INDIANA UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 10, 2022

Tom Allen

Press Conference

Indiana 35, Idaho 22

TOM ALLEN: All right, well, we won. So that's a positive thing, but obviously, didn't start the right way. Poor first half. Especially on offense.

Did some good things on defense in the first half. Did respond in the second half and did some good things in the second half, especially offensively. Then just really still frustrated with how we finished on defense.

Just a very frustrating night, but find a way to win the game, continue to work on the things. We showed some improvement in some areas that we need to work on. That will continue.

Proud of our guys to respond the second half. Obviously, didn't respond to the delay very well. Didn't respond to the weather very well. That's on me. Obviously, the way I've prepared them wasn't good enough.

So always appreciative for a win. I know they're hard to get. You look around the country. There are some pretty disappointed fan bases tonight, but at the same time that's not acceptable in my mind as far as the standard with which we have to play.

Too many mistakes and just not good enough, but I'm never going to take for granted a win. Proud of our guys for doing that. Got to get ourselves healthy and came out of it pretty healthy I think, and then get ready for a big one next week.

Questions.

Q. Obviously, to stick with that as far as the offense and just what wasn't good enough? What did you see misfiring in the first half?

TOM ALLEN: Just out of sync. I don't know. I'm not going to sit here and make excuses. Obviously, things were -- the different schedule we were on. You go in and sit and wait. Both teams had that, so that's just reality.

Just the weather, have you to learn to deal with the weather. Tried to have a rain practice this week. We knew rain was coming and got some sprinkles. We did the wet ball drills with our guys trying to get ready for that.

The interception that Connor had before half was just an overthrow. It slipped out of his hand, but you've got to make that throw. The guy is wide open.

Just felt like, gosh, we should have been up by multiple scores in the first half. And Chuck missed two field goals, which he hadn't missed in a long time. So it was just, golly, felt like it was Halloween every time. Just weird stuff and just crazy things and leaving guys open.

Two of our best players gave up those last two touchdowns on defense. Two of our best players, in the second half and on blown assignments. To me it's just lack of focus.

That's my responsibility. So obviously the message for this week was pretty stern. As a matter of fact, I lost my voice on Wednesday's practice, lost my voice on Thursday's practice. Just trying to make sure that the team didn't take these guys for granted because they blew them out a year ago. It wasn't the same football team.

You saw the team that they almost beat a week ago. Went into Madison and beat the Badgers, in Washington State. I knew this team had talent and this team had some good players on it and is good enough to beat us if we didn't show up.

Obviously, first half -- I was concerned about that. I really was. You get them confident to hang around, which they did. They were at 10-0 half. Coming out in halftime, that was a big deal.

Golly, we sure enjoy making it hard on ourselves. Could have been a whole lot different, but we didn't and you have to own what happened. That's on me. I was pretty stern with them in there.

We sang the fight song and do what we do after a win, but this is not the standard we have to play be able to be where we want to be as a football team. We'll take the win, but we're going to take what comes along with poor play, which is accountability. That's on me.

Q. You mentioned the defense. Dasan was the guy tonight that was really out there. I guess just talk about having a guy like that where you can move him around like a chess piece and try to get him in matchups where he can -- or make plays in the back field?

TOM ALLEN: That's the goal. You balance that with his youth. He is obviously only his second college game, so you don't want to put too much on him. He also see the skill set that he has and the different things that he can do in the pass rush game, in the coverage game, in the run game.

Talented football player, and we have to continue to utilize him and really proud of him. I tell you what, though, this is the thing I love about Dasan. He has talent.

He is 6'5" and 225 pounds. He can run. But he is a really good practice player. He is very locked in. He is very mature for his age as a freshman. He understands how to study film. He cares a lot. Works really hard.

He is really good during walk-throughs, which usually is an area that freshmen struggle with because it's not what they're used to and being locked in during those and just the positioning of him and just the checks and adjustments.

I'm really proud of him, and he is making plays. He came up big for us tonight, so that's going to have to continue.

Q. I guess just returning to the wider theme, but as you observed them as a coach, and I imagine some of it's you, some of it's the staff, but especially maybe as you observed the team that brought in a lot of new faces last season, especially on the offensive side, a lot of guys maybe they've been together in practice but haven't been in these sort of adverse situations in games. How did you see them kind of dig themselves out of it, I guess?

TOM ALLEN: It's a positive thing. We can say what we want, but we had a heck of a third quarter, and that's how we're supposed to -- I envision that being the first quarter, to be honest with you. That's how I expect us to start the game off and defense and special teams.

Yeah, there's no doubt. I got after them at halftime, and I told the coaches to get after them at halftime. It was also, Hey, guys, just play football, execute, play hard. Do what you're supposed to do.

That to me is a good sign for our guys. They did respond and were able to take back the momentum that we lost.

They had all the momentum. At the end of the second half they got the ball back to open the third quarter, and that whole sequence of events there. Just to be able for the guys to be able to dig deep. I grabbed individual leaders on our team in each different areas and challenged them to make sure our guys came out the second half ready to compete.

The response was very encouraging. Just can't wait for halftime to start playing football.

Q. Coach, on Thursday you talked about just being impressed with Shaun Shivers, his fire that he has, his work ethic, and just the charisma that he has. In your mind is there any moments that stand out during fall camp or as the season has gone that exemplifies that?

TOM ALLEN: I think it's consistency. Ever since he got here, he brings juice to the weight room. He brings energy to practice.

I will say we were doing a perimeter drill, and he about had his guys into a brawl, which was a good thing from his perspective. He has an edge about him. He practices with that edge. He has a lot of, I would say, South Florida confidence. Sometimes that brings a little chippiness and a little bit of chirpiness to the situation, if you know what I'm talking about.

He likes to talk a lot, but at the same time there's an edge about him. I say there's a reason why he is this tall, and he thinks he is this tall.

He really has a different mindset. He really does. That's infectious. That's what I love about him. He is tough as nails. You saw that shot he took last week. I mean, that was like, holy smokes. He just had a sore chest, and that was it. He came back and played.

There's a toughness to him. In that practice, as a matter of fact, it's one of those where I had to stop the whole thing and bring everybody together, but at the same time I was, like, Okay, I like this. We didn't have this last year. We didn't have anybody on offense like that last year. That's the truth.

Walcott had that about him. He wasn't here last year. We lost that edge on the offensive side of the football, and Shaun Shivers has that. To me that's what you got to have.

It's a fine line. We talk about just having that controlled rage that you should be able to be under control but have an intensity and toughness to you and edge about you, and Shaun brings that on our team.

Q. Obviously, you guys had to replace a big part of your offensive line this week with Bedford going down last week, but you guys really opened up the run game. Kind of just talk about how what kind of changes you guys have made during the week and how you guys opened up the run game this week?

TOM ALLEN: We made it a priority and knew we had to. I don't see the exact numbers here, but rushed for 200 yards, which is what you really want to be able to do. I guess 239 total.

That's something we just know we have to do, and I know different schemes and do different things to try and take it away, but at the same time we know that's a big deal for us.

Really proud of our offensive line. Proud of our running backs. Proud of our offense for doing that because that's a big deal for us.

I just know that that's going to continue to be a focus, and we've done more things with inside drill and going ones versus ones and getting our guys ready. We did it all last week and will do it every week to just try to continue to get better at that. Just try and find some good schematic edges for our guys to give them a chance to execute the calls and have success in run games because it takes the pressure off.

Honestly, I do believe. I don't know. We stopped ourselves the whole first half. Every time we turned around it's like, Good grief. Sometimes you have to be on the battle field for games. Hopefully that's out of our system, but running the football needs to be what we do effectively.

Q. This might be a better question for Coach Bell, but you bring in Donaven McCulley on the goal line package. Was that something that maybe going into the game you wanted to add today, or was that kind of a situation thing, and how much more do you think that --

TOM ALLEN: That was something we wanted to add. My whole thing is I go through, and I don't tell them what to do, but I tell them I want certain guys involved. We're trying to find ways to get him involved more, and I feel like he is a special player.

I think Zeb was a special player. He was a huge part of the spark to get us going. To me those two guys kind of stick out to me to be able to say, Hey, they're different physically, and they have got different skill sets.

Definitely want to get him more and more involved. He had another catch, and he has a lot of talent, but he is also learning a new position. But, yeah, to me I can see those are the kind of things we need to be able to do to help us get in the end zone.

Have a great night.