Media Thursday: Michigan State Week

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana will hit the road to face No. 25/RV Michigan State on Saturday, Sept. 28, at 3:30 p.m. 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…
"Good week of preparation. Getting ready to head up to East Lansing here in a few hours. Excited for the opportunity this presents. Getting back into Big Ten play is a huge part of what we live for here and what we want to be in. Great environment we're going to be playing in. They'll have a great, loud crowd and (we'll) just talk about that with our guys, what that means. Expect our guys to elevate their level of play, their focus, their execution and be at their very best. So excited about where we are and anxious to get on the road together as a team and continue to build this program."

On quarterback Michael Penix Jr.…
"Yeah (he's thrown). We'll see (about playing Saturday). We're going to make that decision. It will be announced at kickoff, but just continue to progress and we'll see where we're at. Don't know everything for sure yet, but we'll continue to evaluate after we get everything done today and meet with everybody that's involved and make a decision."

On improving the rush game against Michigan State…
"Bottom line is, there are better ways to create those. At times, just run your base run plays and get the yards that way, other times you need to create uniqueness to what you do and the way you present those packages. Trying to create the run fits by the things you do from a structural perspective offensively. Both tempo at times, as well as getting the ball where it needs to go. I just think we need to find a way to get it to where they respect our run game so they have to honor that. Everything comes off of that."

On showcasing the team in Michigan, David Ellis being from Michigan and recruiting the state…
"In the past, we've had so many guys from Ohio here, so the Ohio State game was a big deal for that very reason. We've actually begun going into Michigan more here the last couple years and we have some guys on our team from there and more guys that will be joining us here next year. I think there's no question, you get a chance to go in to a young man's home state and show why he came here. That's what he wants to do. Bottom line is sometimes those are different motivations for guys based on who recruited them and who didn't and they know that. It's always good to go to an area where you want to recruit, have recruited and want to recruit further in the future. That always helps you because they are going to come here and play close to home and get a chance for their family to come watch them."

On evaluating the left tackle spot…
"I think it's been consistent with DaVondre (Love), Matt Bedford and Caleb (Jones) being able to be flexible and with Aidan Rafferty being a next in kind of guy. Those three guys are going to be manning that spot and we can have the ability to move Caleb. Caleb can play either side and DaVondre can play either right or left as well, so that gives us some flexibility. That's going to be the combination that we're going to use."

Indiana University Athletics

Players Mentioned

David Ellis

Michael Penix Jr.

Aidan Rafferty

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