What Tom Allen Said After Indiana's 21-14 Loss to Louisville
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00:00 - Just want to start by our hearts are heavy
00:05 and the loss of Marty Clark from our program
00:08 and university with such a tough battle.
00:12 Last couple of years, he's such a fighter
00:13 and prayers for his family and just really
00:16 want to be there for them during this tough time.
00:19 He's a very, very special person.
00:21 Just proud of our football team to be able,
00:26 but you got to play two halves of football.
00:27 So disappointed in our first half performance,
00:30 gave him some big plays by our defense
00:32 and too many self-inflicted wounds offensively
00:35 in the first half.
00:36 And, but man, just proud of our team's fight
00:39 to be able to, I really didn't have any momentum
00:42 going into halftime and the guys bowed up
00:45 and showed a lot of fight to be able to shut them out
00:48 in the second half and give ourselves a chance
00:51 offensively to win the game.
00:52 So just proud of that.
00:54 Got a lot of work to do.
00:56 Got a young quarterback that obviously can make plays
00:59 and is growing up and it's going to be some growing pains
01:01 with that, but at the same time,
01:03 I think you can see what he can become.
01:05 So I've got to build our team around the positives
01:09 and continue to battle and fight
01:11 because this team has character
01:12 and we just got to get better.
01:14 Questions?
01:15 - Back in front in that room.
01:16 No mics.
01:17 - I guess, Tate, first performance
01:19 I don't think the second half statistically
01:21 probably a little bit better than the first half,
01:22 but just before you can watch film,
01:24 just maybe what did you feel for him on the sideline?
01:27 Is it that he grew into that game?
01:29 - Yeah, I think there's no question.
01:31 You can see him growing up throughout it.
01:34 There's things that happen that you don't always see,
01:37 especially in the first half,
01:38 just mistakes being young with the clock
01:42 and different formations and checks
01:44 and seeing guys in motion, things like that.
01:45 But those will continue to get better and better.
01:49 But I just love the fact that he just makes plays
01:53 and he's able to create, extend plays,
01:56 eyes downfield, finding receivers.
01:59 Those are things you can't teach that.
02:01 That's just instinctual things that he has.
02:04 He's got a lot of confidence,
02:05 a lot of moxie that I've said from day one.
02:08 That's one of his strengths.
02:09 And so those things are showing up
02:11 and we're just trying to find a way
02:13 to move us down the field.
02:15 We just got to, like I said,
02:16 we got to play two halves of football.
02:17 That's really the bottom line.
02:18 - Yeah, we run the left and like this.
02:20 - Hey, coach.
02:21 - You guys scored more than about one play
02:23 or you know, one play,
02:24 the fourth goal with a one foot in mind.
02:26 - Yeah.
02:27 - You guys called timeout.
02:28 Hindsight's always 20/20,
02:29 but what was the discussion on the sideline?
02:30 Just your thoughts on what you guys ran?
02:32 - Yeah, you could have, you run a quarterback sneak
02:34 or run, you know, your base power play or whatever.
02:36 And so we obviously chose to run, you know, not to sneak.
02:39 And so, yeah, you obviously, since it didn't work,
02:41 you'd want to run the other one.
02:42 We scored previously on the other one.
02:43 So, but you know, you, yeah, didn't work.
02:47 So, you obviously wish you would have done something else.
02:50 I think that's how, you know,
02:52 we all would think the same exact way,
02:53 but that's, I don't second guess that.
02:56 I mean, goodness, you guys just execute.
02:57 I mean, so you've got the ball in the six inch line,
02:59 you know, knock them off the football and go score.
03:01 So I don't care what you call.
03:03 If you're running a football,
03:04 now if you do something that's got a little riskiness to it,
03:06 you just, you know, but we didn't execute it obviously.
03:09 And that's frustrating,
03:10 but that's the one I'm sure everybody's going to focus on,
03:13 but there's a lot of other variables leading up to that.
03:15 But, but yeah, since the play didn't work,
03:17 I wish we would have called something else,
03:18 but I'm not going to, my love, love our coaches, love our team.
03:22 We just got to keep battling.
03:23 Mike, you mentioned about playing two halves.
03:26 Did you know kind of going into halftime,
03:28 you feel like you need to get the spark,
03:29 put the hot side, call this,
03:30 and then you get to the locker room,
03:32 you'd say, I know we got to do this,
03:33 or can you kind of take us to the first half?
03:35 Yeah.
03:37 Yeah, I was, I was disappointed that we did.
03:39 And we actually moved the ball.
03:40 We just, we kind of, I thought we hurt ourselves
03:43 offensively with self-inflicted mistakes.
03:47 And then I thought defensively,
03:48 we just gave up some big plays that just can't,
03:50 you can't do that, you know?
03:51 So that was the frustration from the first half.
03:53 I didn't think we didn't defend the run very well
03:55 in the first half either.
03:56 But yeah, even, even as the half was ending, you know,
04:01 which is why I chose to not go forward on fourth down there
04:04 and just pump the ball, get out of the half and regroup,
04:08 because I was planning on, you know,
04:10 kicking on sidekick to start the second half.
04:12 Cause I knew we had to kick off and we knew we had that,
04:15 we thought we had a shot to get it if it was,
04:17 if the opportunity presented itself.
04:19 So, so yeah, that was something that we,
04:21 we went in half time and already made that decision
04:24 with them probably being in there
04:25 for about one or two minutes.
04:26 (indistinct)
04:27 Yes.
04:28 Yeah, we actually had repped it two previous times that week.
04:31 And that's one of those deals where I have,
04:33 I have a situation with KCSA.
04:35 If we're going to do something like that,
04:37 I got to see her execute in practice.
04:39 So if we, if we hadn't done it well in practice,
04:41 I wouldn't have called it.
04:42 But he did, we were two for two in practice.
04:45 So now we're three for three.
04:47 - Same thing, right at the bottom.
04:49 - Coach, the big plays were limited in the second half.
04:52 What was he adjusting there to the defensive back?
04:55 (indistinct)
04:57 - Well, I disciplined, you know,
05:00 one of our young corners was, was the first culprit.
05:03 And I think it's just, you know,
05:04 he bid on, on a play fake and he's playing deep third,
05:08 which can't happen.
05:09 So, but you know, that's, you know,
05:11 learning from his mistake in the first half was huge.
05:14 And then just really, really emphasizing eyes, eyes, eyes,
05:18 you know, so we made some adjustments
05:20 and some calls at halftime.
05:22 I thought coach did a really good job at halftime,
05:24 getting some good adjustments on both sides of the ball.
05:26 But to me, it was more about just executing
05:28 what we're doing, you know, and if you're,
05:30 'cause every coverage has levels to it.
05:32 And if you're the guy that's supposed to be on top,
05:33 then you better have that discipline executed or else
05:37 you're going to give up those double moves
05:39 or the play action passes.
05:40 So, but did some things up in the front area too,
05:44 to help us on the run game.
05:45 So I thought coach did a good job making adjustments
05:48 as well as coach Bell.
05:49 - I'll go to the right at the top.
05:51 - Excuse me, you've been asked this already,
05:53 but what are your thoughts about the decision
05:55 to cancel the rest of this series?
05:57 - Well, I would just say that in the last six months,
06:03 the Big 10 has changed a lot.
06:06 And we've added four teams to this conference
06:10 that has changed the landscape of the Big 10.
06:13 And I believe that, you know, we have to adjust accordingly.
06:17 And to me, that's just, we have to do what's best
06:20 for our football program.
06:21 - Todd and Seth, pass rush was improved in the second half.
06:26 Where do you think unlocked that?
06:27 And what do you think had it locked in the first place?
06:29 - Yeah, they do a really good job at this.
06:32 You know, I was very frustrated with the lack
06:34 of that being acknowledged, you know.
06:36 So we tried to just keep fighting through it.
06:38 We did some, we called some more things
06:41 on some second downs to give us a better chance
06:43 to get a pass rush in those play action situations.
06:45 But, you know, we got a really good pass rusher,
06:48 number one, and I think his jersey right now
06:50 is like ripped almost in half.
06:51 So, but don't recall ever seeing anything with that.
06:55 But that's a frustrating thing,
06:57 but you just gotta keep playing.
06:58 And I just handle that with those.
07:00 But we tried to do some things to do a better job
07:04 of keeping edges, you know.
07:05 A couple of times he's rolled out and lost containment,
07:07 which is, you know, just can't happen.
07:09 And that last third down was just a mistake
07:11 by our back side guy, not containing the quarterback.
07:13 If he does, it's a throw away or a sack.
07:15 We get the ball back at least for a shot anyway.
07:17 So, but I thought we did a better job
07:19 of securing the edges in the second half.
07:21 - Seth, you write to Jack Tenkatz this day for JLN.
07:24 This is really the first time, you know,
07:25 most we've really seen his impact on the receiving game
07:28 and that out.
07:29 Like, how do you feel like he handled that today?
07:30 And, you know, how have you kind of grown from that?
07:32 - Well, we've worked hard on that this off season
07:35 for him in that role.
07:36 And I just continue to see that being a focus for him
07:40 to get in the ball and space
07:41 and to try and do a good job with that.
07:43 But as with all of our guys, but yeah,
07:45 they're just, you try to maximize an individual's talent
07:48 and what he can do and getting him the ball
07:50 in space is important.
07:51 And whether it's handing it to him or throwing it to him.
07:53 So he's, like I said, works really hard on that.
07:55 And we're going to continue to emphasize that.
07:57 - Jack, can you write to Don?
07:59 - I guess it could have been easy for this game
08:01 to get out of hand, but how were you able
08:02 to keep the guys locked in?
08:04 I guess the flip side of that,
08:05 how do you deal with a play like that?
08:08 - Yeah, well, the first part, you know, we,
08:10 I think it speaks to the character of our guys.
08:13 They fought, you know, I challenged them at halftime
08:14 to see, you know, we get a chance to see who we are
08:16 as a football program and as a team,
08:18 you know, 'cause every team's different, you know,
08:19 I believe in the core values of our program,
08:21 but with all the new faces we have,
08:23 I want to see these guys fight through adversity,
08:26 fight through hard things,
08:26 even if sometimes you create them yourself.
08:29 But, you know, how you respond in a game is important
08:32 and our guys bowed up and fought.
08:33 So that's a good sign.
08:35 And then to me, just, man, we had a great week of practice,
08:38 expect us to play well.
08:40 Just disappointed that we didn't, you know,
08:42 sometimes it's schematic things that you do give up
08:45 and then you continue to do that.
08:47 They give, you know, some new looks
08:49 or whatever things that you didn't expect.
08:51 But at the same time, I felt like we were ready.
08:53 I just didn't think we didn't execute consistently
08:54 on either side of the ball.
08:56 It's an increase key situation, third downs on defense.
08:58 And then just overall offensively in the first half
09:01 to be able to finish those drives.
09:02 We had some good drives.
09:03 We didn't finish those drives
09:04 to at least try and get some field goals
09:05 and not be down by 21 at halftime.
09:07 So, but, you know, it's, you know,
09:11 when you got a new group like we have
09:12 and so many new faces,
09:13 just for them to be able to battle through
09:16 and fight to the finish was encouraging.
09:18 We just got to play, play, play four quarters.
09:21 - John, on your left, Zach, last one.
09:23 - Coach, in the first half,
09:24 Lugo kind of got whatever they wanted in the second half.
09:27 You guys did a good job of stopping that attack.
09:30 How did Aaron Casey play a big part in that?
09:32 How was he and the rest of the linebackers
09:33 before having to kind of go together?
09:35 - Yeah, so to me, it was just, you know,
09:37 some schematic adjustments at halftime,
09:39 called some different things
09:41 just to try to take away the things
09:43 that they were doing well in the first half.
09:45 A couple of them was tackling.
09:46 It just didn't, we missed a few tackles
09:47 in the first half as well that you can't do.
09:50 They got two good, two good running backs, you know?
09:51 So it was a combination of schematic adjustments
09:54 as well as our guys just wrapping up better
09:56 and running their feet through contact.
09:57 So Aaron Casey is obviously a huge part of that.
09:59 He continues to play well.
10:00 We just got to, you know,
10:01 we just can't give up big plays,
10:02 whether it's in the run game or in the throw game,
10:04 and especially in the pass game in the first half.
10:06 But it starts up front,
10:08 you got to stop the run
10:09 and got to be able to read and react from there.
10:12 - Zach, last one.
10:13 - I guess just to back up,
10:14 I think he's taken one sack in three games.
10:16 I recognize he rotated a little bit in the first two,
10:19 but it felt, at least just watching,
10:21 like he was good at sort of sliding away from pressure.
10:23 Again, how good is maybe his feel,
10:24 or how much has his feel progressed
10:27 in the pocket for you as a passer?
10:28 - Yeah, and I think that's hard to teach that.
10:30 I think there's a lot of instinctual components to that,
10:33 that a guy has a pocket presence to him
10:35 that he can feel, you know,
10:36 as he knows where to step up to.
10:38 And Coach Bell does a good job
10:39 of teaching a lot of those things.
10:40 But just from my experience,
10:42 that the guy that has the ability
10:46 to just feel it instinctually is pretty special.
10:49 So he seems to have that, which is great,
10:52 and take some stress off the O-line as well,
10:54 but not to be as perfect in those situations.
10:57 But it's obviously important to keep him protected.
10:59 And it's been a big objective for us to do that.
11:02 So we're doing a solid job of that right now.
11:04 We just gotta continue to get better at it
11:05 so we can give him clean pocket,
11:07 'cause we obviously have receivers that can make plays,
11:09 and there's several of them.
11:10 We just gotta continue to help him grow.
11:12 So I think he's a very talented quarterback,
11:14 and he's a really good football player.
11:15 And I think, like I said before,
11:16 he's only gonna get better.
11:19 Appreciate you, have a great day, Elio.