over there isolated and I just had to get open."
Q: You've had a good year starting off, tell us about the quick start you've had?
"Just have to keep going, build confidence and keep playing."
Q: What were your thoughts when they were driving, got one play left and they were throwing it in the end zone?
"Obviously, always on your toes but I thought our defense was going to come through and they did."
Q: The ability to finish, how big was that, that you were able to finish this game?
"That's our one word for the year is finish, and you know in previous years in the third, fourth quarter, second half it's been tough for us, so we just have to come out, stay consistent and finish every single game."
Indiana QB Peyton Ramsey
Q: How tough were those throwing conditions?
"It wasn't actually as hard as I thought, I came out of warm ups and got a grip on the ball. The toughest thing was when it got wet and it got water logged it felt like I was throwing a bowling ball, but then it would hang up in the air in the wind. For short throws, intermediate throws I didn't think it was as hard as I expected."
Q: What did you think about the way Stevie Scott played not only his yards but he didn't have a turnover?
"He grew up tonight and we had talked about that all week that we need somebody in that room to step up. He kept coming back after a big run and was like 'feed me the ball'."
Q: How much did the weather effect the game plan knowing it was going to rain all game?
"I think a little bit, there were some things you know certain concepts we were coming to. I would come off the field and coach would ask if I felt comfortable throwing the ball and in that way the game plan was the same when we did throw the ball, but yes you're right, we did run the ball a little bit more than we probably anticipated."
Q: How valuable is it a guy like Stevie it feels like he's always moving forward even if it's only a yard or two, he doesn't lose yards?
"Exactly, those 1, 2, 3 yards put us in easier situations especially in the rain when its third and 4 opposed to third and 8. Those yards become extremely valuable."
Q: When the running game is going that well what does it do for you as a quarterback? How much easier does it make your job?
"Especially in the rain you know everybody's going to come down into the box, they are expecting a run and ultimately comes down to throwing out on the perimeter to our big receivers, guys who I know are going to get open, guys that I can trust. I didn't make the most accurate throws tonight but guys went up and made plays and made me look good."
Q: Ty Fryfogle made a few nice catches out there what did you think of him?
"That's what we've seen from him, he is continuing to make big time plays and it's starting to come to light on Saturdays."
Q: Does that give you confidence having five, six, seven receivers you can go to?
"A lot, a lot of confidence. They are big bodied guys that can go snatch the ball out of the air."
Indiana LB Reakwon Jones
Q: Talk about how much fun it was to have it on your guys' shoulders at the end to win the game?
"It was a lot of fun. We emphasized since January finishing, finishing and closing games. It doesn't matter what happens or how they get there, we just have to go out there and compete. It was a lot of fun to see all the drills we worked on really come to life and happen in a real game."
Q: I don't know what the final stats were but after three quarters you guys had held them to just over 200 yards total offense.
"We were flying around. It was good to see everybody doing what they could, making plays and executing their job. I think it's going to give us a lot of confidence going into the rest of the season. We really needed that after we struggled last week, we know everyone knows we struggled. It felt like we really picked it up and I'm really happy with everyone on this defense. We take to heart when Coach Allen is hard on us and we love it and we love how we played tonight."
Q: Coach Allen was really proud tonight, what's the difference between this week and last week on your side? What did you guys do differently?
"We focused mostly. Last week we got away from our base rules and just got too involved in the game plan. They just went out there and ran basic stuff and we weren't prepared, we weren't communicating and this week we overcommunicated and emphasized that in practice. We held people accountable. If someone messes up, 'hey you know you got to go get them, you got to do this, let's not make this mistake twice.' It really helped the younger guys who came in and stepped in, with subs and definitely helped me. I focused on my run fits because I'm a linebacker and that's what I got to do first. It was a great week of practice, which I'm not surprised with the outcome of the game."
Indiana RB Stevie Scott
Q: When you came in here and Coach Allen told you to do whatever you could to step up, what was that like and what did you do to establish yourself at running back?
"I came in just wanting to be on the field and help my team win."
Q: What did you learn from the first game?
"I just got to run hard and run low. Don't leave any yards on the field."
Q: Are your surprised you ran that many times?
"Not really because in practice we run the ball a lot so I was just trying to prepare on it."
Virginia Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall
Opening Statement
"Hard fought game I thought we played hard and more aggressively. We were more assertive in the second half than the first. Game came down to a few plays with a chance to win right at the very end. I think Bryce (Perkins) showed a lot of courage and fortitude and gamesmanship. He gave us a great chance. Our execution was just not consistent enough. I think a tentative first half, a few key penalties mixed in. It was a hard-fought game, just fell short."
What was the last play, what were you kind of hoping for when you drove?
"Basically, it's for lack of a better term, big ben. So, there are three players that will go up for the ball and a trailer that will slide in behind in case it's tipped or knocked forwards. It was a nice throw, there was a bunch of hands that went up and sometimes you come down with it and sometimes you don't. Bryce gave us a chance."
What about your own offensive line?
"I think we struggled. Bryce is very active, so he was hard to get on the ground. He created and did a lot of things on his own. Indiana kept our run game going lateral more than downhill for a lot of the night which mitigated some of Jordan Ellis' effectiveness with 63 yards. We would like him to be over 100 certainly, but they kept him going lateral more than he would have liked."
How much did number 21 from Indiana, Stevie Scott the running back, surprise you or did you kind of know going in that he might be a threat?
"No, we didn't think that they would be able to run the football effectively, and so we learned a lot about our team today. Coach Howell and the defensive coaches made some adjustments the second half, but there is a lot of takeaways there that we are going to have to work on."
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