Postgame Quotes vs. Michigan State

Postgame Quotes

Michigan State at Indiana

November 18, 2023

Tom Allen | Indiana Head Coach
On how frustrated your defense is on the field after not being able to close out the game …
TA: Very frustrating. Obviously our guys had a chance to go win the game defensively; didn't do it. Obviously when you try to play a certain way, you know, when you are with to sack the quarterback, there are certain rules that apply to that. So we want those to be enforced, but that obviously didn't happen today.

At the same time that's reality. So guys didn't finish. It's frustrating, without a doubt. Got a lot of young guys out there playing hard, but defense didn't finish. Defense didn't finish.

On the ref's explanation on the potential hold on the touchdown, pass interference and the intentional grounding…
TA: I was told -- you are asking the question I asked specifically. He said that he was not -- his forward progress was not impeded.

On the intentional grounding he said that the receiver wasn't close enough. I said we have a read progression. He is reading the route, and obviously they weren't on the same page.

So obviously didn't agree with the explanation, but that's another discussion.

On the physicality the offense showed running the ball…
TA: Yes, it was. Over 200 yards rushing, which is why at the end with 22 seconds to go in the game, we had two timeouts. I changed my mind. I decide to go for it. I thought we could get the first down and get a little closer, try to take another shot to the end zone, which we did.

I liked their matchup with their outside receivers. Obviously it didn't work out, but that was the logic there, but I was just trying to get closer. So dual purpose.
Already missed a field goal that we should have made. They were getting a lot of push on our PAT. For those of you who watched, the PATs, a lot of push. The one was blocked from the interior. They have some big guys in there.

I was concerned about that, those longer kicks that were lower trajectory kicks. So it was going to be a 54-yard field goal earlier in the third quarter.
So that was the thought process. Obviously didn't work out. That's why we did what we did.

On keeping the emotions stable in the locker room heading into the final week…
TA: We're playing Purdue, period. And I got this team's back, period. They know it. We're going to fight to the finish. I promise you that.

On keeping the locker room together as you get ready for Purdue this week…
TA: We're playing for the Old Oaken Bucket, the biggest trophy opportunity this team has in a given year outside of the postseason. So huge game, massive game.

Once again, we've got guys that are going to be playing their final Old Oaken Bucket game, so that's going to be the motivation, without question.

There's a strong locker room, I promise you that. Strong locker room. Once again, I've got their back.

Indiana Student-Athletes
Louis Moore | DB | Sr.
On the emotions in the locker room after the game…
LM: [The emotions were] high … because we have a lot of seniors on the team, and it was their last game. Going out like that, how it went was sad. It's just a real emotional locker room right now. We wanted to win for them, really.

On how frustrating the ending of the game was…
LM: It's been frustrating. Because honestly, I felt like our defense was better than our offense today. We had our jobs, and we stopped them. It was just getting set fast, it is what it came down to at the end. When the game is on the line, we have to win the game. We have to get off the field and get the ball in the offenses' hands.

Brenden Sorsby | QB | R-Fr.
On his slow start to throwing the ball…
BS: Just getting a little lazy with my footwork. Talked to Coach Carey on the phone, he let me know what I was doing wrong. Just getting lazy with my elbow, lazy with my feet causing a couple balls to sail. I made the adjustment and felt like I did decent in the second half.

On what he thought about the grounding call at the end…
BS: I wasn't a fan of it, but I mean you know it's just football. It is what it is, obviously, it's out of our control.

On what got them in rhythm on running the ball…
BS: We ran the ball really well. Our offensive line played great all game. I feel like we executed whenever we needed to. We have to put some other drives together too, we can't just have three good drives. We have to string together some more.

Trey Walker | TE | R-Sr.
On the mood in the locker room after the loss…
TW: Obviously losing sucks. Losing a close game like that sucks one hundred times more. We just have to stick together because we still have one more game. It's another trophy game, and arguably the most important trophy game. So we just have to stick together and come out hot next week.

On scoring his first touchdown…
TW: In the moment it was great, I was ecstatic. Obviously, we would have liked to pull off a win after that but in the moment it was awesome.

On the officiating in the last two offensive plays…
TW: We can't control the officials, so it is what it is.

Aaron Casey | LB | R-Sr+
On the last touchdown that MSU scored in the fourth quarter…
AC: We just didn't execute well enough at the end of the game. It came down to the end, and we weren't at our best when it counted the most. We have to execute in those critical situations.

On the frustrations of giving up a touchdown late in the game…
AC: It's pretty frustrating knowing that we're taking it down to the end of the fourth quarter in the last few minutes and not putting it all together at the end. This is something that we have to work on, strengthening and finishing strong at the end.

On how to finish off the season on the right note against Purdue…
AC: Just know what is in front of us. We still have a big game, IU's biggest game, the bucket game. Use the fight that we still have to go out there and get the win and the bucket back in Bloomington.

Harlon Barnett | Michigan State Coach
Opening Statement
HB: Great win by our guys. They finished, kept competing and applied what we have been talking about. You guys have been hearing me say, "finish, finish, finish", and that's what we did. I'm really proud of our guys. They played really well and kept fighting.

On the final drive to put Michigan State in the lead…
HB: I'm thinking of finishing by any means necessary. Everything is four downs, and we can't punt it back away. Our guys did a good job of making plays down the stretch. That's what you have to do when you are going to finish a game like that. Great throw and catch by Katin (Houser) to Maliq (Carr). That is a big, physical guy. That guy is a player, and you can't just shove him to the ground. You have to wrap and squeeze to get him down. If you don't, then he is going to do what he did. He is similar to Sam (Leavitt) in that he is very confident. I love those guys because they believe in their abilities, and that allows them to play at a high level.

On having several scholarship players available to play…
HB: We were an NFL team out there today. There were 45 guys on scholarship that were available to play. We got it done. We have a great coaching staff, and our guys did a great job. Whoever is available is who we are going to play with. Nobody is making excuses, it's what we do. Nobody was complaining, it was, "let's go play."

On managing the defense in the fourth quarter…
HB: We knew what we had available, so the next guy was up. We were prepared in a lot of ways for it, so when those guys were going down it was a blessing that some of those guys were able to come back. We were getting really thin, but we were prepared for whatever happened. It wasn't quite panic-mode, but it almost got there. We talk about that in meetings prior to the game. I asked about another guy going down and the coach said, "I'll be in, coach." That's how it goes sometimes.

#GoIU

Players Mentioned

Aaron Casey

Louis Moore

Trey Walker

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