Indiana University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Maryland
9/28/2024 6:00:00 PM | Football
Postgame Quotes
Maryland at Indiana
September 28, 2024
Maryland at Indiana
September 28, 2024
Curt Cignetti | Indiana Head Coach
Opening Statement
CC: Okay, good win. Far from perfect, trust me. 4-0 in the turnover ratio against us, had not turned it over going into the game one time and still won by two scores. But defense really responded to every one of those turnovers.
There's a lot of corrections to make, but it was a good effort, a gutty effort.
You could feel the fans out there. I'm glad that they keep improving in the attendance area. I thought that was a good turnout, and good is the enemy of great, so let's have a great turnout. Let's sell it out next week or next time we're at home and figure out how to make it even louder because that's what we want to do; we want to be the best in everything we do.
Even when we're good, even when we perform good, we're not satisfied. But it was a good turnout.
We're 5-0, and in 57 years -- I'm older than that, by the way. But this isn't the end for us. I'm proud of the team and everything they've accomplished.
I felt like we've made good progress in the off-season, in the winter, spring, summer, but we had to put it on film. We can play better than we played today.
On overcoming adversity…
CC: Yeah, there were a lot of good responses in that game. The defense responded to offensive turnovers. The offense responded to touchdowns given up by the defense. We responded more than they did.
So, there was really a lot that went on in that game. There's no doubt about it. Winning is good because it deepens belief in confidence and success, which leads to confidence and belief, which leads to success. You've still got to put the work in but strengthens that confidence and belief.
On the team's energy…
CC: Well, that's us. We want to play every play like it's 0-0. Never too high, never too low. Something bad happens, okay, we're going to play this play. You get 11 guys playing that way consistently, then you've got a chance.
On the importance of the defensive line's effectiveness…
CC: Yeah, I don't know how many sacks we had total. Five? Okay. He seemed like he was on the ground an awful lot early in the game, which is what we wanted to do.
We just have to -- when we have a chance to kind of go for the jugular, we've got to get a little better at that. But they've got some playmakers. They've got some guys that get on top of you. They got us in a defense we didn't want to be in on the long run.
But that's where it all starts, up front. We're experienced up front. We think it's one of our strengths, and it was definitely one of the areas that they weren't feeling too great about coming into the game, and we needed a big win there, and I think we got it.
On the effort to secure a blocked punt in the last minute-and-a-half…
CC: Yeah, that was awesome. I have no idea what happened. I was taking my headset off and giving it to somebody behind me and I completely missed it. I just wish we would have picked it up and scored.
On the secondary limiting Maryland's Tai Felton…
CC: Well, I think he went out, didn't he? And didn't return, right? It's hard for him to have a big day when he's not on the field.
On how the secondary did to the point until Felton was out of the game…
CC: What did he have? He had five for 38, yeah. But Hemby made some.
We did a pretty good job, and it started up front with the pressure. They got on top of us a couple times, though.
On how Kurtis bounced back after the early interceptions…
CC: Yeah, I mean, he responded like I kind of felt like he would. I didn't think he'd be flustered by the two interceptions, and he wasn't.
When we had our one-on-one opportunities, we were winning, and we played well when we played with tempo, the two-minute drive and some of the other times. He's a grisly old vet. He's got to hold on to that ball a little better in the pocket when he runs it.
On Omar Cooper Jr. and Elijah Sarratt's play today…
CC: Yeah. They were winning their one-on-ones when it was press coverage, and we were getting them the ball, and I was glad to see Donaven won his one-on-one in the red area. That was a play we were hoping to be able to get called against zero blitz coverage.
We felt like that was a match-up that was in our favor going into the game, and it turned out to be that way.
On the impact of the fans…
CC: Oh, it's extremely valuable. Players feed off of that energy. Look, it's all about energy, right? You've got to have energy to do anything, and the fans are supplying the energy and the players are feeding off of that energy.
I don't know how many points it's worth, but it's really important, and I think we got everything moving in the right direction here.
On what he learned from the team today…
CC: Well, I think you learn about your team every week. You play 12 regular season games, you learn about them in the off week, too. I thought this was a good challenge for us, and we outlasted them. We did a lot of good things. But there's a lot of things we can do better.
On being the "New Indiana"...
CC:Well, I don't know what the old Indiana was other than what I watched on tape or maybe looked in a record book.
We are what we are, and we have a blueprint and a plan and a philosophy how to play the game. It's all about people and processes. I think we've got a chance to be a good football team. Todd Blackledge said at the end of the UCLA game that this is a good football team, Indiana. You've got to prove it every day, every play.
On Zach Horton's impact…
CC: Yeah, well, I'm glad other coaches point that out, too, when they watch us on tape or scout us, how valuable he is. It's not all about his touches. He does a lot of great things for us offensively. He's really a blood-and-guts hard-nosed tough guy with talent.
He's a tremendous football player.
On the importance of the running back room's versatility…
CC: We play those three backs every game, and they've been really consistent. If we didn't turn it over four times, maybe we would have had 200.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Indiana Student-Athletes
Kurtis Rourke | QB |R-Sr.+
On shaking off the early interceptions…
KR: It's just about trying to flush right away and not even really think about it. You just have to move on. Even when you have a good play, you have to reset and be emotionally stable so that you can move forward, whether that's good or bad. That's what I try to do.
On having jump-ball receivers like Omar Cooper Jr. and Elijah Sarratt…
KR: It's awesome. Those guys are great weapons to have and I love the odds every time I throw a ball in their area. I just have to make sure they can get their hands on it, so they can make plays like they did today.
James Carpenter | DT | R-Sr.+
On the impact the defensive line had on today's game…
JC: Every game Coach Cig (Cignetti) comes in and says it starts with the defensive line and it starts with the offensive line. I know if we put pressure on the quarterback and make him feel uncomfortable and stop the run, which today I thought we did a good job of aside from one big play, but if we do those things, it opens up a lot for us.
On the sacks early in the game and how those set the tone…
JC: We came out strong and we came out fast. That's our thing. That's what we want to do every game. I felt like CJ (West) and I did a good job of that early and that helped set the tone for the rest of the game.
On responding to adversity as the season progresses…
JC: That's what this team is built on and that's what this program is about. Having four turnovers and giving up a couple big plays on defense, it's always about next play mentality. Coach Cig (Cignetti) and the other coaches preach that to us and I thought we did a good job today.
Elijiah Saratt | WR | Jr.
On what the atmosphere and fan turnout was like…
ES: Shoutout to our fans. They showed out. I think Coach Cig (Cignetti) sent a message out to them and they responded, so shout out to them. It's all love with them and we wouldn't have been able to pull out that win without them.
On Indiana's 5-0 start …
ES: We take a lot of pride in it. We take pride in every single win. But, we gotta go out there next week, do the same thing, put the work in in practice, and try to go 6-0.
Indiana's depth in the receiver room …
ES: It helps a lot. On any given game, someone can go off. It helps me a lot to not get double-teamed and I am proud of them. They put in the work, we all encourage each other. Any week, someone can go off for 100 yards.
Omar Cooper Jr. | WR | R-So.
On the atmosphere in Memorial Stadium today …
OC: It was just awesome having our fans there being able to support us. We love that, we all were energetic and happy that they came to support us and stayed the whole game. Going over there and celebrating with the fans and students and getting to thank them for coming. It was good just showing them that we care and that we are happy they're supporting us.
On his important catches and touchdown at the end of the first half…
OC: I had outside leverage on the defender, so I knew on the first pass that I was going to have an opportunity to get the ball. So I just wanted to make sure I ran the route to the best of my abilities. And on the last play, I saw that the corner was pressed and knowing that Kurtis (Rourke) will always trust me, I made sure that I did my best and made the play when the ball was in the air.
Aiden Fisher | LB | Jr.
On this current team being a "New Indiana"...
AF: We still have a long way to go. The defense let off a lot of explosive plays that are not acceptable to our standard. The offense struggled in the first half, but we are taking steps forward and I think we are getting there one step at a time.
On the atmosphere during the game from the crowd…
AF.: It was huge today. You can feel them on every big third down and fourth down, coming down to that last possession. That felt really good today.
Mikail Kamara | DL | R-Jr.
On what the game against Maryland meant to him…
MK: It meant a lot to me, personally. With Maryland being close to home, and having them not recruit me, it definitely made this game personal. And then I have my boy, Tai Felton, No. 10 over there. Playing against each other was something we have always talked about. This was a big game for me, for sure.
On the crowd noise helping on the defensive side of the ball…
MK: The crowd noise helped a lot. For me, as a defender, when the crowd gets going and there is a lot of noise, I'm not really thinking as much. I'm just going out there and playing and reacting, which makes me play faster. Once we make a play and everyone is screaming, that adrenaline just keeps us going.
Michael Lockley| Maryland Head Coach
Opening Statement…
ML: Obviously frustrating game for me as the coach. when you know you have the ingredients clearly there as we've got some talented players, but they don't all come together the way you like it. I like to see the offense, defense, special teams all carry their weight earlier in the game. Defense did a really good job getting us turnovers.
Offense struggled, the offense kind of got going to tie it up and then the defense struggled. Special teams were hit and miss, and to me that's where you can kind of tell the character of the team by how you play special teams. And we dealt with some injuries that may have affected it.
But here's what I always say, injuries are a part of the game and we do things to develop our roster. So clearly frustrated that we've got the ingredients, and I've got to get it to come together in one game. And I also say to remember this is just one game, and for us sometimes as a program sometimes we want to look at the big picture, but it's just one game.
We had some individual players so some good things in this game. Some of these young guys, I thought the complementary players would have to show up for this game, I didn't realize it would be due to injury. We did have some individual players do some good things, just not enough of them. Where does that leave us now? Leaves us in that we've got two weeks to sit in this, and for me it gives me a chance to kind of recalibrate and look at the first third of the season and say scheme wise take a look at that. Personnel wise, take a look at that.
Everything is on the board for us, as we go into that next third. But we'll always remember it's just one game, nobody told us it was going to be a direct route to the top. I still know we've got enough talented players that care enough care about them. We'll use these two weeks to get healthy. Today, every time I turned around a guy was being pulled out. What I have to do now is go back and take a look at everything that we are doing and evaluate our scheme, evaluate our personnel. Take a look at what we're doing and get it fixed. In the next couple weeks we have a big opportunity at home to get back on the winning side of things against a Northwestern team that is coming into shell.
On injuries playing a factor today…
ML: I wasn't even thinking about it. They tell me they're out and its next man mentality. We've recruited well, everyone that is on this team are guys that I've brought here. I brought guys here that should be prepared and should have the ability to replace it. That's how we try to build this thing. That's kind of the sweet sauce about when you create depth.
Unfortunately, our depth is inexperienced in two of the toughest areas which is O-line and corner. Which are the two areas that when you're trying to build a program those are the two areas that you're most concerned about, so we've got to take a look and make sure we've got the right people out there. We also have to make sure we're doing the things we need to do to help with their development and growth by what we call.
On the atmosphere at Memorial Stadium today…
ML: Great atmosphere. This is what winning does for you consistently. And we have to give Coach (Cignetti) a tremendous amount of credit. Obviously his players think a lot of him because when you look and see he's got 13 guys that transferred from JMU (James Madison University), so not a total rebuild cause he's got guys that know his system. He's done a great job at implementing them, they're playing good.
I mean today they turned it over, we won the turnover battle, but lost the game. To me that shows that there is other areas. For us, that first thing that jumps out to me is scheme wise are we doing the thing that helps our young O-line? Are we doing the things that help our corners? Then we got to just keep looking at the personnel and making sure that we're giving these guys the opportunity to compete. We will get better, I know that. We'll get better.
On the penalties continuing at the rate they are…
ML: I have to figure that out. I know that question is going to continue to come up and until we get it fixed, you guys have every right to ask about it. As I've said before, it's an easy question, low hanging fruit to write about because as I said there are times when I turn in 15 plays and eight of them shouldn't have been called.
But the thing for me is the undisciplined ones pre-snap and post-snap, those are the 'I've raised four kids and it sucks when they do dumb stuff' and you're the parent and everyone is like 'you're a bad parent.' No, you're not.
These kids are going to make these mistakes and I've got to get them fixed and I have to continue to punish them.
You know, pull them out of the game and put somebody else in, and we've got injuries. But I'm going to get that fixed man, I promise you. I will figure this penalty thing out, we'll get it fixed. As a parent, as I said before, man I preach about it, you write about it so much it's to the point where I'm tired of talking about it. We just got to do the work.
Maryland Student-Athletes
Roman Hemby | RB. | R-Jr.
On how difficult is it to come back when Kaden Prather and Tai Felton out…
RH: We don't see it as being too difficult. We built depth to where we have enough guys to where we can put anyone in and we feel like they're confident enough to make plays for us. We love to have those guys out here, but we do whatever we can to get a win when we have those guys out there, as well.
Roman Hemby | RB. | R-Jr.
On having a big run and big catch …
RH: The offensive line did a great job on that run. Just getting vertical as fast as I can, KP (Kaden Prather) came in and dug out the safety. So it made my read a little bit easier. And I was just able to use my speed. But as far as my day, I feel like a lot of these other guys and saying that there's a lot more that I could've done. You know, I will definitely be my biggest critic when it comes to that. Getting back to the drawing board and figuring out ways that I can be better to help this team.
Ruben Hyppolite II | LB. | Sr.
On what was the team doing to make things more difficult or was it execution break down on his end…
RH: That was an execution breakdown. We just got to make the plays. Got to keep the ball in front of us, just a couple mishaps as far as coverage wise. We got a bye week, so you know we'll get it fixed and we'll make the corrections so it doesn't happen again.
Ruben Hyppolite II | LB. | Sr.
On what the mindset is in the locker room being 0-2 in the Big Ten…
RH: We just got to move on, like you said. It's early in the year of a long season. We've got more games to play, so we just got to take the coaching and take the corrections and move on.
Players Mentioned
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