Postgame Quotes: vs No. 10 Michigan State

Indiana vs. No. 10 Michigan State
October 16, 2021
Postgame Quotes

Tom Allen | Indiana Head Coach
Opening Statement
TA: All right. Really disappointed. Frustrated right now. Thought our kids played hard. Thought the defense played awesome and did what we asked them to do. We kicked too many field goals in the first half and didn't finish in the fourth quarter. So disappointing without question.

On how the team can start scoring touchdowns instead of settling for field goals…
TA: Yeah. I just feel we need to evaluate why we're not executing those critical situations. You know, you feel good about certain things coming off the bye week, which I did, but continued to be same issues. As far as not finishing drives in the red zone, moving the football but not getting the touchdowns, eventually that can be the difference in losing a game by five points. And then you give up a pick six, you know, which can't happen.

Protecting the football, that continues to be -- to me, that's kind of a glaring thing. We got some takeaways on defense, which were huge, but not protecting it and then not scoring is just like a double whammy to me.

That's what really sticks out in my mind the most. Even at the end, some dropped passes. You've got to make plays and we have to put our guys in position to be able to make those plays. So, yeah, frustrating.

On keeping Michigan State's rushing attack bottled up…
TA: [Kenneth] Walker is a great player. I watched him on film six straight weeks, and he just makes everybody miss. Averaging 150 [yards] a game. We knew he was a great player. We had some things from a technique perspective and schematically that we were trying to do. I thought Coach [Charlton] Warren did a great job implementing those things, being able to keep him hemmed in and not give him a chance to get out in space and make those guys miss. And you want to gang tackle him.

I mean, I thought our defense played awesome. I don't know what else to say. They did everything you asked them to do except maybe score. That's the one thing they didn't do is score a touchdown.

Our defensive staff, just complimenting them and to be able -- it wasn't even just the run game. Their pass game has been impressive, too. I was kind of more worried about that because those are just big explosive plays that just gut you when you spend so much time trying to stop such a great running back and then they hit you over the top. It's just really challenging. But didn't give those [big pass plays] up either and worked really hard. Another week that we didn't have Tiawan [Mullen], our All-American cornerback. Then, Reese [Taylor], I expected him to play at least half the game, but he went the one series and just couldn't keep going. So, you had two of your top three corners didn't even play against some really talented receivers I thought.

So just an overall -- defensively, you mentioned Micah [McFadden], he was just everywhere. It's just hard to believe they they're able to complete that pass to the quarterback on a reverse and then the quarterback makes a toe-tap catch after Micah is in the guy's face trying to make the throw. Hats off to them for making a play there. But, yeah, Micah played hard like he always does and very good. Led the defense. Thought our defense -- like I said -- did what they were supposed to do to help us win.

On how he felt Jack Tuttle played…
TA: There were some good things. I just still feel like -- you know, the one pick, he got hit on. The pick 6 was just a bad read. It was a mistake. And you can't get those back. Gosh, those are costly, especially in a game like that. We knew it was going to be a one-possession-type game, at least I felt it was going to be. It was going to come down to the wire.

Jack did some good things. I thought a couple times maybe he needed to run, just take it and run it. Didn't like taking that sack there at the end. And the second to last drive, in those situations, we had a little momentum got a few yards there, but don't take a sack in that situation. He's got to learn those lessons for sure. He did some good things but still just protect the football. Got to protect the football. Got to block better for him, you know, and catch better.

Still thought we had a few drops, not a lot of them but some costly ones at the wrong time that hurt us. And that's really more about making key plays at critical times. That's, to me, what this game is about at this level, both sides of the football.

Even look at special teams. We had a ball hit off James Miller's leg, which is kind of hard to prevent. Then we don't down them inside the five. Then they get the ball on the 20. That was the drive where they went down and scored off of. It's different when you start on the five or inside the 5-yard line. Even special teams, we've got to execute that. We've got to down that ball inside the 5-yard line. That changes a lot of things. Changes play calling.

Had a couple punts that weren't good enough. So those things hurt you. It's being able to execute at a high level at critical times. We just don't have a lot of margin for error in certain situations right now. We've lost some playmakers on offense, but guys have got to step up. We've got to coach them better. We've got to make better play calls. We've got to do a better job of getting our guys. And when we do that, they've got to make plays.

At the end of the day, buck stops with me. I'm responsible. Kids played hard. And they were -- from that perspective, I can't fault them on that. They've just got to execute. That's the bottom line.

On what went wrong with the offense…
TA: Yeah. Just trying to -- you shift to us. You've got to make them adjust. We felt good about that call. They had a certain blitz on, and they looped the end on the outside. I thought it would hit more off the hip of the tackle, between the tackle and the tight end was kind of where I envisioned that one going per the movement and the alignment. So obviously didn't give us a touchdown like we wanted it to.

But just trying to find creative ways to run the football and take some stress off in that area. I thought the running back group, those guys ran hard and made some plays for us. And guys that are trying to step up and do things. But also had some costly drops, too.

So just bottom line is we've got to -- I've got to sit back and evaluate the play calling and see where that's all at and just be able to -- it's part of the evaluation. We've got to look at everything. We've got to find ways to win games, bottom line.

On the team morale at this point…
TA: You know, they're hurting. They're hurting right now. And I understand why. I am too. At the same time, there's a lot of character in that room. And just by the look in their eye, I can tell they're going to stay together. They're going to keep fighting. I don't question that. There is no doubt this is going to hurt for a while, but we can't sit here and feel sorry for ourselves because nobody else is going to.

And we've got another one coming up. So, yeah, got to stay together. When things aren't going your way and life is hard and things that you work so hard for don't materialize, you really find out who you are, and you find out who is in with you and who's got your back.

And I want to make sure these guys understand that and stay together, and they keep fighting. That's what grit is all about is the perseverance and passion towards a long-term goal. It's the number one quality you have to develop in life to be successful, I believe.

The negative thing about grit is you have to learn to have it at hard times. That's when it's really grown the most. It's not a whole lot of fun sometimes developing it, but it's what we have to have. We're going to stay together. We're going to fight together, get some things fixed and just keep moving forward.

On the wide receivers not winning 50/50 balls this season…
TA: That's a great question. I think it's a legitimate question. And I say, someone guys just have to step up and make a play. Somebody's got to step up and make a play in those situations and come down with the ball. We work on that and have contested plays in practice and try to simulate that. Go 1s versus 1s in skelly for that purpose, to be able to go against speed-on-speed and good-on-good, at least throughout the week. Some reps have done that consistently.

Yeah, I'm frustrated by that, to be honest with you. And it needs to get fixed, like today, because that's how you create explosive plays. That's how you make game-changing opportunities for yourself and for your team. But, yeah, to me, that's one of those things where guys just have to dig deep. We've got to work harder on it. We've got to do a better job of finishing those plays.

Sometimes it's ball placement, making sure the guy has a chance. We play against a lot of really good defensive backs and a lot of good defenses in this league. But we've got to come up with those plays because that, to me, is how you win games like that.

Have a great day. LEO.

Tom Allen transcript by FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
_{113700-1-1822 2021-10-16 21:55:00 GMT}

Stephen Carr | RB | Gr.+
On differences with new quarterback…
SC: I was just trying to make it feel like practice, making sure in practice we made it feel like the game to where when we came to the game we would feel like practice. When Donaven [McCulley] came into the game I hit him with the same greeting I always do, shake his hand and tell him, 'Let's get it.' And the same thing with Jack.

On what it means to lose while leading in total yards…
SC: It means we should win, first of all. But besides that, it means we've just need to finish. Period. Point blank. If the stats are like this, lopped sided, we need to finish.

On the offense going flat throughout the season…
SC: I think it's just an energy issue. I don't think anybody is in disbelief that we can get a first down, second down, third down. I think every time we touch the field, we think we can make that play, whatever play the coach calls. We've just need to make plays.

Jack Tuttle | QB | Jr.-R
On the struggle staying on schedule offensively…
JT: It starts with the little things. That's all I can say on that. It's the little things we need to keep on improving. Execution. There were good moments when we did have that and did do the little things right. But there's also moments where we didn't, and you saw that.

On his comfort level as a starter.…
JT: The start really didn't have anything to do with it. I come to every game like I'm prepared as the starter so that didn't really have anything to do with it. For the most part there were some throws that were inaccurate and that's on me. I've got to keep working on that and fixing that. It's not hard. I just need to set my feet in those pressure moments and do it. I thought I was comfortable for the most part. They threw some pressures at us that we hadn't seen, which is to be expected when you face new teams and their game plans. You've got to move around and make a play when that happens. Throw the ball away. Take care of it. That's it.

On the two interceptions…
JT: I take full responsibility for the first one. They gave us a pressure that we game planned for during in the week. Knucklehead mistake on my part. I'm going to learn from that one and make sure it doesn't happen again. The second one, I think that's just execution. I take full responsibility for that one, too, I just have to take care of the ball and take a sack if I get pressure. That's it.

Micah McFadden | LB | Sr.
On keeping the Michigan State offense bottled up…
MM: They switched up their offense and did not hit our perimeter as much. They were trying to hit it inside the tackles. I think our defensive line did a good job of knocking their offensive line back and playing their gaps. Everybody else did their job of flying around to the ball and hitting their gaps. I think [the defensive line] did the best job out of anybody.

On what went well for the defense…
MM: We did a good job of rotating our safeties down when we needed to, and they did a good job. The guys who were on coverage had their eyes on the coverage. They were not letting anything cheap, or trick plays get behind them. Michigan State had that reverse pass, but I think guys were covering the best they could. Everybody did a great job.

On how as leader he keeps the guys in the game…
MM: Football is a team game. Everybody is responsible when something like this happens. There is no pointing fingers or anything like that. Everybody in the locker room must stay together. It is difficult at a time like this but that is when leadership comes in. The captains step up and say what they need to say.

Devon Matthews | DB | Sr.
On what was working well against MSU's run game…
DM: Just to stop the run. Our game plan coming into this game was to just stop the run and I think we did that pretty well. That was really it, stop the run and once we stop the run, we should be in the game just like we were, so I think we did pretty well.

On other guys having to step up…
DM: Like I said last time I was interviewed, if somebody is down, somebody has to step up and that's what they did even though they were getting targeted a lot, they stepped up. They made big plays in big games, so they did what they had to do in order for us to try to get a victory, which we came up short.

On what locker room is like after a loss like this…
DM: It hurts. We've been in close games for a while now. We keep saying it's a positive and stuff like that but when are we going to turn it on? We have been waiting to turn it on and we've just got to keep coming back and stay together as a team and hopefully we can change things.

Mel Tucker | Michigan State Head Coach
Opening Statement...
MT: I really appreciate you, thanks for covering our team. This was a good, good win for us on the road. Very tough environment. Indiana's a well-coached football team, they were coming off of a bye, they were very prepared, we knew that. We were expecting them to be at their very best, actually better than what we've seen on tape cause we know that their coaches would have their guys ready to play, we would have to match that intensity and exceed that in order to get the win on the road, and I was very proud of our guys, our squad, and our coaching staff and our entire organization, the way everyone held in, held it together and continued to chop wood, and really throughout the game just kept pushing. Never flinching, and found a way to get the win which is the most important thing. Turnovers were huge for us in the game, defense was playing hard and holding them to low numbers, and then our offense really did some things in the second half. We started playing complementary football and that's why we were able to get it done. That was very proud of our team, very proud to get the brass tuned back because it's important to us to get that trophy back. Our guys were asking about it after the game, they wanted to know where it is. I said they gonna bring it to us don't worry, we'll get it, and we got it, and we gonna take it back to East Lansing where it belongs. We got a bye, and so we'll rest up. We got a few things we need to fix and correct; we'll do that, and we'll get ready for the next one which we all know what that one is.

On the importance of the defense after the win...
MT: It was huge because defense has been playing hard all year and we just need to tighten some things up. I've been seeing improvement from our defense, steady improvement as we've gone and played against some very tough opponents and to hold people to field goal attempts is huge, to get takeaways, to score on defense. If you score on defense, you gonna win ninety percent of your games. And the guys are just a tough, hardnosed group of guys and they play it regardless of the situation, they don't blink and continue to play. And that's what you have to do on defense, you have to have that mentality like just put the ball down and let's play, regardless of the circumstance, it could be a sudden chance situation, it could be a two-minute before the half, two minute end of game, whatever red zone defense, let's go play ball, let's find a way to get a stop, get the ball back to our offense, and that's what you saw today.

On what he said to Payton, quarterback, after the interception in the endzone
MT: It was just a matter of we got to go out there and get him a stop. There's not a whole lot to talk about. Just get back out there, we know what we have to do. You got to have rushing coverage working together. We got to get the ball back, we got to get him a stop. It's pretty simple, you know. Just make sure everybody is dialed in and gets the call so we can execute and play. I mean on defense you want to have opportunities to go out there and make big stops.

Players Mentioned

Stephen Carr

Devon Matthews

Micah McFadden

James Miller

Jack Tuttle

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