Notes and Quotes From Media Monday (Georgia Southern)

Indiana will face off against Georgia Southern on Saturday Image: Sarah Miller HoosierHuddle.com

By David Sugarman (@David_Sugarman2)

Notes

IU will wear “Hep’s Rock” alternate uniforms this Saturday vs Georgia Southern to honor former IU head coach Terry Hoeppner on the 10-year anniversary of his passing.

It was announced that Indiana’s game against Penn State on September 30th will kickoff at 3:30 on the Big Ten Network.

Injury News

Right tackle Brandon Knight is expected to play this weekend.

Right guard Simon Stepaniak had an unspecified injury through the first two games, but Allen expects him to play on Saturday.

Quotes

Tom Allen:

Georgia Southern runs a triple-option and Allen said they’ve been preparing for it since the Spring.

“We started working in the Spring when we knew that we were playing them, just to be able to work on different facets of it that they are going to present. They run out of the shotgun which is different than some, but it creates similar challenges.

So we just have to -- you can't just do it in a couple days. So we've been working on them in the spring and then a little bit in the fall camp. You know, with the creative bye week, we have a chance to get some extra reps against that style last week, as well. It was good.”

Allen touched on the fact that IU has zero takeaways through the first two games.

“We felt like we created two this past game and lost both of those with penalties.

So I think that the first week, maybe the style of what they were doing and the way we defended them didn't create as much negative plays, and that's what I think often creates those takeaway situations. I've learned they come in groups, so we've been real close on several. Had the ball on the ground.

In my mind, we could have had three last week. The ball was fumbled and we had a certain call on that allowed us to move our nose away. I think we have any other call on, except for that very one, he would have fallen on the ball because it laid on the ground for awhile. Felt like I needed to go out there and jump on it; seemed like it was out there for so long.

But that one call we had, just happened to be the one when they fumbled the snap. So our opportunities will come. We just have to continue to play hard, not all bent out of shape about that, but we keep emphasizing for sure. But I just have learned over time that they will -- they kind of come and come in groups.”

With an extra week to prepare for Georgia Southern, Allen talked about what he approached differently from the first two games.

“Well, I would just say from a schematic perspective, you always go back and evaluate your first couple of weeks and see the things that you feel like you're good at and you want to kind of grow certain areas.

I would just say you kind of go through and based on how your players are playing and what you're doing well, or maybe not doing as well, you kind of cut out and add to.

So I thought that this gave us a great chance to kind of lay the foundation for some things that we want to be able to do in the future schematically, and even some personnel, just try and get guys -- continue to get guys in positions to be able to help our football team, whether it's in special teams or offense, defense.”

With IU honoring Terry Hoeppner, Allen spoke about his memories of the former IU coach and what it meant to honor him.

“Well, just as a friend of our family, and he and my dad go back with Coach Faught at Franklin, they both played for him, and that was really the connection that I had with him and when I first got to know him when he was actually coaching at Franklin when I was younger.

So just a ton of respect for him and as he went to Miami and then I went to coach at Ben Davis, we always went to Miami to their seven-on-sevens every summer, and met with their coaching staffs. He was their defensive coordinator when I first met him professionally, and met with him and so we ran a very similar scheme.”

“So loved what he was doing here. Thought he was really doing some great things and just really tragically cut short. Just really want to make sure and we did a big deal with our players in fall camp and I just want to make sure they understand who he is and often times younger individuals don't really know as much about him, so we brought in some -- we had someone come in and speak and talk about him and just talk about who he was and what he was doing here.

I just want our players to never forget and to have a great understanding of his history and what he means to our program.”

Allen spoke to Peyton Ramsey’s confidence and the back and forth between Ramsey and Lagow.

“Yeah, I think he's just kind of taking off where he left the game and brought that into the game against Virginia and played well. But I've seen him do it a lot in practice.

So just once again, those two guys are competing. You know, iron sharpens iron; make each other better, every single day, and that's what we want from all positions, especially at a position like quarterback.”

Allen was asked about the Georgia Southern QB Shai Werts and had praise for the neophyte.

“Well, tremendous athleticism at that position, very, very fast. Young player, as you mentioned, as a redshirt freshman. Has not had a lot of game experience.

But the film quickly shows what kind of athlete he is and that's the case across the board. They have on special teams, their defense, they definitely -- we saw tremendous speed from Ohio State, and so not going to put them at that level but for sure, they have a lot of speed and a lot of very good athletes and he's definitely one of them. They want the ball in his hand and that's what their offense is made for.”