Quoted: Maryland
9/27/2023 10:00:00 AM | Football
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. –––– As the days near closer to Indiana Football's week five matchup at Maryland on Saturday (September 30), Indiana offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Walt Bell, defensive coordinator and safeties coach Matt Guerrieri and select student-athletes addressed the media inside the Henke Hall of Champions.
Below is a partial transcript of the press conference, while video of the media sessions can be found on the right sidebar at IUHoosiers.com.
Walt Bell | Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
On his evaluation of the game film…
WB: I think everyone sitting in this room knows that it was not very good. It wasn't good enough. Sometimes the word execution can be a word that gets used to pass the bug to the guys that are actually on the field, and that is never the case. In terms of the things that we know we need to get better, obviously the short yardage goal line, especially coming off of the game against Louisville. With how much time was invested into that, we have to be better there. I grew up with a high school head coach that was probably like everyone else's head coach. If you can't get a yard, you don't deserve to win. We had two or three chances to put the game away in short yardage situations, and we couldn't do that. I would say number two, in terms of things that we need to improve on, is pass protection. That was our first time not necessarily getting beat, but they were doing a lot of stuff. We knew that going in they were going to be very exotic. It was probably the most complex defense that we have seen in terms of pass protection. We had a couple of misses in pass protection from a marking standpoint, which we have not had this year. Number three, I would say is third downs. Going into the game we were 12-for-12 on third-and-short for the year. We were 50% on third downs going into the game. We had more third-and-longs than we would have liked, but not too many of them. We were really poor on third downs. In terms of three things where we have to see marked improvement if we are going to be who we say we are going to be, those would be the three areas.
On the identity of the offense…
WB: We are a run-first football team. There is going to be an option element to it. Because of that, there is going to be play-action. Every week it is going to be doing everything we can to make sure that Tayven (Jackson), as a young guy, is comfortable and can find completions. On the first two weeks I felt like we did that. When you go into a game, you have to at least get what you want. Going into the Ohio State game we knew we wanted to snap it 60 times or less, we wanted to possess the football, we wanted to keep (the football) as close as humanly possible. For three quarters we did that. We probably played that game a little too close with the vest too long. But we kept staying within one possession, we could make that thing one long, grueling fight. We go into the second game, if we were playing one delay football team, that executes the way it does. We go into the third game the same way; we want to possess the football. We want to put Tayven into a position in his first real start to have success. He completed 70% of his passes, but we don't finish drives. We are getting what we want from the intent to win the game, but we're not playing well enough right now. We're going to be a run-first football team that has an option element to it so that we can at least get our hats back. There is going to be heavy play-action as a part of that component. That is who we are going to be.
On Christian Turner's play…
WB: Christian is a really good football player. It has been really unfortunate for him that he has had the injury bug. He is as healthy as he can be right now. He is a hard runner. He levels off his pads. He is a really contentious practice player. He does everything that you ask him to do. That does not mean he is perfect on gameday, but he is a really good football player who has worked really diligently to earn the right to play. He is a guy that is going to get a line share of those reps, especially with Josh (Henderson) being out.
Matt Guerrieri | Defensive Coordinator/Safeties
On managing player minutes to reduce overload…
MG: It starts with players earning the right to play from a practice standpoint. We have had a number of guys do that. From a coaching standpoint it is saying "I'm going to commit to a pre-planned rotation no matter what happens game flow wise." What happens is sometimes a game is tight and you leave a guy in there for too many snaps because it's a one score game. We have to commit as a staff. We have talked about it a lot, but there are guys that have earned the right to play and need to be in there.
On the impact of the experience from Taulia Tagovailoa…
MG: Experience, familiarity with a system, and having seen a lot of defenses too makes guys harder to rattle. They have played a lot of snaps. But he is a really talented guy. He can throw it, run it, off schedule scrambling, he can do a bunch of really good things. Regardless of how young from there, he is a really talented football player that has played a lot of snaps.
On what to take from DJ Irons to help prepare for Taulia Tagovailoa…
MG: It starts with design. What is the intention of a gameplan going in and what is the amount of pressure and risk involved at times versus not? We talk about that as a staff. If you look at the game, there were times that we took calculated risks to create pressure and it resulted in takeaways. There were times that we did that and we were not disciplined as we needed to be from a rush lane standpoint and then you don't have eyes on him from there. I always take full responsibility for everything. What's the design and then how well is it executed to get the result that you want. We know that we have a big challenge on our hand this week from a quarterback that can create off schedule. He can run the ball. He can throw the ball. He can do both of those things when it breaks down. We have to be really disciplined with the way that we are containing the quarterback.
Below is a partial transcript of the press conference, while video of the media sessions can be found on the right sidebar at IUHoosiers.com.
Walt Bell | Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
On his evaluation of the game film…
WB: I think everyone sitting in this room knows that it was not very good. It wasn't good enough. Sometimes the word execution can be a word that gets used to pass the bug to the guys that are actually on the field, and that is never the case. In terms of the things that we know we need to get better, obviously the short yardage goal line, especially coming off of the game against Louisville. With how much time was invested into that, we have to be better there. I grew up with a high school head coach that was probably like everyone else's head coach. If you can't get a yard, you don't deserve to win. We had two or three chances to put the game away in short yardage situations, and we couldn't do that. I would say number two, in terms of things that we need to improve on, is pass protection. That was our first time not necessarily getting beat, but they were doing a lot of stuff. We knew that going in they were going to be very exotic. It was probably the most complex defense that we have seen in terms of pass protection. We had a couple of misses in pass protection from a marking standpoint, which we have not had this year. Number three, I would say is third downs. Going into the game we were 12-for-12 on third-and-short for the year. We were 50% on third downs going into the game. We had more third-and-longs than we would have liked, but not too many of them. We were really poor on third downs. In terms of three things where we have to see marked improvement if we are going to be who we say we are going to be, those would be the three areas.
On the identity of the offense…
WB: We are a run-first football team. There is going to be an option element to it. Because of that, there is going to be play-action. Every week it is going to be doing everything we can to make sure that Tayven (Jackson), as a young guy, is comfortable and can find completions. On the first two weeks I felt like we did that. When you go into a game, you have to at least get what you want. Going into the Ohio State game we knew we wanted to snap it 60 times or less, we wanted to possess the football, we wanted to keep (the football) as close as humanly possible. For three quarters we did that. We probably played that game a little too close with the vest too long. But we kept staying within one possession, we could make that thing one long, grueling fight. We go into the second game, if we were playing one delay football team, that executes the way it does. We go into the third game the same way; we want to possess the football. We want to put Tayven into a position in his first real start to have success. He completed 70% of his passes, but we don't finish drives. We are getting what we want from the intent to win the game, but we're not playing well enough right now. We're going to be a run-first football team that has an option element to it so that we can at least get our hats back. There is going to be heavy play-action as a part of that component. That is who we are going to be.
On Christian Turner's play…
WB: Christian is a really good football player. It has been really unfortunate for him that he has had the injury bug. He is as healthy as he can be right now. He is a hard runner. He levels off his pads. He is a really contentious practice player. He does everything that you ask him to do. That does not mean he is perfect on gameday, but he is a really good football player who has worked really diligently to earn the right to play. He is a guy that is going to get a line share of those reps, especially with Josh (Henderson) being out.
Matt Guerrieri | Defensive Coordinator/Safeties
On managing player minutes to reduce overload…
MG: It starts with players earning the right to play from a practice standpoint. We have had a number of guys do that. From a coaching standpoint it is saying "I'm going to commit to a pre-planned rotation no matter what happens game flow wise." What happens is sometimes a game is tight and you leave a guy in there for too many snaps because it's a one score game. We have to commit as a staff. We have talked about it a lot, but there are guys that have earned the right to play and need to be in there.
On the impact of the experience from Taulia Tagovailoa…
MG: Experience, familiarity with a system, and having seen a lot of defenses too makes guys harder to rattle. They have played a lot of snaps. But he is a really talented guy. He can throw it, run it, off schedule scrambling, he can do a bunch of really good things. Regardless of how young from there, he is a really talented football player that has played a lot of snaps.
On what to take from DJ Irons to help prepare for Taulia Tagovailoa…
MG: It starts with design. What is the intention of a gameplan going in and what is the amount of pressure and risk involved at times versus not? We talk about that as a staff. If you look at the game, there were times that we took calculated risks to create pressure and it resulted in takeaways. There were times that we did that and we were not disciplined as we needed to be from a rush lane standpoint and then you don't have eyes on him from there. I always take full responsibility for everything. What's the design and then how well is it executed to get the result that you want. We know that we have a big challenge on our hand this week from a quarterback that can create off schedule. He can run the ball. He can throw the ball. He can do both of those things when it breaks down. We have to be really disciplined with the way that we are containing the quarterback.
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