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Game Thread: 11/14 @ MSU Noon ABC

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Setting The Scene
• No. 10/10 Indiana (3-0, 3-0 B1G East) travels to Spartan Stadium (Natural Grass) to face Michigan State (1-2, 1-2 B1G East) on Saturday, Nov. 14. Kickoff is set for noon EDT on ABC.
• The Old Brass Spittoon has been awarded to the IU-MSU victor since its inception in 1950. (more on page 2)
• The Hoosiers are ranked in both national polls for the third-straight week, sitting at No. 10 in the Associated Press Top 25 and at No. 10 in the Amway Coaches Poll presented by USA Today Sports.
• Indiana is ranked in the Top 10 for the first time since a No. 10 ranking in the AP Poll on Sept. 22, 1969.
• IU is 3-0 to start Big Ten play for the fourth time overall and the fist time since 1988. 
• The Hoosiers opened 3-0 in 1988, 4-0 in 1987, and 5-0 in 1967.
• Indiana is 11-5 overall and 8-4 in conference play since the start of the 2019 campaign.
• IU has won four-straight Big Ten games and eight of its last 10. This marks the most successful stretch in conference games since a 9-2 mark from Oct. 3, 1987-Oct. 21, 1988.
• The Hoosiers have won four of their last five Big Ten road contests, their best run since 1967-68 (6-of-7).
• Indiana's 38-21 victory over No. 23/25 Michigan was its first over the Wolverines since Oct. 24, 1987 (14-10).
• IU's 36-35, overtime win against No. 8 Penn State in the season opener was the sixth against a Top-10 opponent in program history, with the last coming at No. 9 Ohio State (31-10) on Oct. 10, 1987.
• It marked the Hoosiers first Top-10 victory at Memorial Stadium since Nov. 25, 1967 (No. 3 Purdue, 19-14).
• For the first time in program history, Indiana has defeated both Penn State and Michigan in the same season.
• IU has defeated two ranked teams for the sixth time in school history and for the first time since 2004. The 1945 team holds the program record with three ranked wins in one year.
• Redshirt sophomore Michael Penix Jr. was named to the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award's Great 8 list and a Manning Award Star of the Week following the Michigan win.
• Penix was added to the O'Brien Award Midseason Watch List.

The Coaches
• One of 22 semifinalists for the 2019 George Munger College Coach of the Year Award, Tom Allen is 21-20 in his fourth season as Indiana head coach. Allen became  the fourth-fastest IU head coach to reach 20 wins (40 games), trailing only James Horne (32, 1898-1904), James Sheldon (34, 1905-13) and Ewald Stiehm (39, 1916-21). A 28-year coaching veteran, Allen was named the program's 29th head football coach on Dec. 1, 2016. He made his head-coaching debut in the 2016 Foster Farms Bowl. (full bio on page 14)
• Mel Tucker was named Michigan State's 25th head football coach on Feb. 12, 2020. A 23-year coaching veteran, Tucker posted a 5-7 record at Colorado in 2019.

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Media Tuesday: Michigan State

 
 
P Haydon Whitehead
Q. On the start of the 2020 season…
WHITEHEAD: Talking to Coach Allen when I was coming over here first, it was definitely something that he wanted to build and he has been very open about building Indiana into one of those top programs. While it is maybe a little bit surprising to people outside of the program, this 3-0 start definitely is not surprising to us. Something that we thought we could achieve and worked hard to achieve. Now that it is happening, it is just a little bit of the reward for the hard work paying off.
 
Q. On learning the history of college football…
WHITEHEAD: Definitely something I had to learn a little bit coming over here (from Australia). One thing that I was talking to my parents about earlier this week was when I started following college football back in Australia, Michigan was one of the teams that I kept close tabs on. Saturday after the game and even during the game towards the end it was a little bit of, just a wow, how cool is this moment. Finally getting to beat one of the teams that not only I supported early on, but now got the chance to play against four years in a row and knock them off this year. That is something that I am proud of myself individually, but even more proud of this program for achieving. So, I think it is only good things for the next couple of years at Indiana.
 
Q. On the transition to American football…
WHITEHEAD: Yeah, a little bit of a challenge. The main thing was probably getting accustomed with the rules and especially formations, especially on special teams. To be honest, I am still learning a couple of the rules. There were a few calls on Saturday and even in previous games that I still did not really understand. It was a little bit of a challenge, but I definitely feel accustomed now in my fourth year.
 
WR Ty Fryfogle
Q. On improvements since coming to Indiana…
FRYFOGLE: I feel like I have just improved my game all around since I got here. In high school you just run routes, you do not really know what you are doing, but you are just making plays in high school. But when you get here, you kind of have to be coached up and know what you are doing to understand the game on a different level and I think the whole offensive staff has really helped me grow my game. Especially Coach Grant Heard, and also just learning from the older receivers when I was here. Everybody just helped me with my game and make me a better receiver. But I still have a ways to go.
 
Q. On Jacolby Hewitt
FRYFOGLE: I am really proud of him. Just seeing the injury he had last year and the progression he is making. We are always tough on him because we know how great of a receiver he can be and the potential he has. That is why we just stay on him every day and just seeing how he is progressing, it is making me happy.
 
Q. On Michael Penix Jr.'s game against Michigan State last year…
FRYFOGLE: When they talked about Mike coming here, just watching his high school film we knew he would be a great quarterback, and just seeing him get better and better every year is just exciting. I am just excited to play with Mike and have the opportunity.
 
CB Reese Taylor
Q. On Haydon Whitehead's leadership on special teams…
TAYLOR: He is a great leader for the special teams. He is always on point and always doing what he is asked. He does it right. He always has a smile on his face. He is always the top dog on special teams. He gets the entire special teams, whatever special teams he is on, he gets the whole unit right. He makes sure everyone is on point, everyone is doing what they are supposed to do, lined up right, and I feel like he is a great leader in that role.
 
Q. On the corners in the run/blitz game…
TAYLOR: We are really explosive. We trigger when we need to trigger. When Coach Kane Wommack gives us the play calls, it is a trigger to us to know that the run play is coming. We know it is coming because of the film study that we get into, how deep we get into it, how much we practice it, and how locked in we are at practice. It really comes down to how focused we are in practice. When we play fast, it depends on what run is coming or what pass is going.
 
Q. On leadership in the cornerbacks room…
TAYLOR: We always make sure that the young guys have the right mindset in practice or if they get into the game. We have to make sure that they up-tempo with us as well. We always make sure they are in the right spot. We are always coaching them up on the little things, the small things, and the techniques. Even when they do something great, we still tell them what it is wrong in the little things that they do. Everyone is going to pat you on your back, but if you mess up once, it is still on you. The corner room is a real-life brotherhood because we say the good things and the bad things. It is not just about the good things.
 
DL Demarcus Elliott
Q. On defending the run in dominant fashion…
ELLIOTT: It is a lot of fun. It is always fun to get a win. To be 3-0 is probably one of the best feelings I have had in a while. Being able to do it with the defensive line and the defense is an amazing feeling. Every day in practice, all of the coaches and players, we strain for physicality. The way to stop the run is to be physical. I feel that is what we have been doing.
 
Q. On Michigan State's offense…
ELLIOTT: They are really big and physical. They are big, strong guys. Watching film, you can really see that. They put that work in the weight room, and at the end of the day, we just have to match it or be better than them physically. Like I said, in practice we have been straining to be more physical than the other team. That is going to be a challenge this week.
 
Q. On his recruiting process to Indiana…
ELLIOTT: Tom Allen and the old defensive line coach Mark Hagen both recruited me very hard. Once it started, it never dropped off. I felt like I could trust them even though I really did not know them. I felt an instant connection. We have been winning a lot recently and the fans are amazing.
 
OL Caleb Jones
Q. On Michael Penix Jr.'s performance at Michigan State last season…
JONES: Last year, we were not really new to Mike being able to make plays. Everyone on our offense knew that we had a high-powered offense. We knew that we had to protect him, give him time, and he would be able to deliver. It is that same motivation, mindset going into this year. Playing Michigan State, we have a grudge against them. We should have won last year, but we did not. We have to protect Mike and create some running lanes for Stevie Scott III. We have to let our offense do their thing.
 
Q. On last Wednesday's physical practice…
JONES: We definitely made it an emphasis at the beginning of the week that we knew it would have to be a tougher week, we knew it was going to be a week that we exerted a lot of energy, and we strained to finish. I think that our scout team did a good job of giving us a really good look and making sure that we were prepared to play. I think that the reason practice was so physical was because the scout team was trying to give us the best look possible. I think that they did a really good job. Most of the offensive lineman were not really happy about it, but it gave us a really good result.
 
Q. On Michigan State's defense…
JONES: Michigan State has a very, very large defensive front. They are not quite as explosive as the guys we just faced in Michigan. They are very stout, very strong. I think that the big thing will be getting our cleats in the ground and rooting those big bodies up out of there to give Stevie some room to run. I think that we have a really good game plan in place.

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Below are partial transcriptions of Zoom press conferences with Indiana head coach Tom Allen, offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan, defensive coordinator Kane Wommack and quarterback Michael Penix Jr. on Monday, Nov. 9.
 
Head Coach Tom Allen
ALLEN: Good afternoon. Appreciate you guys being here. Once again, really proud of our football team and the way that they prepared. Thought that was the key for us. Just having a sense of urgency in the way that we practiced, the way that we met and all the little things you need to do to be able to play your best football in that moment. Obviously, a very historic win, huge for our program and hard for us to beat Michigan over the years. It really took all of us and everybody, coaches, really proud of our staff, their hard work, all they sacrificed to make this possible and really, hats off again to our offensive staff, good plan and then helping our players execute that plan. Nick Sheridan did a tremendous job there and Darren Hiller up front with the offensive line, which really after going back and watching the film the job that they did was really critical to our success and the receivers catching the ball. Tight ends, they are blocking and catching. Running backs ran hard, both of them Sampson James and Stevie Scott III. So, just a collective group effort. Michael Penix Jr. played well as we all know and saw. I thought it was neat when I gave him the game ball afterwards, the first thing he did was defer it to the offensive line, which I thought was just awesome. Understanding that you are only as good as the people around you and that was a neat thing to see. And then defensively, continue to get takeaways. Forced seven three-and-outs, which are very critical to just to get off the field. Third downs for both sides of the ball were critical. We felt like stopping the run was critical. Able to do that. But to get off the field on third downs defensively was big and stayed on the field on third downs for the offense was huge. And so, still feel like, though, made mistakes, gave up some passes that we should not have. I did not feel good about that and got to get that cleaned up coverage wise. And then, even offensively just continuing to communicate better up front, and they gave us a lot of looks and they play extremely hard, move and attacking. And so, we just got to continue to learn and get better. That to me is the key and I thought special teams wise as well just going back and watching, Haydon Whitehead punted the ball extremely well, did miss an opportunity to pin them inside the five, which is disappointing. We got to do a better job in that. That is how you really can take games over and make it hard on them. Our kickoff cover unit was really solid and just got to continue to clean up the little things. Really disappointed in in the mistake there that Jamar Johnson made and he was a man about it. Had some discussions yesterday but got to learn from it. Cannot happen. Must be fixed immediately. And he will be held accountable. He understands that. So, got to have more discipline than that. But, did eliminate a lot of those penalties that we had before. It just felt like it was a really good, solid day for us from start to finish and just really excited the way we finished. Defense with the interception, offense being able to run the clock out. Running the football is big. So, as always is the case, big win for sure, but it is in the rearview mirror for us and now we got all or focus, hundred percent focus on Michigan State. Ton of respect for them and the opportunity for us to play for the Brass Spittoon, which is a trophy game for us here that we have placed a high value on and have not been able to obtain that trophy since I have been the head coach here. And so, just really excited about our opportunity to play a very tough, hard-nosed, hard-playing football team that we know is going to be playing their best football. They did against Michigan. They did a great job against them and was obviously a different football team in that game. And so, just know that their staff is going to have them ready to play. A lot of respect for the job that they do and the fact that they are going to have their guys playing at high level. So, bottom line is that we have to stay focused on the task at hand. You have to do a tremendous job of staying in the moment of what we are trying to do, which is to play our best football on Saturday at noon in East Lansing. Questions.
 
Q.  On the play of the offensive line…
ALLEN: Well, it does begin in the run game and you know we always get caught up in the numbers and I thought we ran the ball effectively, and definitely we needed to there at the end. Stevie Scott III had 97 yards rushing and I thought Sampson James ran really hard. It is a great one-two punch, those two guys are just both unselfish. And I thought our offensive line got better. That to me is the key. We had a good week in preparation with them and challenged them and I have been hard on them and calling them out. Then first couple weeks, especially week one. And just to allow no sacks. There is still pressures and we got to do better. But I just felt like that they strained harder, longer than we have in the past and stayed on their blocks and executed better, communicated better. Time creates that and also it is leadership. It is leadership in that room from Harry Crider, one of our captains that has been here for many years and thought he did a great job getting his teammates ready. Coach Hiller is the leader of that room and has the charge to be able to capture that room and get those guys to play at a high level. So, I just think it is a continual growth process. We are definitely not where we need to be, but I definitely thought we saw progress. Gave us time to throw the football and then gave us enough creases to be able to allow our backs to be effective and get first downs. We converted two fourth downs, one there at the very end to seal the win and then leading to the last touchdown as well. So, both two huge opportunities there for us so that is why we gave our offensive line, they were the players of the game for offense, the entire offensive line. And that is an awesome thing and our guys respect them for that and I know that that is pretty cool.
 
Q. On DC Kane Wommack
ALLEN: I think he has continued to grow, and he just keeps getting better and better. I think that there is always a process to everything that we are trying to do. When I brought Kane here a couple years ago, he did not call the defense the first year, I could have had him do that. I felt like there was just some things that I knew we were going to be really, really young. He came here for the 2018 season. And, we were very, very, very young and I knew we were going to have some growing pains and I wanted to be able to kind of work through that and deflect some of that and not have that put on him. And that is just being very honest about the situation and also just kind of getting a really good feel for what the direction I wanted to go and gave us a chance to work together on that and then, the next year. 2019, last season, he called it for the first time and just working through that as the season progressed. I felt like as we got near the end of the bowl game was kind of like the culmination of okay this is kind of what we are, want to look like with this personnel and the way we have kind of tweaked it. He brought things that he added and things that we had and we always kind of adjust every year. Then the whole offseason to spend time together. He has made it better and so I think he has done a great job of preparing these guys and, and creating a culture of accountability on that side of the ball with how we practice and how we prepare and the attention to detail and just the things that it takes to be great in this conference, and I think just kind of learning to lead better, too, and learning how people, coordinators call things and how you know things are done here and in terms of just how do you create a positive outcome on defense and felt like we had a good vision for that and I want him to be able to see that and he has. So, it is about takeaways, tackling and that has not changed. That is the thing that we talked about when I first got here in 2016. I love working with him and he worked so hard, and I got so much love and respect for him and way beyond the game of football. He has done a great job. It is about creating takeaways and it is stopping the run and we got to get better and other things, and even in that it is every week you have to refocus on those things. Whatever you did last week does not give you anything for the next week on the field. So, you got to recreate that, but I just think we are on the same page. We talk a lot during the game. I do not tell him what to call. I even interjected on a couple of things even Saturday once we got the lead about what I wanted to see us do in the secondary. But, if he asks, I will, but I am not one of those guys that is like hey, go run this because there is a thought process that you go through and I still study a lot of film, but not as much as I did when I was calling it. And so, just like I never tell Nick Sheridan, hey run this, do this, you know, I just I do not function that way. I never felt like that was ever good for me when I was calling things. Obviously, if I feel something, see something in between, we will talk about what we need to do and say let us focus on these things and this is better for us or hey let us not do this next time but I just, I try to work that way. And I try hard not to second guess. I just do not think that is fair. I do not always like how things turn out and he does not either. So, we share that. I am hard on him. I am tough on him. I mean he knows it and it is just tough to coach the position and call that side of the ball that the head coach used to coach. I know that. but I am just proud of him and just think he has done a great job.
 
Q. On previous times that your enthusiasm has put you in harm's way …
ALLEN: Unfortunately, yes. I got some messages from one former player in particular that I did something similar to at Ben Davis. I got a black eye when I jumped on him after a huge interception. And actually, ended up coaching in the state championship game with a black eye because I caught his helmet right in my eye socket just like I caught Monster's [Devon Matthews] on my cheek. Then I dove on a pile in college. I lost my two front teeth at Ole Miss and that was a pretty poor decision because it took about six to eight months. One of the teeth that I lost was already a fake tooth so that one just disintegrated and that was just replaceable, but the other was a permanent one. I had to have a root canal. I had to have this false thing up in there, it was almost an eight-month process. That is why I did strategically turn my head to the side when I jumped on Monster, because history taught me that if I catch my teeth with that helmet, the teeth are going to lose and so, that is why this is no big deal. It is just a little bit sore, but it is alright. I have jumped on guys before and pulled muscles and different things but I just, I do not do it as much as I used to. I am 50 now so I got to be a little more careful with how I how I celebrate. To me, that was just so many years of knowing that man, because I knew that pick was it. I thought that the game was over. Then I made such a huge deal to the whole defense all week about finishing. I mean we just did not finish the first couple weeks and even you think about the bowl game and did not think we finished great in the Bucket game last year on defense. So, just that whole theme and so we finished the game on defense, we got a game-sealing interception and so as soon as he was there, I just took off. I knew exactly what I was headed to do and I was going to find him and jump on him. So, yeah, I have had a few of those in the past and, and hopefully I will have some more celebration in the future, but just no injuries.
 
Q: On finishing the game…
ALLEN: It was pretty gratifying. There was five minutes to go in the game when Devon Matthews got that interception. They had all of their timeouts so basically, we knew defensively you have to be ready because you may have to go out there again. What a testament to our offensive line, running backs, tight ends and our offensive staff in that moment. You do not want to throw football. You want to run the ball to keep the clock moving and make them use those timeouts. We got to that third and short which resulted in a first down, then eventually a fourth and one which I knew I wanted to go for. We got past the 50-yard-line and knew that if we converted the fourth down that would be the game. Just to be able to do that in that type of game, in that setting, was an awesome feeling. It was a great testament to where our program is headed. It is the weight room, it is the mentality, toughness, grit, the fight and it is the finish. To me, that is what you have to have to win games like that, games that have eluded us for so long.
 
Q: On starting at Temple Heights High School…
ALLEN: It is interesting, Temple Heights H.S. has come up several times in the last couple of weeks. I have a ball in my office that is in a glass case that is from 1994, my last year there. The 1993 season was technically my first season. I was the interim head coach that year. I went there in 1992 as an assistant my first year out of college. In '93 I was the interim coach. When that season was over, I was going into my first full year as the head coach in '94. I had shirts made up that said 'Dare to Believe 1994 State Playoffs' and we had not made the playoffs at Temple Heights in 17 years. They had not had a winning season in like 12 years. I believed. I believed in the kids. I was young, I did not know what I was doing. Schematically, I ran the offense that my dad had taught me and the defense that we ran when I was in high school. We had very few coaches, it was a small program. We had some good players, which is always the case. We had not had success, but it was just about the belief, energy and passion. It was me being me. It is amazing to think that is where it all began. We took that phrase 'Dare to Believe', even some of the players still to this day will stay in touch and talk about that. We did make the State Playoffs for the first time in all those years. This is kind of funny, the guy that was the Athletic Director when I had the shirts made did not think it was a good idea. He thought that if I put that out there, put it on a shirt, it is one thing to say it in the meetings, but I believed that we were going to do that, and we did. Actually, we were 7-0 at one point in that season and were ranked inside the Top 10 in the state of Florida. It is a neat way that it all started. From there, I just feel blessed. The good Lord has allowed me to be at some great places to create some change and follow the dream in my heart to be a college coach. Even then, to be a college coach, I started at Wabash. I was a position coach there and a special teams coordinator. I thank them for believing in me. I went from there to NAIA to 1-AA, so it has been an amazing journey. I feel so blessed. The good Lord has been with us and guided us. There is just something special about being here at home when I had the chance to come back here in 2016. I have that ball in my office with all of the players that signed it, we only had 28 players on the team. That will always be a special one for me. I have not seen a lot of those guys from that team in a long, long time. I would love to, that would be pretty special. It is way above my wildest dreams that I could be here today. We just followed our heart and led with conviction, purpose and passion. You never know what you can accomplish.
 
Offensive Coordinator Nick Sheridan
Q. On the team's excitement after beating Michigan…
SHERIDAN: I am thrilled for the players. They made the plays and sometimes football is a simple game. I just give all the credit to the staff and the players for doing a great job and for making plays when they mattered. Excited for them and the performance that they had on Saturday. We have a lot of things that we need to clean up and improve on. We probably say that every week, but it is the truth. There are still plays that we could have made or should have made, calls that we would like back. We want to make sure our last play of the season is our best play, so we are constantly trying to improve and get better. That is no different this week. I thought we had a good week of prep, a lot of the plays that were made Saturday we made them in practice. We are going to need that. This conference is unforgiving and you have to be ready to bring it every single week as a staff and as a player. This will be a big challenge for us this week and you have to be ready to go.
 
Q. On the progression of the offensive line…
SHERIDAN: They are coached well, hard, have a willingness to be coached and because of that it has allowed them to improve. Certainly, we felt like they played their best game on Saturday. They had a lot of snaps, played with great effort and toughness, but it was not perfect. There are things that we can improve on. There are things we did not handle well in the game on Saturday that I know Coach Darren Hiller will get corrected, continue to work on and emphasize with those guys. That is not a fault to anybody. I do not remember if I mentioned this to you guys last week or the broadcasters for the game, but we were trying to find ways to teach run-blocking schemes while keeping our guards and our tackles six feet apart. It is taking some time. The time on tasks, working together, the communication, the body presence of one another, and you cannot play an offensive line individually. You have to play an offensive line collectively. Five guys have to be working together and seeing the game the same way. That just takes time and I do not know what other programs circumstances have been, but I just know that our guys are extremely well coached, have a willingness to be coached and a willingness to work, so they have made progress. We need them to continue to do that because we feel that we have an opportunity to have a very good offensive line. We just need to continue to work to prove that there are times where it looks really good just like other positions and there are times where we need to get better at it. They have been great and they have allowed us to coach them hard, which we have, and they responded. It has been great.
 
Q. On closing out the game…
SHERIDAN: I was very pleased. The number one pillar of our program is toughness. I think a measure of that for any football team is your ability to run the ball when you have to and on defense to stop the run when you have to. In those situations, everybody knows what we are trying to do. It is a cumulative effect when you play a football game, you are trying to wear your opponent down, but it does not happen on the first play of the game. You have to be relentless in your physicality, your toughness, your effort, and you are hopeful that those sacrifices you make early in the game, the strain, the toughness and the effort that you display early in the game, puts you in a position to finish the game. I was proud of those guys. The coaches already mentioned that last week was one of our tougher, more physical practices that we have had since I have been here. I think all starting five offensive linemen were upset with me after Wednesday's practice, but they all thanked me and the rest of the staff because it was worth it. We were pushing them all week because we have high expectations for that group. It starts with their position coach because he believes in them just like we do, that they can be great. Their toughness, effort and physicality, collectively, tight ends included, the running backs ran hard. Stevie Scott III and Samson James are heavy runners and they wear you down as the game goes on because they become harder and harder to tackle. The emphasis is that you cannot do it on the first play of the game. You got to do it over time and I was proud of the guys. We have to do it again this week. We have not gained a yard or scored a point this week, so we will be coaching them hard all week leading up to the game in hopes that it prepares them for the physicality and toughness that Michigan State will bring on Saturday.
 
Defensive Coordinator Kane Wommack
Q. On Jaylin Williams and early thoughts on the Michigan State offense…
WOMMACK: Jaylin Williams has had a pick in every game we have played so far, which is outstanding. To me, he is playing at such a high level just in the fundamentals of what we have asked him to do from a coverage perspective and a physicality perspective. Our three corners are not monster size guys out there, but they are physical. It is a big deal, especially for an undersized defensive back, for him to play like that and for those other two guys to play like that it has been awesome to see both in the run and pass game. Thinking about Michigan State, it is interesting because their offensive coordinator, Jay Johnson, was my offensive coordinator at Southern Miss whenever I was first there before Larry Fedora took over going into my junior season. Then their offensive line coach, Chris Kapilovic, was my offensive line coach. I worked under him as a graduate assistant, working with the offensive line at Southern Miss, so I know those guys well. Kap taught me the game offensively in terms of offensive line play. I probably would not be the defensive coordinator that I am without him, understanding what offenses are trying to do, how to attack things and all that stuff. I did text him last night and said you should not have taught me anything because I will try to use it against you as best I can. Schematically they do a really good job. They try to move people around and spread you out in ways to get the ball in the run game and in their passing game to their playmakers. It is about building a program for them and as they are moving forward, I think you see some guys that are really talented and that can make plays out of their backfield. They have already proven this against Michigan, the team we played Saturday, that they can make plays downfield. Very impressed with what they do. Obviously, I know those guys, what they do schematically and they have both been successful in their own right at a lot of different places. It will be intriguing to see how they continue to grow their offense. You are always alert for new things that they are going to bring week to week in a new system.
 
Q. On the physicality of the defense and finishing the game against Michigan…
WOMMACK: The rushing numbers are a tribute to the physicality of the 11 players and the swarm defense out there on the field. When you watch the film and see when they tried to establish a run game, the physicality that we brought from every level is what stands out to me. Certainly, there were defensive linemen that were knocking them back and we were pushing them around in the backfield, so that was awesome to see. Linebackers stepping up and making plays, safeties coming in and making supporting fits, corners being absolutely physical off the edge was all great to see. When I was at South Alabama, we played Troy after they had beat LSU and rushed for about 250 yards, I think we held them to 33 yards and this felt like that, again where it was just a physically dominant game. I have had that feeling twice now and I would love to have it a third time. It was a good feeling. If you look back at our production as a defense, a number of our points, even against Purdue, Tennessee, and then the first two games of our season, have come off of two-minute drives. Not necessarily two minutes at the end of the game or in a half but when those teams were down, and they were moving the ball around two minutes, that is where we have given up the most points in our last five matchups. So, for us, it was this cloud that we have been trying to get rid of defensively. We talk about good defenses, they execute in the first, second, third quarter, but great defenses finish and I thought that we did that in this game. It was a big deal for us to be able to go execute at that level. We did not do everything right and we gave up too many explosive plays, but when the game was on the line, at the end, I thought our guys executed and finished. That to me, from a momentum standpoint, we have got to build off of because that was huge momentum for our defense.
 
Q. On Tom Allen's attention to detail…
WOMMACK: Obviously in the moment I cannot go, hey what would Tom do right here, but that being said, he and I are very in sync with what we do defensively. I think that it takes time to get your minds wrapped around who our personnel are and what we want to accomplish. I thought we were most in sync last season going into that bowl preparation in terms of what we wanted to get done, collectively. I think schematically, we have carried a lot of that same concept and have just built off of it from that game plan against Tennessee. That really has built us into who we are trying to be defensively moving forward. Again, the system is the system, we have creative ways to get to things and we are just utilizing certain coverages with certain pressures. We did tweak some things in the offseason to allow us to be more creative in the front yet simple in what we are trying to do in the backend coverage, and just mix the coverages with some of those interior pressures. I like where we are at, and I think we are moving in the same direction and on the same page. I have told you guys this before, but it is my job not to be the best defensive coordinator that I envisioned, but to be the best defensive coordinator that Tom Allen wants for this program. I am trying to work relentlessly to do that day in and day out.
 
QB Michael Penix Jr.
Q. On offensive improvements still to be made…
PENIX: We have been having a great season so far, but the season is not over. We still have games that we are looking forward to like Michigan State this weekend. This is a great program, so we have to come with a positive mindset and keep that 1-0 mindset that we have had. We have to look forward and make sure we prepare the same way we did before.
 
Q. On giving the game ball to the offensive line…
PENIX: Last week was a tough week for the offensive line in practice. We pushed the offensive line to the extreme last week because we know the capability that they have. We have a great offensive line here. We pushed them and put the emphasis on them to be physical and that is what they showed when it was game time. They played their tails off and had a great game, so I felt like it was necessary to give them the game ball because I could not have done without them.
 
Q. On keeping the right mindset heading into Michigan State…
PENIX: As the starting quarterback, when there is a big win you are the one that is getting a lot of the recognition so for me the main role I have is showing the team that we cannot be complacent. We have accomplished some great things, but I have to make sure the team knows that we still have a season ahead of us. We have to make sure that we stay focused and locked in. I can tell them that, but I also have to lead by example. I have to make sure they are following me and following what Coach Allen talks about, like staying positive and keeping that 1-0 mindset.

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19 minutes ago, mamasa said:

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to be in the game thread much. It’s my daughter’s 20th birthday and we’re doing birthday stuff. I have to question her priorities lol


Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

Same here. It’s my father in laws 90th birthday. Having a gigantic zoom party 

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