Week Five Media Monday Notebook

Written By Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

Indiana head coach Kevin Wilson met with members of the media mid-day Monday to discuss his team's 33-28 loss to Wake Forest and to preview the matchup with Michigan State in the Battle for the Old Brass Spittoon. Here are some of his quotes from Monday:

Frustrated but we got a lot of talent and it's talent that we gotta get coached, take our performance seriously. Had a good week of practice last week, we're off to a good start with what's going to be a great challenge but we gotta get back on track and we need to fight to win games and it will be a difficult challenge with Michigan State who is a heck of a team. 

Wilson has always taken the past is in the past approach to ugly losses such as Saturday's. Usually, his team's respond well. Remember a week after losing to Bowling Green in 2014, IU knocked off Missouri on the road.

They will get tested with Malik McDowell who is a three technique inside guy. But sometimes that position is not on an island a lot. Brandon Knight is healthy and his play at tackle is probably no different than what Dimitric would have done, Dimitric is a senior and veteran. But Brandon is a talented player so outside of the fact that you lose seniors and the leadership of their presence, I don't think their performance had any issue on the football game. Our ability to run or not run. Wake Forest came in and they are top 13 in the country in run, pass, total and scoring, and we didn't run a lot, but they were giving up 50 or 60 coming in the game because it's a loaded box and we attacked them down the field where we thought we needed to go. So the line play had nothing to do with it, I would like to get those guys back. 

While there were no updates on whether or not Dan Feeney or Dimitric Camiel will be available this week, Wilson does want them back. What coach wouldn't, but he did not make any excuses in the Hoosiers lack of a rushing attack against a very good Wake Forest defense.

(Camion Patrick's) been practicing a couple of weeks. Again, he just needs to -- that's a talented guy, but let's -- he's got to get on the field and prove himself here. He has in other places and he's coming off the injury and sometimes when you've been sitting that long, there is a little rust that sits in and it's knocking the rust off and it was good that he was cleared and got some plays. I think he played a handful, five, six, seven, bigger packages. He's playing outside receiver now and he was looking good at practice today and we'll keep workin' it and see how it goes.

Last week we were worried about who was going to step up at receiver and we had a 200-yard receiver, 100-yard receiver and he will be in the mix to play and we need Donavan Hale and those guys to keep coming.

What has become a weekly tradition in Wilson's press conference, Camion Patrick's role in the offense has yet to be defined. Patrick saw the minimal action last week and is coming off an injury. He is going to be at outside receiver and give the Hoosiers another home run threat over the top when Nick Westbrook and/or Ricky Jones are out of the game.

The Superman x-ray vision, you can't throw a ball -- it's against one of my laws of physics. Laws of physics says a football cannot travel through a person. You know? The quarterback always wants to stick it through there. It don't work. We gotta do a better job with the hands and with our receivers there. We gotta to be a lot tougher. We gotta be a lot more physical, find some run game, take care of the ball, do things that it takes to win, because that team last week they came in and played good team ball. We had some good team stats. They played as a team. They played in all phases as a team and they won the stats that teams need to win games and that's why they got a "W."

Wilson is always good for a hall of fame caliber quote. Last week it involved cooler, this week he was giving lessons of the Laws of Physics. 

On a sad note, Wilson gave some comments on Alison Hoeppner, daughter of the last Terry Hoeppner, who passed away Saturday morning. 

We shared it with the team. My wife was actually driving me to the hotel that morning where the team was and she got a call from one of the coaches' wives. Very sad there. Tough deal. She grew up -- our first recruit for Coach Walker was a young man in Oxford who dated Terry's daughter. So not only was Terry on the staff, but dated her. As a matter of fact, a couple of players from that team hit me with the news, texted me. So just pray for their family. It's tragic. I think a couple of our coaches are tied in with her kids and personally knew her. So it's a tough deal, but we send prayers and love to them.