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UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 22, 2018

Blake Cashman

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Q. How has Coach Fleck -- he came in here and said onward and upward -- how has he tried to do that with you guys, I know it's early in the week but how is he trying to turn the page?
BLAKE CASHMAN: I mean, he does a great job every week getting us ready, clear our minds, hit the reset button. It's a short week. Quick turnaround. We've got to do some things to get guys healthy that are banged up after the game.

And we watched a little bit of Nebraska film. But we already started game planning for Indiana because we've got to get ready for that short week.

Q. What's correctable about the Nebraska game?
BLAKE CASHMAN: The big thing that stood out to me personally and I think everyone would agree with me on the defensive side of the ball is that we had a lot of missed assignments, just issues with guys not having their eyes in the right place. Came down to being disciplined with our roles and then missed tackles.

I think we had 18. And that's just something that can't happen in a football game, because if you go back and look at the game film, we missed a tackle and the ball breaks for a 60-, 50-yard touchdown. And big plays is something we've struggled with. And missed tackles is a big factor or a contributing factor for that reason.

Q. What have you seen on the film of Indiana this week, the quarterback?
BLAKE CASHMAN: They're a good football team. They play people tough. They've got some guys that can make plays. And I think their quarterback's a solid player, a pretty good runner. We'll have our hands full with them. I think they have a similar offense to our offense.

So as a defense we're hoping to get back to some of the basics, be able to play fast, play comfortable. And that way we'll help eliminate some of our errors and missed assignments.

Q. Any challenges playing on Friday?
BLAKE CASHMAN: Biggest one is quick turnaround. Everyone's banged up after a game. You're playing a lot of snaps, but our training staff, our coaches are going to take care of us and make sure that our bodies are feeling right for the game.

Q. Are you a traditionalist, would you like to see it on a Saturday if possible?
BLAKE CASHMAN: Yes and no. I think it's a little exciting to play on a Friday night. It kind of takes you back to your high school days. So I'm actually looking forward to it. But for the sake of just getting healthy and having time to not rush your preparation, it would be ideal to have on Saturday. But I think we're all very excited to play on Friday night.

Q. As a senior and the defense is struggling, what do you, how much do you put on your shoulders?
BLAKE CASHMAN: I take a lot of responsibility. I know everyone on the defense feels the same way, because it's not just one guy or one position group. It's all of us. And it takes 11 guys on the field to do their job to get the ball on the ground and to make stops. So we've been doing things to help guys out that are young or inexperienced in some positions. So whether that's getting the film room with them and help them go through their keys and their reads and all that and then how we've also done some player walk-throughs to make sure everyone's on the same page for our game prep.

Q. What has it meant to have Brooks back in practice this week, healthy, practicing with the guys?
BLAKE CASHMAN: It's good to always see a player that as talented as he is and who is so special to our team out there again. And I don't know what his status is going forward the rest of the season. But it's always good to see him running around healthy.

Q. Can you look big picture and say, okay, you want to finish your collegiate career, probably going to a bowl game, see that you still need a few victories and look at Friday night home game and say okay, there was a path to six, better find a way to win Friday night?
BLAKE CASHMAN: It's one of those things it's the Big Ten. So you know you can lose on any given Saturday or for this case Friday night. Every team's going to give you all they've got.

Of course I want to be in my last year I want it to be special, go to a bowl game. Missed one last year. That stuff hurts. But you've got to take it day-by-day, week by week and just prepare and go through the week how the coaches have it planned out and good things will fall into place. And we know we have mistakes we've got to correct. But we're taking the time to hit that reset button.

We looked at the film say, for example, we saw we had missed tackles. So we'll be doing things in practice to work on tackling and using our eyes to like press the hips.

So gotta have a lot of trust in your guys as well. So I believe that we can get to a bowl game but it's going to take a lot of effort and everyone being on the same page.

Q. Have you seen a more challenging running back than Stevie Scott this week?
BLAKE CASHMAN: You know, I haven't watched too much film on Indiana. I was able to get in, watch some last night. Looks like he's a strong back, big guy. Powerful runner. We know we're going to have our hands full with him.

But we treat all opponents with the same amount of respect no matter how good they are, because it's the Big Ten. And it's a man's game. So we know they're going to come out, hit us with everything they've got and we know we've got to do the same.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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