Notes and Quotes From Tom Allen's Week Six Media Monday

Written by Lauralys Shallow

Head Coach Tom Allen met with the media to discuss IU’s victory over Rutgers and preview the matchup with No. 3 Ohio State.

Offensive Players of the Game: Ty Fryfogle, Nick Westbrook, Donovan Hale and J-Shun Harris

Defensive Player of the Game: Raheem Layne

Special Teams Player of the Game: Mike Majette

Videos From Media Monday: Peyton Ramsey, J-Shun Harris, Ty Fryfogle, Reakwon Jones and Allen Stallings

On thoughts on Ohio State:

“I've been here for my third season, it's the most talented Ohio State team I've seen since I've been here. So very, very good football team, on both sides, and special teams, just a lot of playmakers and speed and athleticism and size and very accurate quarterback and very, very athletic defensive unit. So Coach Meyer always has a very talented team that's well coached and plays extremely hard. So tremendous challenge and opportunity wrapped up into one as we head to Columbus, Ohio on Saturday for a 4:05 kick off on Fox Sports.”

On Ohio State’s explosive playmaking:

 “And that's -- this team we're playing this week that's what they lived off of, they have really created a lot of explosive plays, that's kind of their formula and it's been good to them. You watch the game the other night, I mean they kind of just were held at bay for a while and then, bam, a couple big plays and they're winning by a point and it looks like they were, the other team, Penn State was kind of dominating the game in some ways at that point, but then it all flipped. So that's a big part of our strategy and preventing them and trying to get them.”

On the decision to go for it on 4th down and not kick a field goal against Rutgers:

“So bottom line is that we go through it and we have -- we're talking the whole time on the head sets and as a matter of fact the exact comment was, hey, 13 doesn't really help us, we need to, book says we need to go for it. And then I just got to will to follow my gut. The book doesn't make me do it, but -- and we do that for all fourth downs, whether it's fourth and two, fourth and one. We get, as we cross the 50, get in the field goal opportunity range, we'll just says hey, guys in the press box say, hey, you know, two or less is a go, three or less is a go, four or less is a go. It's based on the time on the clock, it's based on the score. It actually configures our stats compared to their stats put into that booklet before the game starts. So it's based upon our offense versus their defense and vice versa. So it's a whole, it's a chance to be able to play the percentages of the likelihood of your chance of having success. And then you got to go execute.”

On Luke Timian and Whop Philyor’s status heading into Ohio State matchup:

“We don't know yet still today if they will be ready, they're trying to get ready. We will know later in the week, and they're working hard to get themselves back for Saturday, but because of the new rule we can play some of these young guys and not hurt the redshirt and have them give us some depth and that's big.”

On Reakwon Jones stepping into a leadership role after Rutgers win:

“I could tell by his tone that he had something important to share. He had confidence to stand in front of his peers, and he didn't do it in a negative way. He said, you know, it's great to get a road win; they're all important, but we didn't finish. He took it personal, and that's what leaders do.”

“It's always more powerful when it comes from a player so to me that's growth from him, that he is him stepping up as a leader. He's on our leadership council, we meet Monday evenings with the players. I meet with these guys, and I challenged he them last week about some things, and I saw much of that manifest itself throughout the game and in that situation as well. I just think we have said many times with him, he's a junior, yes, but he's young in his playing experience.”

On Dwayne Haskins:

“Quick release. He's big. Very accurate passer, and if he has time he's deadly. He's really, really accurate and got a strong arm. It's a very different challenge that he creates than since I've been here. So just really good football player, and he's not, you know, experienced by any means in terms of multiple years, but he sure plays like he is. He's got a lot of poise and confidence, and he's got a lot of weapons around him.”

On J-Shun’s reemergence in the passing game:

“Making plays, critical third-down catches, several of them, again, and we need him. He's a valid part of our time, and with having Luke and Whop down last week, that was huge for him to step up and that may have to continue, and the whole group is going to have to keep doing that until we get those guys back on track and healthy.
Valuable part of our football team in so many ways and can't be more -- said it before, but I'll say it again, can't be more happy for a kid to be having the success he's having, as hard as he's worked and what he's overcome. It's great to see.”

On any concerns with the offensive line’s ability to create a run game:

“They've got to be more consistent. To me they did some good things in the first half, but it's got to continue. We play for 60 minutes. That's a group that I feel like has got to continue to keep working.
And a lot of it was communication, it was working together on certain calls and adjustments we make up front. I didn't think our running backs did a great job, and our staff would agree of reading our blocks. That happened multiple times in this game more than it's happened the entire season, so working on that, getting those things cleaned up. Those guys are still young back there, that we're relying on to run the football, and really just two true freshmen doing most of the running, at this point.”

On the defense being able to play with Ohio State the entire game:

“I felt like last year we struggled when we had to put some subs in and those guys to be able to play at the level that we were playing at prior to them coming in wasn't able to be sustained, so I just challenged our team when I left practice today about how critical it's going to be that we get as many guys ready as possible to play in this game, to be able to create the depth and the opportunity so guys won't have to play 60, 70, 80 snaps, like they did last year.”