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UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 9, 2010Jeff HortonCOACH HORTON: Good afternoon, everybody. Obviously we were disappointed with the loss. You know, I'm half crazy or all the way, but I thought we would come in there and do some things. Thought we played better than we did the week before against Ohio State. I thought the second half we really fought really hard. When you're us right now, you got to look at something to build on. That second half, they scored right there on the last play of the half to go up 21-0. Obviously had a lot of momentum. In the situation we're in right now, we could have gone one or two ways. I think Michigan State is ranked, what, 11th or 10th in the country, very good football team. That thing could have snowballed in the second half or played the way we did. I thought we came out, competed over those last 30 minutes. I thought that was a huge change from the week before against Ohio State. We kind of flopped around. Thought at the half the guys were really calm, they were into it. The coaches did a great job talking to them. I thought we came out and obviously played a lot better in that second half. Starting the game, I wish I had a better answer for you. We get a great kick return, moved the ball down the field, just missed hooking up in the end zone, then we miss a makable field goal. When you're a team that's struggling, you need every frickin' thing to go right that you can. You can say, Let's move, on, let's get better, we'll be okay. But you know what, we're not okay when that happens. We need some mojo. Every chance we get a chance to get some, we need to get it. That hurts us. I thought offensively we have to really improve in the red zone and on third down. I thought that was two areas where we didn't play as well as we could have in the game and we've got to get better at this this week. One guy ran for 179 yards, but I thought the defense actually played well. You know, two goal line stands, obviously they scored on fourth down on both of them. Really in the second half, they had a field goal to start the second half, then they didn't score again until the last drive. They only had, what, 200 some yards till that last drive there at the end of the fourth quarter to get over 300. I thought our guys played on a short field all day and I thought they really held up pretty well. I thought John Butler had a great call on the fake punt. He'd been working it for weeks. I told him, Whenever you feel good with it, let it rip. I got no problem with that. You think you got the look, call it and go with it. Obviously executed and worked. That was good for the Gophers. Thought MarQueis came in and did some good things on offense. It was a package we had worked on during the week. Tried to change some things up. I thought he handled it very well. I think we can keep building on it. I think as we go into this week, we'll continue to do those things and play both quarterbacks. I think it's a good combination. I think you probably saw where he needs to play to receiver, too, because he can't throw it to himself and catch it. He can still make some good plays at receiver for us. I think both him and Adam hopefully over the last two games can give us some extra benefits and be able to attack defenses a little differently and try to do some things to them. I talked about the offense, defense in the game. Then the kicking game, we're just inconsistent. That's obvious to everybody. We have no consistency punting the ball. We don't have any consistency. Obviously I don't feel comfortable kicking field goals. You know, we opened it up for competition last week. It was hands-down who won. We just got to be able to execute it in the game and do those things. This week we got Illinois. They had won two straight until Saturday's game against Michigan. That's probably one of the most incredible games I've watched on tape. Both sides of the ball, never seen that many big plays in one game. 67-65, three overtimes, 45-45 at the end of regulation. They were going up and down that field like it was something else. A ton of big plays. They need one win to be Bowl-eligible. They're back at home. It seems like we get Michigan State after their Iowa loss, now we get Illinois after a loss to Michigan. They need one win to get to a Bowl. That's all right. We'll be ready to go. You look at last week, I think they're really athletic on defense. They played really well this year until last week's game. I don't think that's who they are. I think they'll obviously want to come out in a different mindset and do some things. I do know watching the film from a year ago against us, they had nine sacks against the Gophers last year. They have all those guys back. So we'll have to really be on top of that, be able to account for those guys. On offense, it's a totally different package. They run option football. They run a lot of different things. It's assignment football. It's not the old on defense, you see the ball, you go chase the ball. Can't do that. Got to be able to take the dive away, then you got to have a guy on the quarterback, then a guy on the pitch. If anybody chases the ball, gets out of their responsibility, that's why they get big plays. All you have to do is put on the Michigan tape, watch them all year, they've had a lot of big plays. Scheelhaase, the quarterback, has done an outstanding job from the where he started at the beginning of the year to where he is now. Making a lot of plays for them, they really trust him. He's really been doing a really good job no him. LeShoure, the runningback, is very impressive. He makes a lot of big plays for them. It's going to be a challenge for our defense, it's like trying to prepare for an Air Force or a Navy. It's hard to simulate what they can run, the option, the game speed in practice. Obviously it will be a lot faster in the game. We have to make sure we have our assignments down and really be on top of it. I think it's going to be a great challenge for us. We got to play better, do the little things that will give us a chance to win football games. We got to play four quarters of football. It can't be a half, it can't be three quarters. We haven't been able to put together, probably other than the first game, to be able to play all four quarters. That's what we've really got to try to do. We got to try to work hard this week in practice. I don't anticipate anything less. Our guys are staying positive. They were positive after the game. We were disappointed after the game, but they were positive. As a coach, we're just asking them to go out, work hard, do the things they need to do on and off the field. Let's keep moving forward. You got to keep moving forward. You got to think you have another opportunity this week. It's going to be a great challenge for us. But we'll get them ready and we'll go down there and get after them, try to make it happen, try to find a way to win that football game. That's what it's all about. We have to try to find a way and do everything we can to try to win that football game on Saturday. On the depth chart, there's not a lot of change from a week ago. I think Matt Carufel and Dom Alford, see how they progress during the week. Right now, I'm going in with the anticipation we're in the same situation we were a week ago with Ryan Wynn will be backing up, Curt Hughes will move in if needed. If one of those two guys can show they can play, protect themselves by the end of the week, then we'll certainly look at that. Jon Hoese, he got better towards the end of last week, played somewhat in the game, not a bunch. But he came out of it better. He's better so far this week. I think he'll be much more active and be able to start at that position of fullback. On defense, Austin Hahn will be out two weeks at least. Had a little meniscus tear they fixed yesterday. We're hoping he'll be back for the Iowa game. Obviously Brandon Kirksey is back. That's kind of a switch there, a trade so to speak. Johnny Johnson went out in the game. He's back. He's okay. He's full go. And Ryan Collado went out earlier in the game but we anticipate him being ready to go also. At that point, questions. Q. If you look at the teams ahead of you in the Big Ten... COACH HORTON: I think they're all ahead of us, aren't they (smiling). Q. ...in your opinion, is there much of a discrepancy in talent between those teams and the Gophers? COACH HORTON: You know, there's a discrepancy - I personally don't want to set myself up - think it's as big as a lot of people think. I think there's some key areas that need to be filled in here that you can do. I don't know if it will happen overnight. But I don't think it's a thing where you don't think you got any hope. There's flashes there. There's some good young players here that I think will develop. We're really bare behind. We don't have much depth. That's an area, with the recruiting class this year, is a big key coming in, all the guys coming back for next year, which I think they will. Q. Dating back to your streak at UNLV... COACH HORTON: I can't remember that long. That's 1998, 12 years ago. It's a different time. It has nothing to do with this. Nothing. Q. How badly do you want to win? COACH HORTON: I think we need to win for them. Who cares about me. I'm 53 years old. When you're in coaching, you got a lot of ups, you got a lot of downs. That's all part of it. Wade Phillips feels like crap today. He's won a lot of games, been in Super Bowls. That's the nature of the business. We want to win for the kids and the University of Minnesota. Coaches come and go. I could care less for myself. But for those kids, with the negativity that's on them, they need something good to happen to them. That's what it's all about, it really is. It's about them. Q. Two years ago they went into Illinois and beat them. Is that the mentality they're going in with? Kind of shocked the world. COACH HORTON: I don't think they shocked the world. I don't think anybody gives us much of a chance. You know what, kids are resilient. I got to honestly tell you. I thought Saturday they really, really responded 'cause when you're down like we were and a half ends like that against a very good football team, some people say Michigan State is not very good, they're 9-1, they're ranked top 10, 11, wherever they're at. It would have been so easy for our kids to pack it in, and they didn't. I'm hoping and I'm thinking that there is something there. We'll get a chance to carry it over. We still got to go out and do it on Saturday. It's not going to be easy. But at least there's a light on there. I think our kids will respond. Q. There was a thought Hoese was done. How did he come back? COACH HORTON: Anytime you get a hammy, it's a tough deal. It's like anything else, different people respond to it differently. They did a great job downstairs. I know he was going to another therapist, too, I think on the side, somebody he knew or Web knew. Constant treatments. I'm sure it wasn't great for him. But I think Jon is the kind of kid, if there's a way, he's going to try to get in there. Might have been 75, 80%. But he's a senior that's given a lot to this program. He wasn't going to sit around. He was going to get out there and try to help us win. Q. Jeff, you mentioned Illinois' defense, not thinking last week was indicative of who they are. Do you see things on film you think you can take advantage of as an offense? COACH HORTON: Yeah, they're really active up front. So, you know, to say you're going to sit back and drop back, be able to hold up and do those things I think are wrong. We got to really try to do some things that can offset that rush, you know, try to move 'em around a little bit, attack a different way than maybe we've attacked in the past, try to keep them off balance a little bit. Maybe now, you know, playing the two quarterbacks, hopefully that will give us a little bit of an advantage, too, to be able to not let them just dial in on what we're doing. Q. That game didn't remind you of some of those old Alvarez games? COACH HORTON: No (laughter). Q. Has there been any competition at punter? Is your confidence level changing in the kicking game? Do you kick shorter field goals, only inside the 30 or anything like that? COACH HORTON: Yeah, I mean, it might change in game planning. It might say, you know what, Thomas, we got two downs here, I don't feel like you got to get it all on the one down, because I'll probably give you another down. After this many games, it is what it is. Whether it can change, I don't know. We made the competition. But, you know, that won out. I think it's just, when the situation comes up, it will be up to me whether or not we do or don't. Q. That was the kicker, not the punter. COACH HORTON: Right, right. We've done the other two. So, yeah. Q. Talk about the philosophy of the punter moving to the right. COACH HORTON: We do different things. A lot of it's dependent on how the rush is coming. When you're in that type of punt formation, you move away from pressure, do different things, change it up. It's not like the first time. We work on it a bunch in practice. We're able to execute it. To me it's like being on the driving range. I hit great drives when I'm on the driving range. When I step on that first tee, I shake the you know what out of them, cut it. Why can't I carry it from the driving range over? Obviously I'm not mentally tough enough. I just get the (indiscernible) or don't trust my swing. I try to say to those guys, Trust your swing. You can't overanalyze it. Go out there and try to make it as natural as possible, hopefully good things will happen. But we've just been inconsistent. I think field position, hidden yardage in the kicking game is huge. When you're trying to get 70, 80 yards all the time, the other team has 50, 60, 45, that's a big difference. You always feel like you're backed up. Those kids, they get another opportunity this week. Why not come out and make it happen this week? Q. You have yet to score first in a Big Ten game. How big a deal is that to actually have a lead? COACH HORTON: I think it will be huge. I think that's what's hurts us. We've had opportunities. We haven't done it. It's not just touchdown, but on field goal. Obviously, before you kick, you have a chance to score a touchdown on offense, too. I would love, and we always talk about it, let's make somebody else play from behind instead of us always playing from behind. Obviously, it's much harder. We still got to go out and do it. Let's hope this is the week. Q. Did you see a new dedication in Brandon after getting a suspension last week, rededication on his part? COACH HORTON: Yeah, I talked to him on Monday. Today is Tuesday. He's ready to go. Just like I told him before, Illinois is a big game for him. I think I mentioned a lot of kids are from St. Louis that play there. Like a homecoming for him almost. I expect him to go out there and be a great leader, play his tail off, help us win the football game. Q. (Indiscernible.) COACH HORTON: It's still a big M. We're glad you put him in, now he needs to play more. But at least some of the language was turned a little bit on it. Q. Are you anticipating playing MarQueis more? COACH HORTON: I'm surprised I didn't get the question yet why we took him out on the short yardage. Here was our thinking that. Short yardage, when we put Adam back in, we were just going in to short yardage offense where we were under center trying to get the first down, then we put MarQueis back in and got back a little bit to the spread stuff. Obviously, third down, fourth down, we didn't execute it. But I think in the second week that he's been the package, we'll try to, you know, increase his time on the football field there and be able to do some different things, you know, with both of them. Q. The quarterback, surprised at how well he's developed? COACH HORTON: He's really developed. You can see from the first game of the year when they played Missouri to where he is now, to me he's a totally different player. Obviously, he's played a lot of games in between. He seems to have a much better grasp on running that option. That takes time. He's making good reads. He's dangerous with his feet. He'll pull the ball down and go. We've had trouble with that this year obviously. That's what I'm saying, that assignment football, we got to really be on top of that. A lot of times in practice with that, you don't even practice with the ball, you just make sure everybody is going to the right guy. Q. (Indiscernible.) COACH HORTON: Just like the other guys have been playing. They've all played. That's kind of a rotation in there. Those guys compete every week. They're probably equal snaps when it's all said and done. End of FastScripts |
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