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UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 22, 2018

Conner Olson

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Q. When you look at the tape, what's fixable, how do you go about fixing what you saw on Saturday?
CONNER OLSON: Absolutely. A lot of things that the O line personally has to deal with, one thing we have to clean up our protection, our protection getting progressively better. But obviously we've got to continue to get better, because that's always been one of our lesser strong points.

And then also when it comes to the run game being able to identify those looks. Nebraska had a loud stadium. A lot of credit to their fans. They were able to bring the noise. We've got to be able to communicate better in a lot of those looks.

Q. Does that get corrected by playing at home on Friday or is it more than that?
CONNER OLSON: Absolutely, playing at home on Friday, the crowd noise is a lot easier to deal with when you're on offense then. But also just communication better as a unit. That's something we all have to do better, gotta be able to relay calls down the line, across to everybody.

Q. Coach said he drew a line in the sand for the first half of the season. And second half you guys go and lose a game. And he comes in today, he says onward and upward. What are the things he's trying to turn the page yet again?
CONNER OLSON: Absolutely. So just because it's a new season doesn't guarantee we're going to go 6-0. Drawing a line in the sand doesn't mean we're a completely new team. We've got to go out and respond. Nebraska was a good football team.

Just because they're 0-6 at the time doesn't mean they weren't a very talented football team. And onward and upward is exactly right. The only way we can go is up. We have to continue to respond. This team has continued to respond. And I think we're getting a lot better. And we're close. But we just have to find a way to finish off a lot of those drives especially on offense. And that comes down to the offensive line. We've gotta do better. We've got to put more confidence in our guys in the backfield and not wide.

Q. Take a lot of encouragement from coming back from 28-0 down to 22 points right away?
CONNER OLSON: Absolutely. But almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. As you know, we're not able to cut that deficit. When it comes down to it, just like because we're close doesn't really mean anything.

When it's all said and done, there's no moral victories. It was a good thing to see, but we have to be able to finish off on that. There's a lot of points we left out there on Saturday. We've got to continue to find those points.

Q. What did Tanner show you in the second half?
CONNER OLSON: Tanner played a great game. He came in. He managed to lead the football team. But when it comes down to it, both quarterbacks are great guys. They're both back there. They call a great game for us. They make it a lot easier to play offensive line with both those guys back there.

And whoever it is back there, that's just fun to play with them.

Q. What was Tanner's role like in those first six games when you know he was on the sidelines?
CONNER OLSON: Absolutely. Tanner is a great leader for this football team. He's always over there cheering on the offensive line, too. Sometimes he's pointing things out, too. He's a quarterback. He's got the QB eye. When he sees something out there from the sideline, he brings it out and points it out talks to the coaches about it. And it's helpful for us and honestly he's continued to be vocal and he'll continue to be vocal whatever his role may be.

Q. Looks like on tape you guys in the last couple of weeks have taken a step forward in pass pro and run protection there. Has it felt like that the last couple of weeks?
CONNER OLSON: Yeah, absolutely. So like I've been saying throughout the season we've been getting progressively better and I think a large part of that, too, is guys are getting a lot more game experience. Like I, for one, I'm one of the veteran guys on the O line yet I'm still a younger guy. And as we're continuing to do that we're becoming more cohesive as a group. We're getting better out there.

Jared and Donnell, leading us really well. Getting us on the right path. We've been seeing that increase but we've got to keep going like two losses because we've just been doing better doesn't mean we're doing well enough and we've got to continue to get better.

Q. How would you describe Daniel's strength?
CONNER OLSON: He's incredibly strong. He came in here and I mean he was putting up the numbers that guys that have been here for three, four years have already been putting up and that's awesome to see.

And it translates to the field. Like you see him he's tossing guys all over the place. It's really fun to watch, honestly, like sometimes I just manage to look over at the end of the play and his guy's on the ground, he's standing there. It's really just a sight to see. You all see it and I get to see it a little bit closer.

Q. Do you expect a change with Tanner's dual threat ability, his ability to run it?
CONNER OLSON: Absolutely not. The game's called the exact same way no matter who the quarterback is. As the O line, our calls are primarily the same thing. All of our concepts, we all rely on our fundamentals to make those calls. So when it comes down to it, it's always the same regardless of who is in the backfield.

Q. What does playing on a Friday, what challenges does that present to you guys?
CONNER OLSON: Yes, it's one day earlier but when it comes down to it it's just another football game. And we're getting in. You just gotta watch more film earlier in the week. Just because you lose a day doesn't really mean a lot. It just means you've got to hit the treatment room a little bit harder. After that it's just another game. Just a day earlier.

Q. Is one side of the ball struggles the other one is having more success, do you go to the other side and say encouraging things or try to bring them up and vice versa?
CONNER OLSON: Absolutely. You know, the defense it goes both ways. Defense/offense whether you're struggling or succeeding, you've got to bring up your team, they're your teammates regardless how they're playing you've got to cheer them on, bring them up, let them know that they're supported because they're there to get your back so you've got to get their back.

Q. Are there certain ways that Coach Fleck has gone upward and onward this week?
CONNER OLSON: Absolutely. So we've met once. We're meeting again later today. And honestly we've got to respond. We watch the film. We saw what it was. And from there it's how do we fix it and we've set out a clear path how we're going to fix it. At this point it's about execution.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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