Media Monday: Rutgers Wrap-up, Penn State Preview, and Other Update

Written By Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

Indiana climbed above .500 for the first time since early October after the win against Rutgers. Here is what head coach Kevin Wilson had to saw about the win and about the Hoosiers’ next opponent Penn State.

Coach Wilson Quotes

Indiana is one win away from a second-straight bowl game. When asked about where the focus of his football team was he said:

“You're always pressing to have your best week. Now, you don't want to squeeze too tight, but our deal is we, again, haven't handled success good, and so you've got a couple, and we didn't even play well the other day. So again, is that maybe one of the reasons we were not as clean, that running game goes from a lot of yards to not a lot of yards, and the week before we just blocked hard and played hard, more than scheming and play calling.

Last game, the other team, their defensive front played harder than our guys I felt and got off blocks and defended the run. You know, we're not -- we just talked about the process of the week, a week ago. It's like a game we had to win. Our guys were like, you've got to win them all. You approach each game and do what you can to win each game, and you don't look at the total, you don't look at what's to come. It's just, here's today and here's the plan for this week, and you start it over -- we come in Sunday and grade it, and when you walk in here Sunday night, it's okay, boom, now Monday we've changed gears. Our practice mode Thursday is our recovery day, so we come in Sunday, clean up mistakes. We don't talk a lot about the next team, very, very slightly. We talk about what we just did. We come into today, and we've moved on to the next game. We just get it evolved with the week.

It's hard because they're going to read, listen, everybody has got Twitter, everybody follows whatever, so they're going to hear comments. You just can't make sure that the comments distract you from you doing your job, and our job is we've got to prepare and play well because if we don't play better than last week, we're not going to have a good outing Saturday, and we've got things that have got to be corrected, and we've got to come -- we've got to learn, we've got to put together the game plan, and we've got to grow and put it together this week. Win, lose or draw, there ain't no draws anymore, but win or lose, you've got to do it again, and that's the process we talk about, period. It's corny, but if you look at the big -- we don't look at the big picture until it's over, and then you go back and look at what you collected.

Our deal is it's going to take our best effort, it's going to take our best week. It's a strong challenge. It's a great team we're playing, and we're going to need to have a great week to have a chance, and that's all we're talking about.”

Indiana again utilized the “Bacon-and-Legs” package on Saturday to mixed results, but Wilson alluded to the three-quarterback system actually making Richard Lagow a little more comfortable.

“I think Zander played a little bit and him coming on the bench, I think it helped him, too. I think he likes that, and I think he's becoming a good teammate. Not that he ever wasn't, I think he likes Zander playing, I think they pull for each other, and I think there's a little bit of -- even though Zander didn't have as much and he had one big play and he had one negative play, I think him just coming back and forth, I don't think he feels like he gets cold there. We didn't play him as much last game, it didn't work as well, we had one critical error, but I think the combination of those two -- I think it maybe takes a little bit of pressure off of Richard.”

The maligned kicking unit came up again on Monday and Wilson said:

“Well, I think some of it comes back to we've been a little bit inconsistent with the hold, and because we're a little inconsistent with the hold, I think our kicker is a little hesitant and a little late getting started because I think he's not trusting where the spot is going to be. So sometimes you're blocking certain guys based on some timing, and you're beating an edge guy with time. So we had one the other day off the edge where we were slow. As a matter of fact, we had a kid that was on offense, ran off the field and ended up coming back on the field, and he was honored as academic all-district the other day, so it's not like he doesn't have intelligence, but all of a sudden on the 5-yard line he ran off the field. He was fighting a little bit of injury he had going on, so mentally he was dealing with some stuff. A minor thing, but he was dealing with something, and I think he was just a little funky.

You know, we've been a little inconsistent. We'll figure it out with the hold what's going on. There's a couple things scheme-wise, but bottom line it's -- Rutgers got two on us. Penn State got two against Ohio State, a blocked punt and a blocked field goal, and they scored 24 points. They get 10 off of kicking because a blocked punt gets them three and then the blocked field goal is a kick six. They run it back. So they win that game with blocked kicks. It's going to be huge, so we'll work it.

I don't think, though, where our kickers have kicked that we can over-kick our kickers because I think our kickers are getting a little psychotic and we've got to work through the mental demon, but I don't think I need to pound the kids' legs because there's only so many swings in that leg, so we'll work some fundamental work and we'll get it addressed with either scheme or personnel, but we're going to put a team out there this week that's going to be confident, and they're going to make kicks, because this time of year and the games we're playing, they're going to have to make kicks if we're going to win, and they're capable, but they're going to have to get the job done.”

The funniest moment of the press conference came when Wilson was asked about bringing in a sport psychologist to help the kickers with their woes.

“You can, and we have several on campus, but our department has one. At the same time -- sometimes you do worry, I've worried since I've been here, again, about the noise and voices, who are you talking to. And for example, like during the game, and I can get all fired up and competitive during the game, I was very calm with the kicker. I said, look, you've got a million great kicks, so calm down, we're going to get the spot and make the next one, period. Because when you can't do it, you've got a problem, okay, you know the guy can't. And I used the analogy, but when McIlroy flopped at the Masters several years ago, and you can't hide, but to come back a month or two later, and it was either the British or the US Open, you've got to be good enough to flop, and then you've got to get past that.

Most, very few people are great enough not to flop, because you've got to be good enough to know this is what is expected, and all of a sudden I didn't make the shot. Like Michael Jordan, I missed a lot more game winners than I ever hit. I struck out a lot more than I ever hit home runs. So the misses are there. It's now getting to the point of just going -- and sometimes it's, like I did the analogy of the old Gary Barnett years ago at Northwestern when the monkey reaches in and grabs the banana, and he can't let his hand open because once you've got it -- you've got to let go to pull it out. Sometimes you've got to let go of some things because you're holding on to it so fast, you can't move forward. Sometimes you've got to let go and you've got to move on.

I'm actually a pretty good sports psychologist when I want to be, so I -- just like, hey, man, come on. I mean, it's hard to be a sports psychologist when a guy can't. The guy can, and I came in, you tell me whatever you want, and then you've got to work at it. It's going to show up.

What gives me confidence is I saw the kick he made to win a big game. I saw the kick he made right before half into the wind against Ball State, which was a huge kick for us, so I saw last year the best kicker in the conference, and it's not like he's not working. As a matter of fact, if he has a problem, he's trying and he's carrying too dadgum much. Let it go, and we'll move forward.”

Quick-Hitters

Players of the Week

Offense-Ricky Jones (WR)
Defense- Marcus Oliver (LB), A’Shon Riggins (CB)
Special Teams- Isaac James (WR)

Scout Offense- Justin Berry (WR), Shaun Bonner (TE)
Scout Defense- Garrett Lukens (LB), Johnny Albomonte (DB)

Injuries

Brandon Knight (OL)- “I think he's into that, three, four, five weeks. It's a leg injury that doesn't require surgery, but it's like pain tolerance and strength level. Again, he's a young guy, and so if we're fortunate enough to have the whole team -- I don't know if you even rush him back for the bowl, but I think he'll be pretty good by then. It's kind of risk and reward and no guarantees. Just kind of move with that and see.”

Mike Majette (RB)- “He's got an ankle injury, and he's going to be probably a couple weeks.”