Postgame Quotes: Indiana vs. Michigan

Indiana vs. Michigan
Nov. 7, 2020
Postgame Quotes

Indiana Head Coach Tom Allen
Opening Statement
"Wow. I just cannot be any more proud of a group of young men than I am right now of this team. Just their toughness, grit and fight has been unbelievable. The way they play from start to finish. We challenged them about starting fast and finishing strong. Man, that is exactly what we did. To be able to finish the game like that, four-minute mode and run the football and knew that they had to stop the run and they were not able to do that. That is just a great statement towards offensive linemen. Hats off to Coach Darren Hiller. Offensive line. The whole group. Michael Penix Jr. The whole offense. Nick Sheridan, calling plays. Getting the team ready. He finished creating just game changing takeaways again and playing awesome. We gave up some throws, but they got talented players as well. So, I am just really just really blessed and thankful for this team. Thankful for the players for buying in. Just their unselfish mindset to everything we ask them to do is, they have been through a lot. It has been tough and I knew our schedule was going to be difficult. We got ranked I think the second-hardest schedule in the Big Ten based on which one. We knew this was a grinder. Guys just take it one at a time, which is all you can do. Just proud of our guys and we put all our energy into this game, to try and get a little bit better every single week and I thought we proved this weekend. Our performance today was a reflection of that. So, just proud of this team. Very blessed and thankful to be the head coach of the Hoosiers."

Q. On responding in clutch situations…
"It is mental toughness. It is the weight room. It is our strength staff. It is the way we practice. I thought we had the most physical practice I have ever been part of on Wednesday this week. The week was a different schedule because of the having nothing on Tuesday with our team. We practiced the Monday night in the evening, which is different. They had the day off. I sensed it during the meetings. We were kind of just flat from being off. I went on a rampage. And, I wanted to be physical, regardless. They respond and that is what I told them just to lock in and respond to everything I challenge them to do. And, it was a mean, nasty, physical practice from start to finish. Actually, got somebody hurt during that practice but I just knew we had to have that mindset in this game. We had to elevate our just the attention to details, the physicality. It is everything we do and at the end of the day, this is a very gritty football team. It has got a ton of toughness and a ton of fight to them and they believe. That is an awesome thing to see. So, I think you are just seeing that in this team and we believe that we had to prove it. We believe we are a better football team. I do not care if anybody else agrees with me or not. And that is not the point. But this team believed and they went out proved it today and how we played."

Q. On celebrating with Devon Matthews…
"I knew that was the dagger, I knew that was it. I really believed the way our offense was playing that that was the final thing that we had to do to secure the win and so I just took off. Sometimes I do not really think much in those situations. That is why I got this cut on my cheek. So, unfortunately his helmet hit my cheek bone. I do not think he broke it but it does not feel very good right now, but bottom line is I do not really care. I just love this team. These guys, they work so hard and everybody has doubted us and said this and that and just so neat to see them be able to be rewarded for believing and for coming here. Some of these guys came here, could have gone a lot of other places in the recruiting process but they believed in what I was telling them, what our staff was telling them, and we are basically doing the very thing we said we could do even though we had not done it yet. Devon Matthews is just one of those guys. He was a guy we had to recruit really hard to get him here from the state of Florida, a very gifted athlete, and he believed in us and a whole bunch of guys in that locker room are in that same situation. So, you know that was just a game changer. You intercept the ball like that and that is how you win games. You make those kinds of plays. So that time, it was my reaction. I was a little concerned. I have actually got some personal fouls in the past in my younger days when I have done that and we fell down on the field and so I was close enough to the sideline that I felt pretty good that I was not going to get a penalty. So, I went ahead and dove on him."

Q. On the performance of the defense…
"Very pleased but it is what I envisioned, expected. We talked about this year about being a top 10 defense, not just being top 25. I just thought this team got a chance to be special and defense and believe what Coach Wommack is doing and we spent a ton of time together coming up with the plan each week and he has done a phenomenal job with this defense and the guys have bought in. But I just think it all starts up front. We knew going in this game, we said we got to stop the run. And we felt like that is what they were going to try to establish. I thought the running backs are extremely talented, which they are but we eliminated the run from their game. Then, at that point and we started just focusing on defending the pass. It is a talented group of guys, and I still think we got a lot more in us to keep growing and getting better. And, that is what we got to do, get a little bit better every single week. And that is the objective in order for us to be able to reach our full potential. No, really proud of this defense and you stop the run and you create takeaways you are going be tough to beat."

Q. On Michael Penix Jr.'s recruitment…
"Yeah, I was not one of those individuals. There are certain guys you look at and think okay he might play other positions. That has never once crossed my mind with Michael Penix. First of all, I am so well connected down in Tampa. I knew the kind of player he was as a quarterback in high school. So really for us, it was just a matter of convincing him to come to Indiana. He was committed to Tennessee at the time and they got a new staff that came in. And, they did not really recruit him very hard or make him feel like they really wanted him. So, that was to our advantage and so we came in there really heavy on him. And, I just think he was a gifted player when we got him. I think I have said this before but he reads coverages better than I ever thought he did because that is something that is hard to know when you recruit a kid. You can see all the arm talent. You can see all the poise. You can see the throws he can make off of film and all those kinds of things. Coach Sheridan had him in a camp when he was younger when Coach was actually at Tennessee. We knew all those things. We knew he was a special player. We just had to convince him to come to Indiana. Once we got him here, I just start realizing man, this kid has got some things to him that most guys do not have as far as how quickly you can decipher for a coverage and then it is natural talent takes over. The quick release. The arm strength. All those things. The accuracy. I learned that from Coach Dick Dullaghan. He is one of my mentors in this profession and how you evaluate quarterbacks and accuracy is the number one thing that he always taught me to look for in a quarterback. That is what Michael had in high school and that is usually what is going to carry with him. Coach Dullaghan was right once again."

Indiana Player Quotes
Michael Penix Jr., Quarterback
Q. On his connection with Ty Fryfogle…
"The offensive line blocked their tails off today. They gave me a lot of time in the pocket, I was able to find those receivers. The receivers made great plays, they got open. They attacked the ball. That is a strong emphasis. The whole starting fast, just making sure we execute our plays, that is what we did in the first half, and then throughout the game we finished. Ty Fry, he had a great game, that is something that we expect out of him. He shows us every day in practice, he works hard and he deserves it."

Q. On the aggressiveness of the game plan…
"That was just Coach Nick Sheridan making great calls. We were just reading the defense and he called what he felt was fitting, and it was working. So, we just continued to go with what was working. The offensive line was doing a great job, just gave me time to be able to make those plays, so Coach Sheridan it was just easy for him in the box to just rip those plays out, and just give them to us without any hesitation."

Q. On the first two TD passes also being penalized…
"I always peak to the sideline to make sure the flag is being thrown. The coaches say on those plays to give your guy a chance. We have great receivers and I just had to give them a chance, and see what they can do with that opportunity. They definitely took advantage of it and they made big plays."

Jaylin Williams, Cornerback
Q. On the interception…
"It was zone coverage, so I had to get under the No. 1 wide receiver. I was looking at Joe Milton, I saw him release the ball, and I thought that I could get to the ball and I did. I was just trying to get Michael Penix Jr. and our offense back on the field."

Q. On containing the Michigan offense…
"I feel like the defensive line and the linebackers did a great job today. The job was going to be on us in the secondary to make play. It all starts with the defensive line though, and I thought they did a great job so shoutout to them."

Q. On the confidence of the defense…
"The coaches do a great job of putting us in position to make plays. We just go out there and believe in each other. Everybody does their job and makes plays. We have all come to together as one unit. We are one group, one unit. We just try to go out and execute plays."

Ty Fryfogle, Wide Receiver
Q: On connection with Penix…
"It just started earlier in the week with practice. Building our confidence up with throwing the deep balls. We knew we were going to have to throw the deep balls because they play man most of the game. You have to make plays against man. There is no other formula to it."

Q: On getting in a rhythm early…
"Michael Penix Jr. has been really great. We have been progressing each and every week and that is what is scary for us. The passing and the offense is getting better each and every week. I feel that we need to keep progressing."

Q: On Michael Penix Jr.…
"He is a great quarterback. He is a great person on and off the field. I am really happy for him and the progression he has made coming off of an injury. Overall, I am just happy for him and excited for the future."

Stevie Scott III, Running Back
Q: On what practice was like this past week…
"This week was a big week and it was a big game because it was the next game. Coach Allen stressed to us all week during practice that we needed to be aggressive and physical, especially with Michigan. Michigan is a good physical team but we had to be the more physical team today to try to pull out the win like we did."

Q: On the offensive line…
"They did a great job today. All week our offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan was stressing to our linemen that they needed to straighten out and finish out their blocks. Sometimes the guys would get frustrated up front but the coaches are only doing it to help us so we can translate it to a game."

Q: On the time of possession…
"It is funny how the rolls switched. I feel like we had the ball and we ran the defense out until they got tired. We had great stamina to keep going hard the whole fourth quarter and finish it out."

Reese Taylor, Cornerback
Q: On the confidence coming into the game…
"We came really confident with a mentality that we were going to come out with the W. We really had the mentality that we prepared well. We had to play our hardest from beginning to end and whistle to blow. We had to play as hard as we can."

Q: On his early TFL and late interceptions…
"When I had the sack, I saw that the defense on the side lines really turned up with me. They started jumping around. I feel like we got the confidence back right there. The mentality right there was that we got to hold them right now. Then, Jaylin Williams got the stop with the interception and tried to take it to the end zone. He tried to run it in, but I could tell he was tired. I feel that this sealed the deal. We had to make sure that we did not let up. We had to put our foot on our necks and just finish the game."

Q: On early momentum from good defensive play…
"I told Michael Penix Jr. that the offense has to start fast. He told me the same thing that the defense has to start fast. We rallied up the defense and told them. We have to start fast this game and get these stops. The offense went down to score. I felt that everybody was on the same page today. The whole team played their best. I felt this is one of the best games that the team has played as a whole group. Defense came with the mentality that we had to get as many stops as we can, do the best we can and get as many stops as we can."

Michigan Head Coach Jim Harbaugh
Q: On the play of the secondary…
"As I have said, I love coaching these guys. I love this team. They are talented, they are strong and they play hard. Preparation is really good and we are seeing it. I have seen in practice, seeing what guys are capable of doing. Then getting into the games and making those game plays. Trusting their technique trust in their fundamentals, trusting their talent. Trusting their innate abilities and you know, translating that into the game play is what we're learning. That's what we are learning how to do as a football team. We ae so many guys in the team but, you know, I think Michael is right. All of us coaches trying to speed that up as much as possible and, and you're like we are going to get there, but playing good teams every week and that is going to get there fast. We got to get there faster. As a coach you are out there living every play with these guys and you know they have it in them and just making that making that connection to doing it and trusting themselves. Trusting their abilities."

Q: On his interception…
"That was something we worked hard on. There was a definitely a successful strategy for him to clap, look to the sideline, get their next play, come back, clap again. As soon as we jumped, they would snap it. They would send two receivers on the outside, down the field, and one up the middle and it was a free play. It was close to 21 points, two touchdowns and kept drives alive on other occasions. That is something that is got to get fixed. You got to watch the ball. You got to keep your snap discipline. It hurt us."

Q: On the defense creating momentum…
"The players, you love the way they play. I love what they are doing in the preparation and in their practice. You see it and then for them to pull it out of themselves and, you know, for us as a coaching staff to pull it out of them and to make those game plays. You see guys that can do it. Ronnie Bell certainly displayed that and so many others are doing it. They are learning how to do it. Guys are talented and play really hard and just being able to trust the fundamentals the techniques, and their ability and trust, you know, their innate greatness and have that, show up in the games. That is where we need to make the next step."

Players Mentioned

Ty Fryfogle

Devon Matthews

Michael Penix Jr.

Stevie Scott III

Reese Taylor

Jaylin Williams

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