Indiana University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: vs. Michigan State
11/19/2022 6:00:00 PM | Football
Postgame Quotes
Indiana at Michigan Staet
November 19, 2022
Tom Allen | Head Coach
Opening Statement...
TA: I just want to say that I am really proud of our players; the fight that they showed today was unbelievable. Down at halftime, all we had going here recently, just having a hard time getting wins, just being able to come on the road and get a huge win, and to win a trophy game. I just could not be more proud of our guys.
The offensive line stepped up running the football, [Dexter Williams II] in his first start gets a win and just trying to maximize our roster to help us find a way to get the ball in the end zone and get some key stops and find a way to win. I was really proud of our guys and our coaching staff for staying together and fighting to the finish.
On what caused the comeback…
TA: There's always a difficult analysis of what causes things to happen, and how do you dig yourself out. So, there is no question that you begin to lose your confidence once the game does not go your way, and so, when you start to get that back it is a powerful thing. Belief is a powerful thing, and I think our guys had shown they could go score, that builds that belief and the ability to give that little extra effort on every single rep: just block a little longer, just enough for our guy to get a few extra yards to stay on the field.
At halftime, it was not where we expected to be or wanted to be. I expected it to be a dogfight, I just thought it would be. I just thought our guys were going to play really hard, and they did, but did not want to be down at halftime. But I'll tell you what it gave us a chance to be even more resilient. And to do in on the road is really tough, and in these conditions, that was one of the colder games I have ever been a part of in terms of temperature and the wind.
It is tough, it creates a lot of variables in the kicking game that are uncertain, and obviously that showed today, too. But the bottom line is, that confidence of ours kept growing in the second half and just thought our guys believed we were going to find a way to win the game. When it got to the fourth quarter, you could just see by the energy of the sideline, we were within seven at that point and so we had dug ourselves out of pretty big hole. There is nothing like experiencing some success on the field. That locker room deserved that in a huge way, these guys have stayed the course and blocked out all of the outside noise.
On Dexter Williams II's first career start and what he saw from him today...
TA: I thought he got a little rattled in the second quarter, to be honest, but you know what, you only learn how to handle those situations by going through them. So, he now has that in his experience and his toolkit. What I told him was just to relax and just be you. Obviously, he lacks experience, and so, you do not get it any other way other than by doing it.
We just stayed the course, and we were kind of waiting to see how things would start in the second half to see if we thought about making a change there just to be able to get ourselves back on track if we thought we needed to that. Then we started to get it going. It is just a matter of having a feel for the game and I think he had a great feel for it. I just told him to be you, and whatever that is, he got some key first downs with his legs when the protection may have broken down.
Obviously, the quarterback runs are a big part of what we wanted to do, just felt like that would give us a chance to run the football and honestly, we knew we had to. We just knew we had to run the football against these guys with these conditions with the way they were going to play the game on both sides, so that was the plan going in. I am just really proud of our coaching staff and our guys for executing.
On the defensive struggling in the second quarter…
TA: There were a couple of things structurally that we made some adjustments with. The biggest thing to me was guys at the point of attack finishing the play. The second quarter is where we lost our ability to execute, just not finishing plays, just to be where you are supposed to be when you get there, finish and know when someone is getting cut off on a run block, playing with technique and using your hands up front, or being a backer and a safety and finishing the tackle when you get the chance to start making those plays in the second half.
I will say this, [Michigan State's] two receivers, I think they are really good. I would put them up there with the best that we have played against as a duo without question. They catch everything. They've got a really good ability to get open, because we threw about every coverage we had at them in the first half, but then we just changed some things a little bit, we got some penalties, we got some interference calls. I just said, 'guys keep playing. Do not allow that to force you to become not being aggressive.'
We knew we had to be aggressive. Just keep being aggressive. I do not like those calls, but I do not wear a striped shirt, so I have no control in calling that. But at the same time, it is part of the game, so our guys they did that. There were some key plays in the second half, it was key breakups. And obviously, their fans might have been lobbying for a penalty, but in this league, it is that way. It is physical, tough football on the perimeter or in the box. We made some adjustments schematically, and our guys made more plays and that is what it comes down to. There is no magic scheme, magic is not a belief, magic is in the players executing the scheme.
On what allowed them to become better in the run game…
TA: One key thing was just being able to add the quarterback into the run game. To just be quite blunt about it, it creates issues, gap issues, it's another guy in the run fit that they have to add. So, we needed to do that, and that was definitely part of the plan.
We had a more extensive plan than we had this time last week for sure. I thought our coaches did a great job implementing it and executing it, so that to me was a bigger difference than everything. Then you've got Shaun Shivers who I know is a really good football player. We had a hard time getting him free this year, but we knew if you could get him a crease, he has the speed to go the distance.
I think we have three good backs. They are all different, but they all bring a different thing to the table. I am just so proud of Shaun too for staying with us and believing in us, and he has such a great attitude. I know he has not had the production that he has wanted, but he saved his best for a really important game for us. I'm just so proud of everybody and on offense, just sticking to the game plan, even when we got down 17 points. We just said 'no, we are sticking to the game plan,' and we just drove our way right back into it.
