Media Monday Recap: Indiana vs. Maryland

Written By Alex Compton

Following a third straight loss for Indiana, Kevin Wilson met with the media on Monday to offer his thoughts on the 24-14 game at Northwestern, and then previewed Maryland. He touched on players that impressed him, why IU has been starting slow, and much, much more.

Coach Wilson

After solid play to start the year, Junior Quarterback Richard Lagow has been regressing as of late. In order for this team to get back on track, the offense (starting with the QB) has to play better. After a few questions about opening up quarterback snaps during practice this week, Wilson said yet again that Lagow is his guy. 

“It’s Rich. I mean everything’s open, but he’s the guy.”

While the offense was mostly inept the whole game, Wilson did be sure to mention a few players that had good performances in Evanston. 

“Northwestern game, offensively, three guys with some effort we thought was good. Westbrook on the perimeter, Devine Redding and Devonte Williams made some plays we liked.”

Nile Sykes was a guy I mentioned as a potential breakout stud on defense under Tom Allen during the preseason. He had seen the field a good deal as a backup DE so far, but had yet to really make an impact. He did make an impact on Saturday however, and Wilson noted that while still challenging him for more. 

“Defensively, a really good game. Nile Sykes had two sacks, one tackle for loss, 82 percent. He needs to play like that more often. That's been there. He's a very inconsistent practice guy, but when he wants to and he's home, we've kind of challenged him. I don't think anyone here was surprised it was really good. Our team needs that, needs to continue to be more consistent in its preparation and daily habits because he's got some talent and some speed on the edge. Sometimes we lack in need. It was great to see, great performance.”

For the last few weeks, Indiana has had trouble out of the gate. Early holes have not meant disaster in the past, but this is not the same offense as the ones we’ve become accustomed to. It can still be fixed, but with a good defense, getting out to early leads or at least keeping the games close would make a huge difference to this team. Coach Wilson addressed the slow starts on Monday. 

“I think the offense's inability to get going early really hurt the defense because I don't think our defense had time to make the adjustments. We go a quick three and out, they score, and then we go a quick three and out. They score again, and we go another quick three and out. Once we got the adjustments in the second quarter and the offense got going, it really helped the defense. So I think the offense's ineptness early really led to them getting up 21-3….. Two weeks ago, it was 17-0. It wasn't 21-3 at the end of the first quarter, but it was right out of the gate in the second quarter. So we're down three scores in our last two games out of the gate. We're playing catch up. We can't do that.”

“So from a preparation standpoint, I don't know what I'd change, but from a performance standpoint, I don't know what we were doing play calling. I thought defensively we got a little rattled. We didn't get a chance -- and I made a comment to coach in the game you should blitz or do something because what's happening is we're just sitting on our heels. Everybody is like -- we're sitting back. We're not aggressive. Everybody over here on the sideline, you coaches are complaining. Calm down and get them going forward.

Again, our practices have been always typically not too bad. Last week I thought was really good. We're off to a good start. As soon as we do it, I guess we do it well. I do like the way the guys have been practicing. I do think it's going to transfer into winning and playing well.”

Maryland comes in at 5-2, and is playing much better than anyone thought they would be at this point. A game in the preseason that we gave IU a great chance at winning is now a much different story, and Coach Wilson offered some brief thoughts on the Terps.

“Maryland comes in playing solid at 5-2, really good. Running the ball well. One of their running backs has over 10 yards a carry. Another running back, over seven yards a carry. Perry Hills at quarterback. Runs it, runs it well. He's the third leading rusher. Throwing it well.

Coach Durkin's background is defense. Very aggressive and challenging in what they do. Got a lot of energy. They're off to a really, really good start. It will be a good challenge. It will be a great challenge. Our team has struggled. We're 1-3 in conference play. We've dropped, what, three in a row now, and we got to get back on track here at home.”

There seems to always be a classic Wilson quote each week, and he gave us another gem on Monday.

“He (Dan Feeney) plays guard. I played guard. Anybody can play guard. I played guard. If you can't play guard, you're in the band. No disrespect to the band. I was in the band, too. I don't want to get the band guys mad. I played the trumpet and the sousaphone. And I played that so I could get out of elementary fifth grade for one hour to go and sit and listen to the teacher. So everybody volunteered for band so you didn't have to sit and pay attention to social studies. You got an hour out a couple days a week.”

Quick-Hitters

Players of the Week

Offense- Nick Westbrook (WR)
Defense- Tegray Scales (LB), Nile Sykes (DL)
Special Teams- Ricky Jones (WR)
Scout Offense- Danny Cameron (QB), Grayson Stover (OL), Ryan Watercutter (TE)
Scout Defense- Gavin Everett (DL), Jake Attar (DB), Johnny Albomonte (DB)

Feeney

All-American guard Dan Feeney finally returned to the field on Saturday. He had practiced during the Nebraska week, but was not ready to suit up on homecoming. Wilson repeatedly talked about how nice it is to have him back in practice and on the sideline as a leader. He was on a snap count against Northwestern, and did look tired according to Wilson and Greg Frey. Whether or not he will be on a snap count against Maryland is uncertain, but Coach Wilson did say he has “a lot of work to do” to get back to playing like his normal self.