Postgame Quotes: Indiana vs. Maryland

Indiana vs. Maryland
Nov. 28, 2020
Postgame Quotes

Indiana Head Coach Tom Allen
Opening Statement
"Good afternoon everybody. Appreciate you being here. I'm really proud of our football team. Tough, hard fought win. They are all hard. They are all tough and every win is a big win in the Big Ten. So, very proud of our guys. Very proud of our offensive line for responding. That was our challenge all week was run the football and they loaded the box. Knew they were going to make it hard on us, especially early but we just kept kind of chipping away at it and made some adjustments at halftime and just really, really happy with those, with that unit, with Coach Hiller. Just really proud of him and their spots and our offensive staff. So, defense continues to create takeaways, which are huge. Got three more again today. Still frustrated that we fumbled that one back. I do not really know why that has happened twice now but we will work more on ball security with our DBs. But, at the same time, continue to be really, really good on third downs and did a great job taking the ball away, which is a big combination. So, proud of our staff for keeping our guys focused and locked in, in a game that we know that we needed to have. Knew it was going to be a hard-fought battle. So, really proud of this football team and excited for the last few weeks here. Questions?"

Q. On quarterback Michael Penix Jr.'s injury…
"I do not really know right now. We will do some more tests to figure it out but yeah, it is a lower leg injury."

Q. On how QB Jack Tuttle to being put in…
"I thought it was good that he got a chance to get some good reps when it mattered. If you noticed, there was no drop off. Just did a good job communicating the calls, the checks and adjustments that we have from the sideline. Understands our system. He has been here for a few years now and has been competing. He has been working extremely hard. I think he has gotten better and better every time we practice and continues to grow and develop. So, just feel very confident in Jack but the bottom line is that whatever position it is, guys have to step up when called upon and he was called upon today. He stepped up."

Q. On the play of the defense…
"You make adjustments you know, on the things that they were doing. We were finally able to get a couple of phases corrected in the run game and that was addressed at half time. Then some of those easy access throws that they were getting us on we tried to address for that, and that was part of our, not even just half time but sideline adjustments. The thing that was so impressive about defense was the red zone defense that we were able to play. They got some opportunities down there early and we just kept snuffing them out. They missed the field goal that first time and then got takeaways forced them not to be able to finish in those situations. So, you have got to play great defense if you want to have a chance each week. So, really proud of our defensive staff that continue to do a really good job of preparing and getting our guys in position, and still ticked off about that last touchdown. That should never have happened and I know we had a bunch of young guys in there but there is no excuse for that. So, really our ones and twos deserved to hold them to three points and that is pretty much how we played the whole game."

Q. On Jack Tuttle, and the slow start of the offense…
"Well first of all with Jack, just really, really proud of him. He has worked extremely hard and it was good for him to play for, like you said those meaningful minutes. It was not mop up time, it was a critical time to be able to execute and make some good throws, and he made several good throws and has gotten comfortable with that. But you have got to look at the slow start on offense. I thought our defense, if you would not say slow in perspective, but have given up some yards. But we were not slow from the perspective of giving up points, which is at the end of the day all that matters. So, you always have to adjust. They did some different things that we had not seen, which was typical. Especially when we had a little extra time for us when they knew they were not playing last week. So, to be able to do some things, but obviously had some challenges. Bottom line is that you adjust and our guys did that. But to figure out why there was a slow start on offense, we have got to sit down and figure it out. Last week we had to figure out the run game and we got that figure out this week, and now we have got to figure out a way to start faster."

Indiana Player Quotes
Tiawan Mullen, Cornerback
Q: On how the team was able to read the QB and get some interceptions…
"He was just a one read player. Wherever he looked that was the way he was going to throw the ball. We did a lot of film studying on him, and we came up with a lot of takeaways. Which way he looked is the way we wanted to attack."

Q: On how the team responded after last week's game against Ohio State…
"We had to respond and bounce back from Ohio State. Everybody knows that we left a lot on the field. But we moved on from that. We were focused on Maryland, and we responded the right way by getting a W."

Q: On the adjustments made in the first quarter to settle in…
"We were just getting settled in and executing better. It was the right play call, we just had to settle in and execute better. They got their feet wet early, but you know we dried it off for them."

Cam Jones, Linebacker
Q: On the momentum shift after DK Bonhomme's sack in the third quarter…
"That was big time. We knew what they were going to run, and we told him what was going to come. He did his job. I am happy for him. He stepped up big time with that play."

Q: On how much the defense stepped up when the offense was struggling…
"Personally, I think we started off kind of slow. Things did not go the way we wanted them too. We knew that we had to step up big time and get their offensive off the field and put ours back on the field so that they can make plays. Coach stressed to us that everybody just needs to do their job, lock in, and stay focused on the details."

Q: On the team's 1-0 mindset and how it helped you zero in on this game…
"It was Coach Allen and the rest of the coaches and leaders on the team. We knew what we had to do. During practice, it was intense, and everybody was locked in. We just wanted to move forward."

Tim Baldwin Jr., Running Back
Q: On the urgency of gearing up the rushing game this week…
"We always practice both pass and run to have a balance attack. Depending on how the game flows, determines how we are going to move forward. I think the passing game was really struggling today, which I am sure we will improve on. But the running game was working, so that is what led to running it down the field."

Q: On what you would contribute your successes…
"Honestly just trusting the O Line and trusting the work we put in as running backs and Trusting that the coaches are going to make the right call and put us in good positions depending on the angles of the defense and depending on how they fit the run. I think it all just played in our favor today."

Q: On leaning on the veterans to help you get ready for college football…
"They helped me a lot: Stevie, Sampson, Davion, all the running backs are helping make sure I am a college running back. The way I came in I was just bursting through the holes, not reading anything. It took me a while to grab patience, you saw what I was able to do today. Shout out to the O Line, they did block their tails off today."

Stevie Scott III, Running Back
Q. On the wildcat formation picking up so many yards…
"Definitely because in practice we ran it a lot in practice just to get everything down pat and make sure we could execute the play so when we come into the game we could be able to run it with no worries. I feel like practice makes perfect and every time we ran it, it just felt like practice."

Q. On how long the wildcat formation has been in place…
"It is something that we have been working on before the start of the season. We just kind of never have really gotten to it. It was just something that me and a lot of the RBs are pointing at Coach Sheridan here that I feel like that is something different that we can run with the offense."

Q. On what the running backs were telling each other to help get the offense going…
"Really, just everybody knowing their assignments at the end of the day and just going out there and making plays. Being a playmaker. If our quarterback is throwing bad then it is our job to uplift him and just try to put the team on our back and try to make as many plays as we can until he can get fired up again and get things rolling."

Maryland Head Coach Mike Locksley
Opening Statement
"I want to give Indiana credit. Tom Allen and his staff and their team prepared to play today. Obviously, we have had a challenging couple of weeks here in the last couple of weeks, but it is my job as the leader to have us prepared and I thought two of the three phases of our team came in and executed as if we were prepared and the one phase offensively. I did not feel like we were prepared and I did not do a good job getting this team ready. We had some opportunities early. We had opportunities bubbling up to the half that I thought it came out in the second half. Defensively, the wear and tear of how many total plays they ended up playing because of our inability to move the ball on offense and the turnovers kind of took its toll on us on special teams for the most part. It kept and created some field advantages, field position advantages. On offense when you turn it over three times and score points for the other team with the safety and then you have eight penalties and, you know, just bad, poor execution all game long. We did not give ourselves a chance on that phase of our team and you know that is on me to get it fixed. We will get it fixed. Looking forward to getting back, getting back into a normal routine for us as a team here, and our preparation this week for our upcoming opponent. We win together, we lose together so this by no means is pointing fingers at any particular phase, but I will tell you I am really disappointed in our execution on the offensive side and you know for me being an offensive guy, it's up to me to get this thing fixed and corrected and figure out what went wrong and then make the appropriate corrections."

Q: On the play of Taulia Tagovailoa…
"Obviously when your quarterback is unsettled, which, he uncharacteristically missed some early throws where some guys were open. Accuracy and touch and putting the ball where it needs to be put in order to be caught and typically is not something we had to deal with, with him. Before I want to start guessing I'd like the watch the tape, be able to really figure out what went wrong for Taulia, or for us on offense in general. I just thought our execution, totally on offense, we generated some plays in the run game and then we had penalties. We missed some throws early on, had some drops, so a lot of uncharacteristic things that we had not shown in the last few games that hopefully they are all correctable mistakes and things that we can get corrected. Once we get back into a normal work week here this week, we get that stuff kind of cleaned up corrected and continue to move forward to the growth phase of our program."

Q: On the play of the Maryland secondary…
"I think it goes back to execution. We kind of know who we are. As you get into this time of the year with our team on defensively offensive in special teams we kind of know our identity and who we are. One of the things that we have challenged ourselves to do as coaches, is to put our players in the best and advantageous position to do what they can get executed. Obviously on defense, one of the things I think that we have shown the ability to play man coverage. We have skilled guys at the corner position, which allows us to play more aggressive up front which allows us to make the quarterback a little more uncomfortable. I have been pleased with the way we've covered and stayed in front of people. We still have a couple of these passing offenses and we get grabby and kind of panic when the balls in the air, that, you know, just the experience of being in that position, you know eventually you will get comfortable with it. I kind of like where we are on defense. I thought we put our defenses in tough situations today with how we executed on offense and with all the turnovers and the lack of execution on third down, that it became a point of diminishing return from the defense that we had them out on the field way too long.

Q. On dealing with COVID-19 and not playing last couple weeks…
"It was not tough at all because it is our job. It's my job to have us ready to play. I did not do a good job of that. This week, obviously, the way we executed. One third of our phase of our team. So, obviously got to do a better job as a leader of making sure we're prepared when we have these opportunities like we had today. We know COVID-19 is going to be an issue. You knew that all year long. We've tried to develop our team to manage it and to find ways to mitigate it. You know, we finally got it under control and hopefully this week we can get back to a little normalcy within our routine or our preparation. You can get the tape watched here today and get this thing corrected and things fixed, and then move our team forward as we move up, move throughout the scheduling this week."

Indiana University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Tim Baldwin Jr.

Cam Jones

Tiawan Mullen

Michael Penix Jr.

Stevie Scott III

Jack Tuttle

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