Indiana University Athletics
Media Monday: Michigan State
10/11/2021 3:43:00 PM | Football
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana head football coach Tom Allen met with the media on Monday (Oct. 11) inside Memorial Stadium to preview the upcoming Big Ten home opener versus No. 10/9 Michigan State.
Below is the transcript of the press conference from Monday, October 11. Video of the full media session can be found on the right sidebar at IUHoosiers.com.
TA | Head Coach
Opening Statement
TA: Good morning. I appreciate everyone being here. A little update in regard to our bye week. We had a really good time out recruiting with our staff and going across the country, doing a lot of good work of seeing players and evaluating them, being in [high] schools and watching games really for the first time as a collective group. That was awesome.
It was a chance to benefit from getting some guys healthier during the bye week and getting some good practice work in, as well as getting our guys a chance to get some mental break and physical break there at the end of the week, get a little time away and allow them to come back and we had a really good practice yesterday. I thought the guys came back really focused and worked in the weight room, in meetings and then on the field, in the stadium, for a little over an hour. I thought that was really productive and really liked the mindset and the way our guys approached that.
Really excited about this week and a great opportunity for us playing the No. 10-ranked team in the country in Michigan State, it being homecoming and excited about our crowd. The last two home games have been great crowds and the noise, and the energy has been awesome. We are looking forward to that.
I am really impressed with [Michigan State's] football team. Coach [Mel] Tucker has done a great job building that. I know last year was a unique situation, coming in there and having a full year to implement everything. They are playing hard, and undefeated at this point, on both sides of the ball and special teams. [They are] very physically sound and don't turn the ball over on offense, and they create takeaways on defense, and just physical.
They do a lot of good things. They have one of the best running backs in the country [Kenneth Walker III] and he is No. 1 in the Big Ten [in rushing yards] right now. They are a really impressive football team, and we are going to have to play our best.
An update physically, David Ellis had season-ending surgery on his ankle over the break. We tried to rehab him and get him back, but that wasn't working the right way, so for his long-term prognosis, they did [surgery]. He should have a full recovery and we will get him squared away for his future, because he has a bright one. I truly believe that. He has struggled with some ankle injuries since he has been.
Other than that, questions.
On the health of Michael Penix Jr. and Jack Tuttle moving back into the starting role...
TA: [Jack Tuttle] was with us all spring as the top guy because of Mike's [Penix Jr.] rehab. Mike is rehabbing now, and as we have said before, it is week-to-week and that hasn't changed.
Jack, as always, will be ready to go. One of his strengths is the ability to be locked in and focused and prepare at a high level, no matter what the role he is being asked to perform. He will be ready, as always.
On what Jack Tuttle can do to help Indiana win football games...
TA: First of all, his preparation sticks out to me. That is No. 1. His attention to detail, work ethic, film study, practice habits, just doing the little things in walk throughs, always being ready. That carries over from when he was the starter last year, and even when he was the backup [this season]. I think his arm talent; he is a guy that gets the ball out fast, and he has a strong arm, an accurate arm. Also, his ability to extend plays with his legs. That is a positive thing, without question, and obviously we saw that even last year.
So bottom line is that he's started for us in one Big Ten game on the road, which was huge last year and has played many minutes beyond that.
I just think that his experience as well as his leadership [can help us win]. I think he's a strong leader on our team and more verbal in that role and does a great job bringing great energy and keeping the guys [engaged]. His work ethic is tremendous in the weight room and conditioning workouts and everything that we do.
So, all those things, to me, all are very positive things to help us win football games.
On what has surprised him about his teams start to the season…
TA: Well, losing [games] is probably, you know, that's the number one thing. Then you go back, and you evaluate why and how. Yeah, it's frustrating in some ways and you've just got to learn from it. We go through, we do a five-game analysis, first five games going through and break everything down in all three phases and looking at the production and different things.
So just the ability for us [to fix those things]. The things that stick out for me offensively are not being consistent, having to run the ball consistently, having to score touchdowns offensively. Those are obvious things. Execution hasn't been what it is expected to be. And the play of our quarterbacks to me hasn't been to the standard of what we know and what we have to have to win those kinds of games.
You play those caliber teams, whether you play them early or play them late, you have to be able to score points when you get down to the red zone and you have to be able to execute, throw and run the football and protect it.
Turning the ball over stuck out in a major way as a negative for us. Can't do that. When you do, you lose football games. To me what really frustrates me a lot is the turnovers on offense, and then the lack of creating takeaways on defense. It's frustrating. We know it goes in cycles. We know sometimes that's part of it.
We've created some [turnovers] but not near enough. We've played good defense a lot of the time but not good enough, in my opinion. Still have to get better. We have to continue to improve in the red zone and keep them out of the end zone and create more takeaways and better field positions for the offense. Those are things that stick out for me.
Special teams have been solid. I think the one long kickoff return was just back-breaking in that Cincinnati game.
So, to me, it's consistent execution in all three phases that hasn't been there. It has to be. You play teams of that caliber, and they'll make you pay for those mistakes. If you play maybe lesser teams, they don't show up as much, not cost you as much, but that's not been the case. We've had the opportunity to play some really good football teams, and therefore we had to be at our best right away out of the gate.
Definitely it's been frustrating and disappointing, but at the same time, like I say, you hit reset. You learn from those mistakes. We've got a football team that has a lot of character to it and toughness to it and a lot of fight. I expect that to be the case this weekend.
On the team's mindset after five weeks…
TA: I think that watching our guys, even watching them practice yesterday, and just the visual, the eye contact, the buy-in of their behavior and their attitude, how hard they practice, I've been encouraged by that. I thought yesterday the energy was excellent. It's what it's got to be. I think there was no question that the time away helped them get some energy back and refreshed.
But there's no doubt you have to continue to talk to them through the rough start. It is what it is, and you are where you are and you have to address those things. It does affect your confidence in some ways. I don't think it's as extreme as it could have been if you had a younger team, but at the same time it definitely affects you. You don't feel the same way as if you were in a different situation. At the same time, we have a lot of strong leaders on our team.
You have to be able to flush that and [see it as] 0-0 out of the break. It's a new fresh start for our guys. That's the way we have to look at it. That's the way we're going to look at it and be able to approach it in a way that we can't change the past, we can learn from the past.
We don't like where we are. But we'll tackle where we are. That to me is the focus and that to me is the mindset we have. Like I said, we have a lot of strong leaders on this team. And they need to rise up to and I expect them to. There's a toughness and fight to this group that you have to have to be able to persevere through tough times.
Right now, we're going through some disappointing tough times. That's part of life. If you can't respond to it or handle it, then things won't change. But if you can, then you can create change for yourself on a daily basis, consistent basis. That's what I would expect this team to do.
On the timing of the bye week…
TA: I think so. I think it was great timing. I don't get to control that. Don't pick those. They pick us … For this set of circumstances, it was good timing for us to be able to get away a little bit, get healthier and be able to reset.
On what the offensive staff focused on during the bye week…
TA: A lot of film and meetings. A lot of sit downs, one-on-ones, a chance to go with me and the staff watching things and watching plays and talking things through, figuring things out, making adjustments so there's no question to try to do everything we can possibly do to create change on that side of the football. Tried to create more consistency in our education, to try and create more points at the end of the day. That's what it's about. It's about scoring points on offense and being able to protect the football and making good decisions with our offense and putting our guys in position.
When they get put in that position, they've got to make plays. That's really what it's going to come down to. There's no question, because everything: run game, throw game, the schematic and timing of it, tempo of it, all to continue to get better and we have to. When you back's against the wall, you have to come out swinging.
On what offensive leaders he would like to see step up heading into the Michigan State game…
TA: I think it starts up front. Caleb Jones, to me, has to be a guy that steps up in his leadership. Dylan Powell, guy that's played a lot of football, our center. And Matt Bedford, the same thing, guys who have been here and played. Steve Carr to me, and Peyton Hendershot. And Ty Fryfogle, guys we've counted on. Guys that have made plays in the past. Guys that need to rise up, elevate need to elevate their game, their preparation. All the things that they bring to this team to be able to help us to be able to execute in those critical moments and those critical plays.
Those guys have to make plays. They do. It's more than just the verbal leadership. That's part of it. It's the attitude and the effort you bring to practice. That's really a constant. But it's stepping up in the game and making plays and whatever your role is whatever position you play, being able to help us get first downs, sustain drives and get that ball in the end zone.
Those are guys that stick out to me. Others as well. But it's a collective group effort, without question. And obviously the quarterback room, whoever is under center, needs to be the guy leading the show.
On how his team can be more creative offensively…
TA: I think you always want to be as creative as you can be. At the end of the day, you've got to execute. So that to me is really what we have to do, and we've got to protect the football. You can't turn the ball over.
You turn the ball over as many times as we have in those big games, you're not going to get the results you want. I don't care who you are, how creative you are, how many plays you run. There's no question I want to be able to do things that create misdirection and create hesitancy in the defense and make them not be able to sit and tee off on you and not be 100 percent sure in their reads.
You want them to question where the ball is or what we're going to be doing or our tempo. To me definitely that's what you want to see. At the end of the day, all that said, you have to execute. And it's about protecting the football, executing, and blocking the right way, blocking the right people and making sure that we catch the football, run, secure it, don't give it to them, and execute.
Execution would be probably more important than that, yes, but within that realm of executing and protecting the football, creativity always positive, yes.
On what the offensive might look like under Jack Tuttle…
TA: I think those are also driven by who you're playing and what they do schematically as well. The whole objective is you want to be able to stretch the defense. You want to stretch them in different ways. You talk about stretching them laterally, vertically. Both directions have to be stretched to be able to make them feel the strain of the scheme and then to be able to get the ball placed in the right spots based on the strength of your quarterback, what he can do and what his strengths are: both arm talent and leg talent, everything he can bring to the table.
Those are all part of it, for sure. Without getting into too many things, too specific about what we need to be able to do, we're looking at all those things for sure to be able to help our offense be effective.
At the end of the day, we've got to score points. That's what it comes down to. That's what you're judged on and based off. It's a collective team effort. Offense, defense and special teams working together to create those points. We've got to continue to do it and we have to play better complementary football: offense, defense, special teams working together.
On what running backs can step up in wake of losing a couple guys at that position the last couple weeks…
TA: Yeah, [that room] definitely looks different than it did in the beginning of the season and not what we expected to look like after five games.
David Holloman to me is a guy that needs to step up. He's a true freshman, but he's been working with our 1s and 2s the last few practices. Charlie Spegal, same thing, a guy that's been here, a guy that understands our system, and can do a lot of different things in that part of it, as well.
Trent Howland. Trent's a guy that's been here, came off surgery a year ago, came in as a true freshman, big, physical guy. He's been there getting some reps. But those guys have to step up.
We've got guys in that room and two other guys that have been playing. Davion [Ervin [Poindexter] has been playing quite a bit. He needs to take a step up and elevate, and so does Chris Childers. Those two guys have to continue to grow, and their role will be expanded without question, but that whole room will have to step up and do their part and help us find a way to move the football and create points.
On how Trent Howland and David Holloman fit into the running back conversation…
TA: I say first with Trent, he had surgery when he came into camp, and he was in a limited basis. He didn't get into fall camp right out of the gate, and because of that was being brought along. He had an ACL surgery as a high school player. That [injury] happened during the wintertime when he was playing basketball. So, basically he was just recovering from that. So that's put him behind coming into fall camp, or further behind than the rest. He's fully released and fully practicing now. He just didn't get the reps with our first, second or third groups during fall camp. He would be a little bit further behind in that regard.
David has been here the whole time. Obviously he's young and just learning everything. He's been with the scout team the first few weeks of the season, and the same with Trent. We've had guys come in here before that were young, had to play at that position, and he plays as a true freshman. That's not that unusual for that to happen.
Obviously circumstances are not what anyone expected, but opportunity presents itself and when it does you've got to seize it and be ready for it.
On what excites him about the second half of the season…
TA: Just to play our best football. We haven't played our best football. We haven't played together. We haven't played all three phases working together. That's been challenging for guys. When you ask them as a group, they know we haven't. They know we can, and they expect us to. And that's what excites me.
We have a great opportunity ahead of us and very tough schedule, awesome schedule to play against the best in the country each and every week. And guys are able to step up here and that's why they came here. That's what excites me. It's a great opportunity for this football team to come together to look adversity in the eye, not back down from it and grow together, get stronger together and learn to fight together and finish together. Play our best.
To me, the biggest thing is for us to play our best football together. Complementary football: offense, defense and special teams working together to creating opportunities for the other sides of the ball. When those opportunities come, they seize them; we take advantage of it. And we continue to feed off of that and feed off of each other.
To me, we haven't done that collectively as a whole group for a full game. We've done it in spurts, but we've got to do it together and do it for four quarters.
On Michigan State's running game…
TA: [Kenneth Walker III], he's really good. Great balance. Great vision. Makes guys miss. Patient. Strong. Tough. Runs hard. He's right now the leading rusher in the Big Ten, tops in the country. [That is what] Makes them different [this season] with a similar scheme in some ways.
But the guy carrying the ball makes a big difference. They have other guys as well that carry the football, but he sticks out, without question, for all those reasons I just said. He makes them really special. And they are big up front. They're strong up front. The offensive line is playing well, and they play together. They have a good complementary system and play-action off of that.
The quarterback throws the ball well and protects the ball when taking shots down the field. Last week they got several big explosive plays, especially the first half, game-changing plays, and they have several talented receivers that do a great job.
To me the run game makes them go and gives them their identity, for sure. They stick with that, play with that, they'll be true with that for sure.
We have to gang tackle them. The challenge with that is you gang tackle and then they play-action off of that. We have to be very disciplined with your eyes and read your keys. Fit your gaps. Make them miss.
His first run of the whole season was a 75-yard touchdown run against Northwestern, first time he touched the football. Just bounce the ball outside and nobody caught him. He's a special player. We have a lot of respect for him. In this league, we have several really good running backs we'll be defending here in the next several weeks and he's one of them.
On what makes Michigan State a top 10 team…
TA: First of all, they run the football. And they don't turn the ball over. They create takeaways on defense. Their defense bends a little bit. They give up some yards, but don't give up points.
When you don't give up points, don't give up a lot of explosive plays and you're protecting the ball offense, and scoring points - averaging almost 40 points a game on offense - not giving up a lot on defense.
And special teams are really solid. They've had two returns for touchdowns. Big ones and really game-defining ones. Starting one game with a punt return for touchdown really kind of allowing them to tie the game up against Nebraska and send it to overtime. Won the game in overtime. So just playing good, solid, sound football and not beating themselves.
They don't have a lot of penalties. Don't make a lot of mistakes. That's big. They're playing winning football. When you talk about how you want to do it as a football team.
But it starts up front for them: running the football and stopping the run on defense. Like you said, the turnovers, protecting the ball on offense and create takeaways on defense. Look at the Miami game, it was a really close fourth quarter, a three-point game in the fourth quarter, and takeaways opened it up. They went down scored both times off those two takeaways. It becomes a completely different finish. It was close the whole way up until you get to the fourth quarter.
That's what you want to be able to do to a football team. They're doing a good job of playing complementary football and winning football. Therefore, they're undefeated, ranked tenth in the country.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
113507-1-1045 2021-10-11 17:01:00 GMT
Below is the transcript of the press conference from Monday, October 11. Video of the full media session can be found on the right sidebar at IUHoosiers.com.
TA | Head Coach
Opening Statement
TA: Good morning. I appreciate everyone being here. A little update in regard to our bye week. We had a really good time out recruiting with our staff and going across the country, doing a lot of good work of seeing players and evaluating them, being in [high] schools and watching games really for the first time as a collective group. That was awesome.
It was a chance to benefit from getting some guys healthier during the bye week and getting some good practice work in, as well as getting our guys a chance to get some mental break and physical break there at the end of the week, get a little time away and allow them to come back and we had a really good practice yesterday. I thought the guys came back really focused and worked in the weight room, in meetings and then on the field, in the stadium, for a little over an hour. I thought that was really productive and really liked the mindset and the way our guys approached that.
Really excited about this week and a great opportunity for us playing the No. 10-ranked team in the country in Michigan State, it being homecoming and excited about our crowd. The last two home games have been great crowds and the noise, and the energy has been awesome. We are looking forward to that.
I am really impressed with [Michigan State's] football team. Coach [Mel] Tucker has done a great job building that. I know last year was a unique situation, coming in there and having a full year to implement everything. They are playing hard, and undefeated at this point, on both sides of the ball and special teams. [They are] very physically sound and don't turn the ball over on offense, and they create takeaways on defense, and just physical.
They do a lot of good things. They have one of the best running backs in the country [Kenneth Walker III] and he is No. 1 in the Big Ten [in rushing yards] right now. They are a really impressive football team, and we are going to have to play our best.
An update physically, David Ellis had season-ending surgery on his ankle over the break. We tried to rehab him and get him back, but that wasn't working the right way, so for his long-term prognosis, they did [surgery]. He should have a full recovery and we will get him squared away for his future, because he has a bright one. I truly believe that. He has struggled with some ankle injuries since he has been.
Other than that, questions.
On the health of Michael Penix Jr. and Jack Tuttle moving back into the starting role...
TA: [Jack Tuttle] was with us all spring as the top guy because of Mike's [Penix Jr.] rehab. Mike is rehabbing now, and as we have said before, it is week-to-week and that hasn't changed.
Jack, as always, will be ready to go. One of his strengths is the ability to be locked in and focused and prepare at a high level, no matter what the role he is being asked to perform. He will be ready, as always.
On what Jack Tuttle can do to help Indiana win football games...
TA: First of all, his preparation sticks out to me. That is No. 1. His attention to detail, work ethic, film study, practice habits, just doing the little things in walk throughs, always being ready. That carries over from when he was the starter last year, and even when he was the backup [this season]. I think his arm talent; he is a guy that gets the ball out fast, and he has a strong arm, an accurate arm. Also, his ability to extend plays with his legs. That is a positive thing, without question, and obviously we saw that even last year.
So bottom line is that he's started for us in one Big Ten game on the road, which was huge last year and has played many minutes beyond that.
I just think that his experience as well as his leadership [can help us win]. I think he's a strong leader on our team and more verbal in that role and does a great job bringing great energy and keeping the guys [engaged]. His work ethic is tremendous in the weight room and conditioning workouts and everything that we do.
So, all those things, to me, all are very positive things to help us win football games.
On what has surprised him about his teams start to the season…
TA: Well, losing [games] is probably, you know, that's the number one thing. Then you go back, and you evaluate why and how. Yeah, it's frustrating in some ways and you've just got to learn from it. We go through, we do a five-game analysis, first five games going through and break everything down in all three phases and looking at the production and different things.
So just the ability for us [to fix those things]. The things that stick out for me offensively are not being consistent, having to run the ball consistently, having to score touchdowns offensively. Those are obvious things. Execution hasn't been what it is expected to be. And the play of our quarterbacks to me hasn't been to the standard of what we know and what we have to have to win those kinds of games.
You play those caliber teams, whether you play them early or play them late, you have to be able to score points when you get down to the red zone and you have to be able to execute, throw and run the football and protect it.
Turning the ball over stuck out in a major way as a negative for us. Can't do that. When you do, you lose football games. To me what really frustrates me a lot is the turnovers on offense, and then the lack of creating takeaways on defense. It's frustrating. We know it goes in cycles. We know sometimes that's part of it.
We've created some [turnovers] but not near enough. We've played good defense a lot of the time but not good enough, in my opinion. Still have to get better. We have to continue to improve in the red zone and keep them out of the end zone and create more takeaways and better field positions for the offense. Those are things that stick out for me.
Special teams have been solid. I think the one long kickoff return was just back-breaking in that Cincinnati game.
So, to me, it's consistent execution in all three phases that hasn't been there. It has to be. You play teams of that caliber, and they'll make you pay for those mistakes. If you play maybe lesser teams, they don't show up as much, not cost you as much, but that's not been the case. We've had the opportunity to play some really good football teams, and therefore we had to be at our best right away out of the gate.
Definitely it's been frustrating and disappointing, but at the same time, like I say, you hit reset. You learn from those mistakes. We've got a football team that has a lot of character to it and toughness to it and a lot of fight. I expect that to be the case this weekend.
On the team's mindset after five weeks…
TA: I think that watching our guys, even watching them practice yesterday, and just the visual, the eye contact, the buy-in of their behavior and their attitude, how hard they practice, I've been encouraged by that. I thought yesterday the energy was excellent. It's what it's got to be. I think there was no question that the time away helped them get some energy back and refreshed.
But there's no doubt you have to continue to talk to them through the rough start. It is what it is, and you are where you are and you have to address those things. It does affect your confidence in some ways. I don't think it's as extreme as it could have been if you had a younger team, but at the same time it definitely affects you. You don't feel the same way as if you were in a different situation. At the same time, we have a lot of strong leaders on our team.
You have to be able to flush that and [see it as] 0-0 out of the break. It's a new fresh start for our guys. That's the way we have to look at it. That's the way we're going to look at it and be able to approach it in a way that we can't change the past, we can learn from the past.
We don't like where we are. But we'll tackle where we are. That to me is the focus and that to me is the mindset we have. Like I said, we have a lot of strong leaders on this team. And they need to rise up to and I expect them to. There's a toughness and fight to this group that you have to have to be able to persevere through tough times.
Right now, we're going through some disappointing tough times. That's part of life. If you can't respond to it or handle it, then things won't change. But if you can, then you can create change for yourself on a daily basis, consistent basis. That's what I would expect this team to do.
On the timing of the bye week…
TA: I think so. I think it was great timing. I don't get to control that. Don't pick those. They pick us … For this set of circumstances, it was good timing for us to be able to get away a little bit, get healthier and be able to reset.
On what the offensive staff focused on during the bye week…
TA: A lot of film and meetings. A lot of sit downs, one-on-ones, a chance to go with me and the staff watching things and watching plays and talking things through, figuring things out, making adjustments so there's no question to try to do everything we can possibly do to create change on that side of the football. Tried to create more consistency in our education, to try and create more points at the end of the day. That's what it's about. It's about scoring points on offense and being able to protect the football and making good decisions with our offense and putting our guys in position.
When they get put in that position, they've got to make plays. That's really what it's going to come down to. There's no question, because everything: run game, throw game, the schematic and timing of it, tempo of it, all to continue to get better and we have to. When you back's against the wall, you have to come out swinging.
On what offensive leaders he would like to see step up heading into the Michigan State game…
TA: I think it starts up front. Caleb Jones, to me, has to be a guy that steps up in his leadership. Dylan Powell, guy that's played a lot of football, our center. And Matt Bedford, the same thing, guys who have been here and played. Steve Carr to me, and Peyton Hendershot. And Ty Fryfogle, guys we've counted on. Guys that have made plays in the past. Guys that need to rise up, elevate need to elevate their game, their preparation. All the things that they bring to this team to be able to help us to be able to execute in those critical moments and those critical plays.
Those guys have to make plays. They do. It's more than just the verbal leadership. That's part of it. It's the attitude and the effort you bring to practice. That's really a constant. But it's stepping up in the game and making plays and whatever your role is whatever position you play, being able to help us get first downs, sustain drives and get that ball in the end zone.
Those are guys that stick out to me. Others as well. But it's a collective group effort, without question. And obviously the quarterback room, whoever is under center, needs to be the guy leading the show.
On how his team can be more creative offensively…
TA: I think you always want to be as creative as you can be. At the end of the day, you've got to execute. So that to me is really what we have to do, and we've got to protect the football. You can't turn the ball over.
You turn the ball over as many times as we have in those big games, you're not going to get the results you want. I don't care who you are, how creative you are, how many plays you run. There's no question I want to be able to do things that create misdirection and create hesitancy in the defense and make them not be able to sit and tee off on you and not be 100 percent sure in their reads.
You want them to question where the ball is or what we're going to be doing or our tempo. To me definitely that's what you want to see. At the end of the day, all that said, you have to execute. And it's about protecting the football, executing, and blocking the right way, blocking the right people and making sure that we catch the football, run, secure it, don't give it to them, and execute.
Execution would be probably more important than that, yes, but within that realm of executing and protecting the football, creativity always positive, yes.
On what the offensive might look like under Jack Tuttle…
TA: I think those are also driven by who you're playing and what they do schematically as well. The whole objective is you want to be able to stretch the defense. You want to stretch them in different ways. You talk about stretching them laterally, vertically. Both directions have to be stretched to be able to make them feel the strain of the scheme and then to be able to get the ball placed in the right spots based on the strength of your quarterback, what he can do and what his strengths are: both arm talent and leg talent, everything he can bring to the table.
Those are all part of it, for sure. Without getting into too many things, too specific about what we need to be able to do, we're looking at all those things for sure to be able to help our offense be effective.
At the end of the day, we've got to score points. That's what it comes down to. That's what you're judged on and based off. It's a collective team effort. Offense, defense and special teams working together to create those points. We've got to continue to do it and we have to play better complementary football: offense, defense, special teams working together.
On what running backs can step up in wake of losing a couple guys at that position the last couple weeks…
TA: Yeah, [that room] definitely looks different than it did in the beginning of the season and not what we expected to look like after five games.
David Holloman to me is a guy that needs to step up. He's a true freshman, but he's been working with our 1s and 2s the last few practices. Charlie Spegal, same thing, a guy that's been here, a guy that understands our system, and can do a lot of different things in that part of it, as well.
Trent Howland. Trent's a guy that's been here, came off surgery a year ago, came in as a true freshman, big, physical guy. He's been there getting some reps. But those guys have to step up.
We've got guys in that room and two other guys that have been playing. Davion [Ervin [Poindexter] has been playing quite a bit. He needs to take a step up and elevate, and so does Chris Childers. Those two guys have to continue to grow, and their role will be expanded without question, but that whole room will have to step up and do their part and help us find a way to move the football and create points.
On how Trent Howland and David Holloman fit into the running back conversation…
TA: I say first with Trent, he had surgery when he came into camp, and he was in a limited basis. He didn't get into fall camp right out of the gate, and because of that was being brought along. He had an ACL surgery as a high school player. That [injury] happened during the wintertime when he was playing basketball. So, basically he was just recovering from that. So that's put him behind coming into fall camp, or further behind than the rest. He's fully released and fully practicing now. He just didn't get the reps with our first, second or third groups during fall camp. He would be a little bit further behind in that regard.
David has been here the whole time. Obviously he's young and just learning everything. He's been with the scout team the first few weeks of the season, and the same with Trent. We've had guys come in here before that were young, had to play at that position, and he plays as a true freshman. That's not that unusual for that to happen.
Obviously circumstances are not what anyone expected, but opportunity presents itself and when it does you've got to seize it and be ready for it.
On what excites him about the second half of the season…
TA: Just to play our best football. We haven't played our best football. We haven't played together. We haven't played all three phases working together. That's been challenging for guys. When you ask them as a group, they know we haven't. They know we can, and they expect us to. And that's what excites me.
We have a great opportunity ahead of us and very tough schedule, awesome schedule to play against the best in the country each and every week. And guys are able to step up here and that's why they came here. That's what excites me. It's a great opportunity for this football team to come together to look adversity in the eye, not back down from it and grow together, get stronger together and learn to fight together and finish together. Play our best.
To me, the biggest thing is for us to play our best football together. Complementary football: offense, defense and special teams working together to creating opportunities for the other sides of the ball. When those opportunities come, they seize them; we take advantage of it. And we continue to feed off of that and feed off of each other.
To me, we haven't done that collectively as a whole group for a full game. We've done it in spurts, but we've got to do it together and do it for four quarters.
On Michigan State's running game…
TA: [Kenneth Walker III], he's really good. Great balance. Great vision. Makes guys miss. Patient. Strong. Tough. Runs hard. He's right now the leading rusher in the Big Ten, tops in the country. [That is what] Makes them different [this season] with a similar scheme in some ways.
But the guy carrying the ball makes a big difference. They have other guys as well that carry the football, but he sticks out, without question, for all those reasons I just said. He makes them really special. And they are big up front. They're strong up front. The offensive line is playing well, and they play together. They have a good complementary system and play-action off of that.
The quarterback throws the ball well and protects the ball when taking shots down the field. Last week they got several big explosive plays, especially the first half, game-changing plays, and they have several talented receivers that do a great job.
To me the run game makes them go and gives them their identity, for sure. They stick with that, play with that, they'll be true with that for sure.
We have to gang tackle them. The challenge with that is you gang tackle and then they play-action off of that. We have to be very disciplined with your eyes and read your keys. Fit your gaps. Make them miss.
His first run of the whole season was a 75-yard touchdown run against Northwestern, first time he touched the football. Just bounce the ball outside and nobody caught him. He's a special player. We have a lot of respect for him. In this league, we have several really good running backs we'll be defending here in the next several weeks and he's one of them.
On what makes Michigan State a top 10 team…
TA: First of all, they run the football. And they don't turn the ball over. They create takeaways on defense. Their defense bends a little bit. They give up some yards, but don't give up points.
When you don't give up points, don't give up a lot of explosive plays and you're protecting the ball offense, and scoring points - averaging almost 40 points a game on offense - not giving up a lot on defense.
And special teams are really solid. They've had two returns for touchdowns. Big ones and really game-defining ones. Starting one game with a punt return for touchdown really kind of allowing them to tie the game up against Nebraska and send it to overtime. Won the game in overtime. So just playing good, solid, sound football and not beating themselves.
They don't have a lot of penalties. Don't make a lot of mistakes. That's big. They're playing winning football. When you talk about how you want to do it as a football team.
But it starts up front for them: running the football and stopping the run on defense. Like you said, the turnovers, protecting the ball on offense and create takeaways on defense. Look at the Miami game, it was a really close fourth quarter, a three-point game in the fourth quarter, and takeaways opened it up. They went down scored both times off those two takeaways. It becomes a completely different finish. It was close the whole way up until you get to the fourth quarter.
That's what you want to be able to do to a football team. They're doing a good job of playing complementary football and winning football. Therefore, they're undefeated, ranked tenth in the country.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
113507-1-1045 2021-10-11 17:01:00 GMT
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