Indiana Offensive Coordinator Walt Bell Recaps Win Over Akron
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 Walt, a similar question that the pack of us had for Tom.
00:05 I mean, when you looked at the film, what was your evaluation of it?
00:10 What was the percentage of things that you saw that were kind of execution-based
00:15 versus play-calling versus scheme? What was your assessment of that?
00:19 Yeah, I mean, I think everybody sitting in this room knows it wasn't very good
00:23 and it wasn't good enough.
00:26 So, I think if you just start talking the ills of the game or the things that
00:34 weren't great, you know, I mean, you know, I think sometimes the word execution
00:42 can be a word that gets used to kind of pass the buck to the guys that are
00:47 actually on the field and that's never the case.
00:50 But just in terms of like the things that were – we know we have to –
00:53 obviously the short yards goal line, especially coming off Louisville,
00:56 how much time that was invested in that, we have to be better there.
01:00 I mean, I grew up with a high school head coach that probably like everybody
01:05 else is a high school head coach.
01:07 If you can't get a yard, you don't deserve to win, you know.
01:09 And we had two or three chances to put the game away in short yard situations
01:12 and didn't do that.
01:13 I'd say number two in terms of like things that we have to improve on
01:18 or ills of that game, pass protection.
01:20 A lot of the time, and it wasn't necessarily getting beat,
01:23 now they were doing a lot of stuff.
01:25 You know, we knew that going in, they were going to be very exotic, very –
01:28 it's probably the most complex defense that we've seen just in terms of pass
01:32 protection.
01:33 We had a couple misses in pass protection from a marking standpoint,
01:38 which we haven't really had this year up until that point.
01:42 And then number three, I'd say third down.
01:44 So, you know, we were going into the game, we were 12-12 on third
01:49 and short, you know, we were 100% on third and short for the year.
01:52 We were, you know, like 50% going into the game on third down,
01:58 playing good on third down.
02:00 And the first down efficiency wasn't real bad either, you know,
02:02 which we had more longs than we liked, but not too many of them.
02:05 And just we were really poor on third down, you know.
02:09 And so in terms of the three things where you say, all right,
02:11 we have to see market improvement if we're going to be who we say we're going
02:14 to be, those would be the three areas.
02:16 Coach, how would you describe the identity of the offense right now?
02:23 And do you feel like you have an identity that can consistently move the ball
02:27 and score points?
02:28 Well, I mean, from an identity standpoint, we're a run first football team.
02:31 There's going to be an option element to it because of that,
02:34 there's going to be play action.
02:35 You know, and then every week it's going to be doing everything we can to make
02:39 sure that Taven is a young guy, is comfortable and can find completions.
02:42 You know, in the first two weeks I felt like we did that.
02:46 You know, if you go back, you know, because again, when you go into a game,
02:50 you got to get at least what you want, you know.
02:53 And going into the Ohio State game we know we wanted to snap it 60 times or
02:55 less, we wanted to possess the football, we wanted to keep that thing as close,
03:00 as long as humanly possible.
03:03 And for three quarters we did that.
03:06 You know, now probably played that game too close to the vest too long, you
03:10 know, but we kept staying within one possession, we want to make that thing a
03:13 long, grueling fight.
03:15 We go into the second game, we're playing, you know, a one to play football
03:19 team and that thing kind of executes the way it does.
03:22 We go into the third game, same thing, we want to possess the ball.
03:24 You know, we want to put Taven in a position and really in his first start to
03:28 have success, he completed seven or seven of his balls.
03:30 Again, we don't finish drives, you know.
03:32 But we're getting what we want from a -- the intent to win the game, but we're
03:39 not playing well enough right now.
03:41 You know, and so we're going to be a run first football team, you know, that
03:45 has an option element to it, you know, so we can at least get our hats back,
03:49 you know, and there's going to be heavy play action as a part of that
03:51 component, that's who we're going to be.
03:53 Pete on your left and then Ken.
03:55 Well, with Christian Turner got a chance to really kind of showcase a little bit
03:59 of what he can do, just maybe assess the way he has played and what you're
04:02 looking for from him the rest of the way.
04:04 Yeah, I mean, no, Christian's a really good football player, you know, and it's
04:07 been really unfortunate for him that he's just, you know, he's had a little bit
04:12 of the injury bug, you know, nothing super serious, but enough, whether it be
04:16 spring football now, but, you know, he's as healthy as he can be, you know, right
04:20 now, and he's a hard runner, you know, he levels off his pads, he's a really
04:25 conscientious, like, practice player, like everything that you ask him to do.
04:29 Now, does that mean he's perfect on game day?
04:31 Nobody is.
04:32 But, you know, he's a really good football player who's worked really
04:35 diligently to earn the right to play, so, you know, especially with Josh being
04:39 down for a little bit, you know, I mean, he's the guy that's going to get, you
04:42 know, a lion's share of those reps.
04:44 Coach, your offense over the past year plus has produced four games in which
04:50 you've scored more than three touchdowns in regulation, two of those were against
04:54 FCS opponents.
04:55 What do you do to, I guess, get rid of that limit for this offense that hasn't
05:01 been very effective for the past year plus?
05:04 Yeah, we got to be better.
05:06 I mean, that's a really loaded question.
05:08 We got to block better, we got to run better, we got to catch better, I got to
05:11 call better plays, we got to be better.
05:13 Zach and Jeff.
05:18 I know you talk about putting him in positions to succeed, but at the same
05:21 time, especially maybe after the fact, because I recognize it's maybe more
05:25 difficult in game, but after the fact, where do you challenge a young
05:28 quarterback like Taven to learn from a game like this in terms of maybe some of
05:31 what he did well?
05:32 And obviously, maybe what just he couldn't quite get the offense into.
05:37 Just where do you need him to sort of grow up, I guess, from a game like this?
05:41 I think the biggest learning lesson, obviously, preparation is always a huge
05:45 part of it, and that doesn't necessarily mean that he did not prepare.
05:48 I mean, Taven works hard, he does everything he has to do, he practices the
05:51 right way, he invests extra time the right way.
05:55 I mean, just from a preparation standpoint, there's always room to grow.
06:00 And again, I just want to reiterate, that's not an attack on him, because he
06:03 does everything that you could ever want and more as a guy from a preparation
06:07 standpoint.
06:10 There are certain plays in the game where, settle him for a check down, make
06:14 an easy throw, not trying to do too much.
06:18 I don't want to necessarily say he's trying to be a hero, because he's not.
06:21 He's trying to play within the confines of the offense, but just making routine
06:26 plays as opposed to having to make some of the special ones.
06:29 The great thing for him is every rep is a very, very, very valuable rep for him
06:37 moving forward, so he'll get better every week.
06:42 Morning, Coach.
06:43 Hey, I just want to go back to the play calling.
06:45 Obviously, it's a hot topic in the fan base right now.
06:47 So, if you had a mulligan, is there anything you would go back and change
06:51 about the play calling in your first four games of this season?
06:55 I mean, if you go to Ohio State, knowing that we got what we won out of the
07:01 first half of the football game, probably would have been more aggressive going
07:04 in the second half.
07:05 But again, you had two true freshman quarterbacks, so as long as we could
07:08 minimize those guys early in that game, that was the thought going into it.
07:15 Second game was what it was.
07:20 Louisville, if we just finished drives better.
07:23 At the end of the day, if we score on fourth and one from the one, we win the
07:28 game and everybody's really happy.
07:30 And so, I think last game, if we just connect dots on Donnie Mack there,
07:41 that could be a completely different game.
07:43 We got a guy wide open running on the sideline, don't connect dots.
07:48 You get – you have some execution issues on the goal line the first time, get
07:54 zero points.
07:55 The second time, you have to settle for a field goal from the one-yard line.
07:59 I mean, if those are two touchdowns, you know that game probably – everybody
08:02 probably feels pretty differently about it.
08:04 But that's the great thing about this game, you don't get mulligans.
08:08 You know, you don't get to go back.
08:09 You don't – you know, you don't get those.
08:13 You know, and that's part of our profession.
08:15 So.
08:16 [Inaudible]
08:23 No, I mean, I think as you guys know as the game goes, I mean, it was a lot of
08:27 bracket, a lot of people moving when he moved, a lot of people chasing him
08:30 around.
08:32 You know, and then also knowing that he had to play more running back without
08:37 Josh for the first time.
08:38 You know, and so he was in the backfield a little bit more.
08:40 But, you know, as we get the other backs up to speed, I mean, he'll be all over
08:44 the place coming up this next week.
08:46 Mike from the left.
08:50 Yeah, you know, with the game getting out so late, do you – does that change
08:54 your routine kind of over the next 12 to 24 hours?
08:57 You got that stays up late or gets up early?
08:59 And how much, you know, for you, you could kind of hear it in your voice, you
09:02 know, take this seriously.
09:04 How does a loss like that hurt more or linger more for you?
09:07 Like how do you kind of flush that out?
09:09 Or when you watch the film, does that help?
09:11 You talking about Akron?
09:13 We won the game, we didn't lose.
09:15 Okay, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
09:18 Well, no, I've been a part of – and the reason I say that, and I don't mean
09:21 that, yeah, I've been – you know, I was in North Carolina, we lost to East
09:25 Carolina.
09:27 You know, I was – I've been at Oklahoma State and we were top five in the
09:29 country and lost to, you know, a bad G5 team.
09:33 You know, and so like, especially, I mean, you guys know my career.
09:37 I mean, I've been at a place where it's really, really, really hard to win.
09:40 You know, and so like, as bad as we played, there's been times in my life I
09:47 would have given anything, no matter how bad it looked, just to have a chance to
09:50 win.
09:52 You know, and so, no.
09:54 Now, in terms of routine, absolutely not.
09:56 You know, I got home about 3 o'clock, got up at 5.30, came to work.
09:59 So, you sleep less.
10:01 You know, and that, and I got a, you know, five-day old, so you get 10, 12 hours
10:05 of sleep over a five or six-day period, you'll be all right, you'll survive.
10:08 You'll sleep when you're dead, man.
10:12 You mentioned earlier red zone trouble.
10:14 I'm curious, from your perspective, the root causes of those so far and maybe
10:20 for you, like, kind of where do you take it from here trying to improve?
10:24 Yeah, I mean, root cause.
10:28 I mean, I could specifically go play by play, you know, but I'm not going to do
10:32 that.
10:34 I mean, at the end of the day, we have to do our jobs well.
10:38 It's ultimately my responsibility that our players do their job well, you know,
10:44 and so I'm not going to sit up here and talk play by play and, you know, try to
10:49 pass blame on somebody else.
10:51 It's my job to make them execute at a high level.
10:53 You know, that's what Coach Allen has employed me to do, you know, and so we've
10:56 got to do that.
10:58 Mason and Jack, you got three plus one.
11:02 Kind of curious, going back to last year, I remember you guys talking about not
11:06 wanting to put too much on Jaylon Lucas as he was kind of coming along with his
11:09 youth and everything and kind of getting him implemented into the offense.
11:12 Same question this year with Taven Jackson, four weeks in now.
11:16 How comfortable do you feel he is in the offense and what kind of freedoms does
11:19 he have, does he not have, that he still needs to work towards?
11:22 Yeah, I mean, you know, within the system he has all the freedom that he needs,
11:27 you know, and that's typically most of the throw game, you know, especially, you
11:30 know, before last game he was completing, what, 72?
11:33 I mean, he's like the second in the Big Ten in completion percentage or whatever
11:37 he was going into last game.
11:40 You know, and so the majority of the throw game he's always going to have, you
11:43 know, complete control of, you know, yes/no or compliment sides, you know, in
11:46 terms of what he sees.
11:48 That's just kind of how we're built.
11:50 In terms of the run game, you know, there are some, you know, things that he can
11:56 handle on his own.
11:58 We try not to put all that on his plate, you know, at this age, just so, you
12:01 know, the throw game is enough, pass protection is enough, you also need to
12:04 add the element of, you know, the entirety of the run game too.
12:08 We're just, you know, got to be patient there, but that will come.
12:11 But, no, he's in terms of system comfort, you know, in terms of knowing what's
12:16 called, seeing the pictures in his head, I think he's right where he needs to be
12:19 at this age and it will only improve with time.
12:21 Last one to Jack.
12:23 Yeah, you mentioned wanting to be a run first team.
12:25 How is that impacted by Josh being out and does that change anything about the
12:31 way you want to run things or maybe personnel or anything like that?
12:34 Yeah, I think, you know, with Trent and Josh and Jalen and Christian, you know,
12:41 you've got four really good backs.
12:43 You know, I think where, you know, Josh gives you your biggest advantage, you
12:51 know, is not only the run game but also marking and pass protection.
12:54 You know, there's some things where he does a really phenomenal job.
12:59 And a lot of those jobs aren't necessarily noticed, you know, by the majority of
13:04 the fan base or even, you know, the people watching the game.
13:07 But, you know, I think from a run game standpoint, schematically it's not going
13:11 to change very much because we've got other good players.
13:14 It's not like there's this giant drop off of, you know, all of a sudden, you
13:17 know, there is no run game.
13:18 We've got to be an empty.
13:19 We've got to do -- it's got to be quarterback run games.
13:21 You know, we're not in that position yet.
13:24 You know, but Josh has definitely missed and we hope to get him back soon.
13:27 We'll get them back soon.