Media Thursday: Connecticut Week

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana will host the Connecticut Huskies on Saturday, Sept. 21, at noon EDT. The game will be televised on BTN. Head coach Tom Allen met with the media on Thursday. Below is a partial transcript:

Opening Statement…
"Well, it's been a good week. Really proud of our guys the way they've handled a setback, the way they approached Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and then today was really, really sharp. It's what you have to do, you have to look at yourself in the mirror and face the things that you need to get fixed and press on together. I thought that the energy, the focus and the leadership of our older guys was what it needed to be and we just have to keep working hard every day. Excited to get us back on the field and get a chance."

On the status of Michael Penix Jr….
"We'll probably know more today and tomorrow. We do some things with him, in terms of evaluation, that will help us a lot to get a good gauge. Don't know exactly the status is for Saturday yet, but we should know more here relatively soon."

On the issues in the running game…
"The bottom line is, I do feel like we have not gotten a lot of separation up front, so the push off the football. And to me, create structural answers to make them pay for over-loading us. That, to me, is what I want to see us do a better job of, of being able to take advantage of the perimeter and take advantage of the matchups that creates. That's the two key things that stick out to me as I go through and watch it, which I do a lot. Went through last night and watched again. I see it at practice. I watch all the defensive reps with the defensive staff and watch all the offensive reps myself. Going through and watching all the reps at practice, about 60 reps on each side of the football, two separate days combined, so you're talking about 240 or so plays of just watching, watching and watching. Going back and taking notes and just making sure we're getting things cleaned up and fixed up. To me, the push, the working together, knowing when to stay on a double team, when to come off on a double team. Even in the pass pro things that we had some trouble with on Saturday. Just continuing to work through it. I want to see us getting the ball on the perimeter. That, to me, is a big, big help on getting some pressure off of the core. That's what we're really trying to emphasize."

On teams loading the box…
"They have (loaded the box), but when someone does it and has some level of success with it, I think then everyone starts copying it. But yeah, it has surprised me a little bit. But I guess when you come back and you're like Stevie (Scott), there's so much emphasis on taking him away, taking him away, taking him away. So, that's what they've been over-determined to do. That's probably more than I would've thought in the beginning."

On giving up so many points against Ohio State…
"It didn't feel very good on Saturday. Let me tell you that. Here's the thing, though. This is what I don't want to do and I haven't. I don't second guess a call that we did. Now, we're going through and working really hard and we made some changes now and some things that I want to see us do this, this and this. I'm not calling it. I did, but I've stepped in. This is what I do and everything. At the same time, it's because I want us to be able to do what we need to do against the very best on our schedule. And so, yeah, it was not a whole lot of fun not being the one calling it in that kind of situation, because at the end of the day, I'm the one responsible. I do feel like still that it's helped in so many ways for me to be a better head coach. Even this week addressing both sides of the football, special teams, meeting with players, getting time with them, those are things we have to do as well as getting the defense right. First couple weeks, worked two things, but I expect us to kind of settle down a little this week here and get back into our flow of where we want to be."

Indiana University Athletics

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