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INDIANA UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 12, 2016Kevin WilsonBloomington, Indiana Penn State - 45, Indiana - 31 COACH WILSON: Strong performance down the stretch. Penn State, I thought really played well in the fourth quarter. We had a hard time getting anything going and stopping. A lot of credit to the way they finished. We've got to finish better. We were scrapping around just trying to see if we could get a force in at the end. Before the first half -- you know, it's all fumbles this week. I want to say two weeks ago I think we were third in the nation in fewest fumbles lost. Now back to back, we have two last week and now five. When he hits us on the punt, it gives him the four-yard touchdown, scoop and score at the end, that's the difference. Really just kept our offense out of the end zone. I thought our defense battled, did a great job in the run game. Did a great job hemming up Barkley. They had (Trace) McSorley, limited him. And at the same time, because you're up there trying to stop a premier running back that's running good, there's a lot of one-on-ones, and they made some one-on-one battles. When you're out there one-on-one, those guys on the island can't hide. I think we did have 16 tackles for loss or sacks. When you've got those sacks sometimes, it's covered. They've got some big guys like we do. We made our fair share of one-on-one plays with (Nick) Westbrook and those guys and Camion Patrick. So a little bit of football. They made a few more plays. Unfortunately, our turnovers killed it. As hard as we play and as proud as you are and as much as you love them, we've got to finish better, and I've got to coach a little bit better as far as play calling, get the offense going down the stretch. Q.  Kevin, when it was fourth and goal down at the 2 yard line, you had the wildcat in there initially and you called time-out, and then you had Lagow on the sprint-out pass. What was your thought process? COACH WILSON: The first thing was we asked the "D," because when we went down the first drive -- we came out, it was 14-14 in the first half, had the blunders. Came out, went down, had a field goal, come right back. We asked the defense, when it was the first time, hey, should we kick it or go? Tom said, ‘let's go because we'll pin them down.’ That was our thought of going for it. Then the big package worked a little bit. We didn't do a lot today, but kind of got in rhythm when we did it. I kind of thought it was closer to two than one. When you really looked at it, it was 1 3/4. It was about a good 2 full yards. I would have thought they would have sold out if we would have put that package. We actually went to the play that we scored on the first time with Ricky (Jones Jr.). They played a different coverage instead of man, where we got a rub the first time, a little switch action they were doing, whatever this was. We had to fit one in, and we didn't, had to hit Mitchell (Paige) in the back, and they made the play. Q.  With 11:06 to play, you guys retook the lead, a pass to Westbrook, 20-yarder. Then you get the ball back with a three-point lead, three minutes to play at the 20. You went wildcat. What was your thinking? COACH WILSON: Kind of like before. We felt we needed to -- and I faked the drive. At the end of the third quarter and that drive were the two drives where we didn't get rhythm going offensively. End of the third quarter, hey, the quarter is going to change in a minute, but then we ended up being third and long, and we start the fourth quarter third and long. The way Penn State is, if they get their cleats in the ground and get you zeroed in, the pocket kind of collapses, and you don't have all day, and you get worked. In our world, when we get a little bit of rhythm going, get a little bit of flow, we're a little bit better. I thought that drive, end of the third quarter. Get a little rhythm. Let's stick a run in here. It worked a little bit before, as we talked about. Let's take it, and we got a holding call. So now it's first and 20. We subbed, and now you sub, and you're out of whack. Let's take it down. I believe we tried a screen that our tailback got caught up and didn't get there. Third down, we field a competitive play we didn't get to. Those were the two drives that really didn't give us -- and in their world they worked a couple drives on us and kept us off the field. I thought that drive at the end of the third quarter and like you're talking about, we scored, took the lead, we got the ball back, and the execution, play calling, we didn't get any offensive rhythm going right there. I thought at the end that's why we're a touchdown down -- outside of the turnovers in the first half, that's why we're a touchdown down with 1:20 trying to pull a rabbit out of the hat. Q.  With the play calling, how does that process work with you and Kevin Johns? Who calls the plays? How does that work? COACH WILSON: Typically, I call the good ones, and he calls the bad ones (laughter). No, I've called them all the last few weeks. We kind of work together, though. When the drive comes off, we meet as an offense. Little cubbyhole -- not a little cubbyhole, but decent sized room. You come together with formations and different situations. The way we practice, we have a lot of time, and then we clean it up. What we typically do, when they come off the field, what are you thinking next four, five, six, seven plays. You don't know if you're going to stay on schedule, and one play that's kind of heavy with receivers on one side and the ball gets in the middle of the field, that spacing gets distorted. So you're not like regimented. We typically know, okay, we're going to go one play, two play, three play. And the key in our world is just drive starters. If you can get the first person down, get a couple, he's going to get in rhythm, and you've got a chance to play okay. But Kevin runs the offense, but I kind of -- we've got five guys on the day, and I'm one of the five. Q.  On the second to last drive, it's third and six. You ran the ball. What was the thought there? COACH WILSON: We already knew there was one time-out left. They were playing two-man coverage with a wide nine technique, and we tried to base it and run an inside play. They got off a block, and Devine (Redding) got to one or two. I almost thought at the time, although it would have been poor, I thought it was a critical enough play. Should we call time-out on the fourth and two? It was our last one. One time our defense did line up for the play on the field, called one, and we had called one early. So we were out of time. And I almost called right there. But you've got some two-yard plays, got to execute. They batted the ball down. But the thought was we really struggled the last two possessions with their two deep safeties, two men getting open. I thought we could pop a run and make the chains. If we could have got a first down, we had a shot there, I thought. Q.  On Penn State’s second-to-last drive with a little over a minute remaining. COACH WILSON: And I thought it was a great stop by the defense. But where I think we're different, we came out and held them to a field goal. Okay, we're going to block the field goal and score. If we don't block the field goal and score, we've got 1:12, and we're still going to score. Just the fight of the kids to still give us a chance to win games when you're playing a top ten team and you're not playing perfectly sound. And the game's not going to be sound. We've got to play better. There's no doubt. That's coaching and me and all of us. We've got to play better. Those kids, there's enough talent. We need a little bit more depth because we're wearing out, I think, as far as young guys coming through. We're a little thin. But the fight of those guys -- like I say, you go for it right there. Do you take the time-out or not? We decided not to. By not taking the time-out, we got it back with 1:12. The thought was it was a four-point game, 35-31. Okay, we're going to go and block this kick. If they make it, you've still got a minute. Let's go score a touchdown. We didn't, but that was the thought process. I appreciate the way the defense battled when the offense let them down a little bit in the fourth quarter. Again, it shows, even though the defense got worked, to me, that still shows some things. Defense gives up -- there are 17 points today when the defense is put out on the 4 yard line. That drive there, when we go for it at the end of the game, they get three, and then the fumble at the end of the game. That's 17 of their points. I don't know if you can attribute that purely to defensive football. Q.  You mentioned a couple weeks ago you guys were like top five in the country for fumbles. You've had nine in the last two weeks. What do you attribute that to? COACH WILSON: We had nine turnovers. We had two picks. You're right, though. We did have four lost last week, we got two back. Sloppiness. We do -- when we start a stretch play, every player that has a ball has a ball in his hand. We carry around with balls in our hand. Typically, the penalty and penance is you don't play. We're pretty strict with that in some things we do. But the game is called football, and if you're from the center to the quarterback to the kicker to the skill guys, we put the game in your hand, and you've got to protect the game. Unfortunately, our lack of doing that is the difference in the game. Q.  When Mitchell Paige was back as a holder for Griffin, is that maybe a key to the success? COACH WILSON: It's key. We didn't kick Griff a lot because he's had a bit of a leg deal. He kicked well today. We worked a lot on kicking fundamentals, trying to clean up the team fundamentally. When I looked at it last week with the guys, I thought their spots were inconsistent. The ball is coming down to a spot, and it's moving two, three, four inches. So it's like hitting a moving ball instead of a stationary target. So we tried to fundamentally clean it up, and it was a little bit better. Q.  The defense had 15 tackles for loss. Saquon Barkley didn't get much going during the game. How well do you think the front seven played? COACH WILSON: Very good. Also, too many saves on the sacks. We did give up some one-on-one plays. Some of the sacks are when you're covering them, it takes time to get there and all that. One, it's a credit to the team. One time I want to say he bounced off a tackle, he bounced off a tackle, Rashard (Fant) made a tackle for a one-yard gain, but it's working his teams, keeping leverage. Huge credit to Tom Allen, huge credit to Mark Hagen because Mark's got some guys that are just playing hard. I don't know if individually, collectively, if there's one guy you say that guy is a difference maker, but they're a difference as a group. They play with fire. They play with passion. They fight and scratch. It's relentless in the way they play. A lot of respect for what their coach is doing, a lot of respect for those kids because they play their tails off. Q.  What happened on the handoff that led to a fumble? COACH WILSON: I don't know because, one, it's a run play that we had the chance to throw a bubble, but if you're throwing the bubble, you don't even stick it. To me, it looked like he got it. The kid said he didn't. I just don't know. I mean, it's like -- it was a play we ran several times, a play that had popped up in there. We did have a lot of runs that worked well. We had 41 for 110. They had 45 for 79. Again, both teams, when you commit to it, they had 332, we had 344 passing. That one there, Mitchell's ball got his hand at one time and just laid there and it went up in the air. The punt -- I want to say it's like Isaac James, I think the ball clipped him on the one punt play. Everybody says, why did you do that? For a young player that didn't play much, at the end of the game, they punt one, and Isaac is trying to drive his guy into the ball. I was going to compliment you on that one. That's a heck of a play. I appreciate your effort. Everybody remembers that one blunder, why does this happen to you? When you've got young guys like that, you got to find ways to accentuate the good things. I don't know what happened on the one with D. Will. It was disappointing. Like I said, appreciate the effort, love the guys, but it was a tough loss. Credit Penn State. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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