Notes and Quotes From Tom Allen's Media Monday: Maryland Week

Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

Indiana head coach Tom Allen met with the media for his weekly in-season press conference. Below are the notes and quotes from his press conference ahead of Indiana home game against Maryland.

Notes:

- Wide Receiver Ty Fryfogle Won Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week

- Quarterback Michael Penix was named to the Davey O’Brien Award Great 8

- Indiana’s 12/5 game against Wisconsin is slated to kickoff at 3:30 PM ET

Tom Allen Quotes

Opening Statement:

“Just wanted to say once again, they are just very disappointed in the close loss. Did not play four quarters of our best football and cannot do that against a team of Ohio State's caliber and talent and coaching, all that included. So, we are really proud of our football team for the fight. The character that they showed to get down like that and to just keep fighting back. Even though we had every reason not to, just really feel like that is a sign of a program that is beginning to change and at the core of who you are, it is your foundation. And so, obviously got to do a better job of not putting ourselves in that position. You look at the reasons for the deficit we put ourselves in, we turn the football over there right before halftime. That is pretty critical sequence right before half and they take it down and score and then take the opening kick off of the second half and score. So, that was not good. Created takeaways, which we know we needed to do. Then gave one of those back on that very same play, which is unfortunate. Got to do a great job, have ball security as a defense, once we do get a takeaway. And then, just the inability for us to run the football and not stop the run, kind of the glaring things that stick out to me. But just got to build off of the situation, learn from it and do a better job of being able to start fast and be in a position where we can give ourselves a better chance. So, a lot of positive things to build off of and that is what we are going to choose to focus on.”

On How to Prep For Maryland with all the Questions Around that Game:

“I would say business as usual and we will adjust, if necessary. But, everything we have been given to this point is we are expecting to play.”

On the Slow Starts IU Has Had:

“Just going back and looking at everything that you do in your preparation, which is what we are going to be doing here and been doing this weekend and just trying to find ways to prevent that. You just cannot do that when you are going against this type of team and any team for that matter. But, to be able to overcome those, it gets much more difficult the better the team you play. We go back and you look at every walkthrough, your reps, your practice reps, the attention to detail. We are getting the focus with the plan that we need to be able to generate some of those drive starters, per se, on the offensive side of the football and drive stoppers on defense. To me, those are the key things to be able to get off the field on defense and stay on the field on offense and so, I think a lot of the stuff goes back to creating more manageable third downs, which goes back to running the football, which was a major issue on Saturday. To me, that is really where it starts in my mind, to be able to create more of those opportunities to stay on the field with more manageable third downs. So, looking at everything that we got to do and that process never stops and that is not going to be any different right now. And when things are not where they are supposed to be, you got to fix them.”

On Blitzing More This Season:

“We went through and evaluated, like we always do, every area and try to find what can we do to really take the next step as a program in terms of being able to gain an advantage schematically and structurally and just in the things that we are doing to give our guys the best opportunity for success on game day. So, we've always been an aggressive style of defense here that is not going to change, but at the end of the day it is kind of more the way we are structuring the back end. The pressures have become, maybe a little bit more. I do not know the exact percentage variances compared to the last several years. It is varied at different times, but I do know that the type of coverages we are playing have changed in terms of just the precision of those coverages, is different than it has been in the past. But at the same time, just trying to do everything we can do to give our guys a chance to be successful and just want to create more takeaways. Those are such a big deal for us and anytime you can get your eyes on the quarterback and seeing the ball released increases the chances of those takeaways. So, you got to be able to do that very strategically. You can let some play man and it is a little simpler. But at the same time, against some really, really high-level speed and skill at receiver, that just becomes harder to do that. You just got to win all of those one-on-ones. So, you are just trying to create the best chance for our defense to be successful. So, that has got to continue and we still got several takeaways, which is what we want to be able to do. Just need to capitalize on them. We did not score any points off those takeaways and as I said, one of them we gave back. So, that was something that was the defense's fault for not securing the football but still never took advantage of those and we have been doing that in the previous games and they did. They scored 14 points off their takeaways and we did not. So, that to me, really is probably the stat of the game.”

On Stopping Maryland QB Taulia Tagovailoa:

“He is really good. Very talented quarterback. Very impressed with him. The tape does not lie and he has got a quick release, makes good decisions. As you said, is a dual guy. Can run it and throw it. Very elusive. Is not quite as big as Justin fields body type but very athletic and excellent quarterback. So, I have been very impressed with him and he has got great weapons around him and that has always been the case. They have always had, every year that I have been here, when we played them, their skill talent has been elite and that is no different this year. Anytime a quarterback can beat you with his arm and his legs it is a big concern and so you got to do a tremendous job of containing him. We missed eight opportunities for sacks that we did not get. We got him sacked five times this past Saturday but missed eight, which is just mind blowing. You got to give him credit for being a physically talented, young man but just from angles, to wrap up, to finish, to all those different things, just cannot let a quarterback like that get out when you got a chance to get those negative plays in those situations. So, but yeah, you got another dual guy coming up that is going to put a lot of pressure on our defense.

On the Message of Bouncing Back After a Loss:

“Well, for me it was really about going back to your foundation. Going back to the core principles and what you believe of how you have got to this point as a player, as a program, as a coach and stay true to that. And to me, yeah, even though we did not accomplish our goal on Saturday, that does not alter the process that we go through to recreate what we want on game day, which is a win at the end of the day. So, bottom line is that we are still in that quest for four quarters of our best football. Has not happened yet and it is going to happen. And our goal is it happens on Saturday against Maryland.”

Offensive Coordinator Nick Sheridan Quotes

On the Success of the Big Plays Against Ohio State:

“Certainly, trying to do that. The credit goes to the players for making the plays. The line for protecting and giving Mike enough time, Mike for making the throw and then then the guys on the perimeter making the catches and the run after the catch. So certainly, we are trying. Would love to get 40 yard plays every time we snap the ball, but the credit goes to the players for doing that, and obviously that was super helpful in the game. It allowed us to score some points and move the ball. Each week is a new challenge. This week is a different defense structurally and you know personnel and all those types of things. So, we are certainly trying to be explosive. We do want to throw the ball down the field and sometimes defenses just structurally allow you to do that, and other times they make you throw the ball underneath and you have got to be mindful of that and take what the defense gives you. So, definitely credit to the players for making the plays.

On the Slow Starts Offensively:

“I think relative to this past week's game, for us you know we have played five games now so there is a good amount of data on who we are and the direction we are headed. Our opponent this past week had played three games and two of them really were not competitive in the second half, so you are dealing with a limited amount of data. They have a new defensive coordinator, a new group of players so there is a little bit of an adjustment as far as to see how they are trying to play you. Not that Ohio State was drastically different from what we prepared, but there were some changes, there were some adjustments and so I think that has been something that we just have to work through and deal with and try to make adjustments as we go in the game. Certainly, we are trying to start faster than we have. Some of it is play design, that is my job. Some of it is execution, which is also my job. Making sure that our players can execute well early. But we are definitely trying to score every time we touch the ball. We are not trying to call plays or run plays that do not get yards and get first downs, and I think your point is well taken, and I think that was a factor in the game is that we did not execute at a high enough level for four quarters. Certainly, there were stretches where we felt like we were executing very well and were very productive, but we are chasing a game where we felt like we executed well for four straight quarters, and did not have any lulls in execution or play design or play call or whatever it may be. So, we will continue to go back to work and look at that. Certainly, the production on first and second down allows to move the ball and score points so, coach is spot on with that and we will continue to look at that and how we can improve to be more efficient to allow for us to get first downs and score points.”

On the Performance of the Run Game:

“ I wish it was one thing and certainly if we felt like it was just one thing then we would address that and move forward. First off, I give credit to our opponent. I thought they had a good strong front and they make it difficult at times to run the ball. I knew going into the game that we were going to be a little but more pass, certainly structurally. I felt like that was our best opportunity to move the ball, and we did get down in the game and so it did lend itself to be even more of a throw game than we probably anticipated but when you look at the run plays there were not that many of them. We snapped a ball over the quarterback's head early in the game, does not help, and then just structurally you look at all sorts of things you know. I told the offensive staff yesterday principles are set in stone but methods are not, and of there are things that we feel like we can do whether it is fundamentals schematically, formationally whatever it may be to be more creative to create better angles and leverages for our players so that we can have a better run game than we did on Saturday then we are open to that, and we are exploring any and all options, because I think our strength is throwing the ball. Yet you want to be able to control the game, you have to have a run game to do that. You still have to be able to; I just did not feel like we controlled the game as well as we had in the previous weeks, and even though we did not run the ball super productively int eh previous two weeks we were better and were able to possess the ball a little bit better, and we just were not able to do that on Saturday. So, you know that is my responsibility and it all falls on my shoulders to make sure we are putting our players in the best position to be successful. Whether that is matchups, schemes, leverages, formations, personnel, whatever it maybe we have got to find a way to do better and that is my job and I obviously did not do a good enough job of that on Saturday.”

Defensive Coordinator Kane Wommack Quotes

On the Missed Sacks on Saturday:

“I think it is a combination of both obviously. To get five sacks is something we knew we had to do in the game, but we did not necessarily know we were going to get that many opportunities. Obviously, I called the game pretty aggressive. We felt like we needed to close in on him and give him some different windows and pictures on the back end. And so, I think it is a combination of his athleticism and our ability to execute better. But there is a standard that we set here, regardless of who we go against and certainly Ohio State is the gold standard right now, and Justin Fields, in terms of escape-ability from a quarterback, there are very few that I have gone against that are equal. Maybe Johnny Manziel when were at Ole Miss in terms of his escape-ability. But we have got to do a better job as we get to our approach to be in position to get him down now. Good players are going to make plays on both sides of the ball, but I thought if you look at the outcome of the game and the way we called it, we knew we were going to give up some yards, but when we got them to those second down situations or third down situations, we needed one or two more of those sacks to change the outcome of the game, and if you look, there are some critical points where I thought we could have done that and did not.”

On the Aggressiveness of the Defense:

“I thought each game plan and the personnel, this is such personnel driven league, what you have to stop and who you have to take away. At the same time, we know we are always going to try to affect the quarterback and the passing game. This team was a pretty heavy drop back passing team on first and second down, and so we were certainly pretty aggressive with what we did. The difference is where we have been in the past when we brought pressure, that meant basically playing man-to-man coverage out on the back end, and we did almost none of that in this game. So, we were as aggressive as we may have seen on film and it was. We, from a coverage standpoint on the back end, did some things where we played more vision-oriented coverages, and some cover two windows and cover three windows, and that is really what we have been able to do all season long. To me, I think I mentioned this to you guys before, our ability to "pressure" while still playing some base coverages on the back end has changed us, in terms of our production, both in takeaways and negative plays and sacks.”

On the Tackling Issues Against Ohio State:

“I thought that was the difference in the outcome of the game. When we had our opportunities to either get Fields down in the backfield or we missed some critical tackles in the run game. There are very explosive plays in the run more, so Fields was the difference in the game in my opinion. We knew we were going to give up a couple of runs. They had 50 rushing attempts and we gave up eight explosive runs for like 210 yards out of those. Now those are Fields, he's half of those. But that to me, you know, their other 42 attempts we hold them to just under 100 yards rushing. That part obviously is good, but when you look at his ability to escape the pocket and create things and extend drives for them, ultimately, they scored in the second quarter, was the difference in the outcome of the game for us. So, I think the number was like 13 missed tackles on top of it, but eight missed sack opportunities is a big deal.”

QB Michael Penix Quotes

On Completing Passes Under Pressure From Ohio State’s Defense:

“That is just how I have always played. I know that at the quarterback position you have got to be poised, you have got to be calm. You have got to just control everything that is going on the offensive side of the ball. I cannot show that I am rattled, because the quarterback cannot show that he is rattled because it sends a message to the rest of the offense that you do not want to have. So, I just tried my best to stay calm under pressure and just deliver strikes every time I get the opportunity. I know I have got great play makers out there on the outside, so I that if I put the ball in the air, one of them is going to go get it. So, I really believe in them, I really trust them and I just go out there and play and just have fun.”