Indiana University Athletics
Media Thursday: Rutgers
10/29/2020 1:00:00 PM | Football
Below is a partial transcription of the Zoom press conference with Indiana head coach Tom Allen on Thursday, Oct. 29.
Head Coach Tom Allen
Q: On going for the block versus using a return man on long field goal attempts…
ALLEN: We do [think about putting a deep returner] but you lose a guy in both of those situations. We actually have it, it is called Raven, and we do it every Friday. We will do it tomorrow in our practice. It was a long field goal, for sure. The situation was that [the Penn State kicker] has a big leg. They have a long field goal guy and a regular field goal guy. That was their long field goal personnel in there. He has a big enough leg to kick that so I really was not thinking of the short kick there. I just wanted to make sure he did not make it. We wanted to get the proper pressure with our normal personnel. Like you said, you only had down to 10 and when you do that, you do not get your normal personnel aggression on that that you are trying to get to. We do that. Had the kick been a little longer where we did not think he was even going to get it close to getting it there, we would probably put somebody back. Reese Taylor is actually the guy we put back, or Whop Philyor. Like I said, it is called Raven personnel and we do that.
Q: On extra time spent in preparation with other responsibilities…
ALLEN: I just had to readjust my schedule. That is one advantage of me not calling the defense and being able to take that time to, obviously, leave the room and go take care of those interviews and things that we are doing to really help promote our program, which has been awesome. If I was calling it, that would have been a more challenging situation to deal with what I did. The way we handle it, basically I am in [the meetings], we have notes for every single play, and we go through and watch film defensively. That allows me to be able to go through, while I am there, I am seeing it live on the film together with the staff, and then they take notes for me. Then I go back and re-watch it myself later on in the evening. I did the same thing with the offense, so just everything got kicked back. Basically, I just got less sleep, I will just call it what it is. That is a great problem to have at this point, so I will sleep when the season is over. The bottom line is, this has been a huge opportunity for our program, a great opportunity to get recruits on the phone and parents on the phone. Just talking to them, they all watched the game, they all are buzzing about how everything finished, the way we handled the finish, the way we were prepared for the finish, the way we executed everything at a at a very high level, at a very intense time and under a lot of difficult circumstances. You can talk all you want about culture, but all I had to do was send them the video of the locker room. That was what I told him I said that I can I can sit here and tell you all day about what it is like here, but you can see it for yourself on this video. You can see L.E.O. lived out in that locker room, you can see the passion that this program has, the edge that this team plays with, the fight and the grit of this football team by the way that we finished and did not get discouraged when it looked like we had a small chance for that victory. The bottom line is, it is a great opportunity for us. We have a great staff. I delegate to these guys and I trust them. We have to do things a little bit different schedule-wise but that is part of it. That is part of the process to go through and thinking, moving forward about how I would be able to function as a head coach and not be calling the defense. We planned for this. It has taken some time to get here, to be able to have the wins that match up with it. This was a big, big win for sure but it is only one win. This next week is just as big or bigger.
Q: On Rutgers getting the win over Michigan State…
ALLEN: I think it was huge. I was actually thankful for that in some ways, just being honest. You can say things a certain way, but if you put the film in and the film does not match, these guys are pretty smart guys. They know what the film means. When you put the film in, they are a completely different team than we played a year ago. Whatever thought that you had about Rutgers previously is erased. That obviously shows us that the film never lies. They are a much-improved football team. They played really hard. They created seven takeaways, which is unbelievably impressive to me, and they are a really good team. Bottom line is, it is our first road game, and we have to play better this week than we played last week. That is the key.
Q: On the strategy of letting the opponent score to preserve time…
ALLEN: It would be highly unlikely because of the nature of how big this has become and how much it has been talked about. We still have a plan for that. There are other circumstances where it can happen, a little bit less maybe obvious or deliberate way, than that one was. At the same time, you plan for all those situations. I am just proud of our guys for executing what we have been working on. You practice it, you have a signal for it, and you plan for it. I have gone a lot of years of coaching and those things never happened. It has been unusual that is has happened twice now. At the same time, it has been very effective. In this situation it gave us a chance. I think the likelihood of it happening in the near future is pretty small.
Q: On preparations for a transfer-heavy Rutgers team and the news out of Wisconsin…
ALLEN: In regards their personnel, they have a lot of quality transfers. They really changed the way their team looks by bringing in new guys. It just starts at quarterback. We did play against him last year. The thing that sticks out to me is his moxie. He is a kid that understands the game, he is a really good athlete, he can do a lot of things, he can run it, he can throw it, and he extends plays with his legs. He is a tough, gritty guy. We have a lot of respect for him as a player. We know we are going to have to play extremely well to be able to contain him and keep him from being very effective in both the run and throw game. They have several other players, as well.
You mentioned Wisconsin. I tell you what, it is absolutely a discussion point for us. It makes you on high alert for everything that you do, whether it is travelling this weekend, the way that we are functioning here in this facility by keeping our masks on, or by staying socially distanced when we are away from here. We need to do a great job of being disciplined. It just shows you how quickly things can change for your program and how quickly they could change in for this whole season. Without question, we are very much aware of what is going on there. Our thoughts and prayers are with [Wisconsin head coach] Paul Chryst and his situation and that he comes out of this totally healthy. The bottom line is, it is a very real thing for all of us.
Head Coach Tom Allen
Q: On going for the block versus using a return man on long field goal attempts…
ALLEN: We do [think about putting a deep returner] but you lose a guy in both of those situations. We actually have it, it is called Raven, and we do it every Friday. We will do it tomorrow in our practice. It was a long field goal, for sure. The situation was that [the Penn State kicker] has a big leg. They have a long field goal guy and a regular field goal guy. That was their long field goal personnel in there. He has a big enough leg to kick that so I really was not thinking of the short kick there. I just wanted to make sure he did not make it. We wanted to get the proper pressure with our normal personnel. Like you said, you only had down to 10 and when you do that, you do not get your normal personnel aggression on that that you are trying to get to. We do that. Had the kick been a little longer where we did not think he was even going to get it close to getting it there, we would probably put somebody back. Reese Taylor is actually the guy we put back, or Whop Philyor. Like I said, it is called Raven personnel and we do that.
Q: On extra time spent in preparation with other responsibilities…
ALLEN: I just had to readjust my schedule. That is one advantage of me not calling the defense and being able to take that time to, obviously, leave the room and go take care of those interviews and things that we are doing to really help promote our program, which has been awesome. If I was calling it, that would have been a more challenging situation to deal with what I did. The way we handle it, basically I am in [the meetings], we have notes for every single play, and we go through and watch film defensively. That allows me to be able to go through, while I am there, I am seeing it live on the film together with the staff, and then they take notes for me. Then I go back and re-watch it myself later on in the evening. I did the same thing with the offense, so just everything got kicked back. Basically, I just got less sleep, I will just call it what it is. That is a great problem to have at this point, so I will sleep when the season is over. The bottom line is, this has been a huge opportunity for our program, a great opportunity to get recruits on the phone and parents on the phone. Just talking to them, they all watched the game, they all are buzzing about how everything finished, the way we handled the finish, the way we were prepared for the finish, the way we executed everything at a at a very high level, at a very intense time and under a lot of difficult circumstances. You can talk all you want about culture, but all I had to do was send them the video of the locker room. That was what I told him I said that I can I can sit here and tell you all day about what it is like here, but you can see it for yourself on this video. You can see L.E.O. lived out in that locker room, you can see the passion that this program has, the edge that this team plays with, the fight and the grit of this football team by the way that we finished and did not get discouraged when it looked like we had a small chance for that victory. The bottom line is, it is a great opportunity for us. We have a great staff. I delegate to these guys and I trust them. We have to do things a little bit different schedule-wise but that is part of it. That is part of the process to go through and thinking, moving forward about how I would be able to function as a head coach and not be calling the defense. We planned for this. It has taken some time to get here, to be able to have the wins that match up with it. This was a big, big win for sure but it is only one win. This next week is just as big or bigger.
Q: On Rutgers getting the win over Michigan State…
ALLEN: I think it was huge. I was actually thankful for that in some ways, just being honest. You can say things a certain way, but if you put the film in and the film does not match, these guys are pretty smart guys. They know what the film means. When you put the film in, they are a completely different team than we played a year ago. Whatever thought that you had about Rutgers previously is erased. That obviously shows us that the film never lies. They are a much-improved football team. They played really hard. They created seven takeaways, which is unbelievably impressive to me, and they are a really good team. Bottom line is, it is our first road game, and we have to play better this week than we played last week. That is the key.
Q: On the strategy of letting the opponent score to preserve time…
ALLEN: It would be highly unlikely because of the nature of how big this has become and how much it has been talked about. We still have a plan for that. There are other circumstances where it can happen, a little bit less maybe obvious or deliberate way, than that one was. At the same time, you plan for all those situations. I am just proud of our guys for executing what we have been working on. You practice it, you have a signal for it, and you plan for it. I have gone a lot of years of coaching and those things never happened. It has been unusual that is has happened twice now. At the same time, it has been very effective. In this situation it gave us a chance. I think the likelihood of it happening in the near future is pretty small.
Q: On preparations for a transfer-heavy Rutgers team and the news out of Wisconsin…
ALLEN: In regards their personnel, they have a lot of quality transfers. They really changed the way their team looks by bringing in new guys. It just starts at quarterback. We did play against him last year. The thing that sticks out to me is his moxie. He is a kid that understands the game, he is a really good athlete, he can do a lot of things, he can run it, he can throw it, and he extends plays with his legs. He is a tough, gritty guy. We have a lot of respect for him as a player. We know we are going to have to play extremely well to be able to contain him and keep him from being very effective in both the run and throw game. They have several other players, as well.
You mentioned Wisconsin. I tell you what, it is absolutely a discussion point for us. It makes you on high alert for everything that you do, whether it is travelling this weekend, the way that we are functioning here in this facility by keeping our masks on, or by staying socially distanced when we are away from here. We need to do a great job of being disciplined. It just shows you how quickly things can change for your program and how quickly they could change in for this whole season. Without question, we are very much aware of what is going on there. Our thoughts and prayers are with [Wisconsin head coach] Paul Chryst and his situation and that he comes out of this totally healthy. The bottom line is, it is a very real thing for all of us.
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