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UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA MEDIA CONFERENCE


November 23, 2010


Jeff Horton


COACH HORTON: All right. Last time. Great to be here with you. One thing I've learned in eight months, it's a tough town to be head coach in, huh? (Laughter.) Good thing Gardenhire got in here and got out of town before they got after him. I don't know.
I had to come up with some new material following the win obviously. I know the sideline reporter asked me going into the locker room - we were ahead 17 to 7 - What are you going to say to the team? Shoot, I didn't know because we hadn't been ahead at halftime. Probably nothing, and that's why we won
It was an awesome feeling down there. I know it's been almost two weeks now, week and a half. Just, you know, because it's been -- month and a half, you know, it's a tough grind every day just trying to keep guys going, players, coaches, myself, and keep moving in the right direction
To see the kids and the coaches get that reward with the victory was an awesome feeling. I think obviously it was emotional on the field for coaches and players, and when we they went down in front of the stands.
And like I said, in the locker room, I mean, you thought we'd won the championship. But you know what, that's all right. When you're a team that's struggling and you get some success, it's okay to celebrate. I was really proud of 'em, because nobody expected us to win that game, and nobody believed we would do very much.
We always say faith is belief without evidence. They kept believing and kept the faith, and it paid off for 'em. That was great, because it's easy to walk away from it, or that's what most people expect.
Obviously it was a wild game. We got ahead of 'em at the half; and then before we could touch the ball in the second half we were back mind behind. Then we scored and they scored.
I thought key point coming down the stretch, you know, we found a way to come back when the defense needed to make a couple stops, and made two great stops there in the fourth quarter. Then we had the big kick return and then the two-minute drive. Nobody more happy about that than seeing Adam Weber execute that. Being able to win the game at the end there was awesome the whole time.
And at the end there when Troy intercepted that pass I was yelling to get down, because we've all seen it on TV. Knowing our luck, he's trying to run with it, somebody hit him, ball pop will up in the air and he'll take it and run with it, somebody else take it and run with it.
But when he finally hit that ground you knew you had won. That was a great feeling. It carried us into the bye week last week. We had three practices, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday; we got probably 80%, 85% of your game plan in for Iowa. So it gave us three good days to prepare for them. Obviously with the win you got a little more pep in your step. It's real smiles and real laughter, and that was great.
This week on Saturday, you know, 2:30 game so it's going to be a little cool, but I think it'll be a great November day in Minnesota. It's Senior Day for us. We got 15 a seniors. We don't have a bunch of 'em, but the ones that are leaving have given their heart and soul to this football team.
I always say it really kind of hits 'em when they come out of that tunnel for the last time. I'll be there to shake their hand and send them out to their family out on the 50-yard line. That's kind of when it hits you. It's really an emotional time and an emotional week, because for probably 90% of them or more, they'll never get another chance to play football.
So as an underclassmen, you want to do everything you can to send 'em out with a victory. I tell the seniors that they always remember that that -- there's a lot of games out there, but you always remember that last game. We need to go out and try to do everything in our power to win that.
We're going to practice outside today, so I expect to see all you guys show up and come out and join us at 3:30. Make sure you got your Long Johns on. I thought it was important today to go full pass today and get a little pop going and get out in the elements.
Probably be the only day we're out this week, because tomorrow a supposed to be real bad can, and then we'll kind of tone it down Thursday and Friday as you get closer to the game. So I thought it was important today to get back out and get some full speed stuff, get some good hitting, and see what the elements are like outside there.
Playing Iowa, you know, it's for the Floyd of Rosedale, which is a great trophy. I remember when I was here as a grad assistant in 1984 with Lou Holtz. It was the last game of the year; I think we were 3-7 and they were probably 7-3. And they had Chuck Long, Ronny Harmon, Larry Statia (ph). Some of you aren't old enough to remember the names; some of you are.
We had a great team, and nobody gave us a chance. I remember we won that game then, and I know nobody's probably given us chances this year because of the records, but we're certainly going to have a great week of preparation.
We need to go out there and win the Floyd of Rosedale. To make it rivalry, we need to win more. I think we're 2-8 over the last ten games. Both wins have come in Minneapolis, so that's a positive. But we need to uphold our part and get after Iowa.
I think when you look at Iowa, Coach Ferentz has done a tremendous job down there. You look at the stability of their staff, Norm Parker, defensive coordinator, Ken O'Keefe on offense. Those guys have been there a long, long time; most of his staff has been there with him.
They built that foundation and they've done a great job there. People say, Well, they've lost four times this year. They have lost three within the last minute-twenty or whatever it is, and the other one was in the last two and a half or three minutes. So it's not like they've got knocked around. They've had some tough things right at the end of the game , but they do a great job.
One thing you know when you play Iowa: They're not going to try to fool on offense; they're not going to try to fool you on defense. I think they play the best fundamentals of anybody in the Big 10. Believe in what they do. They're not going to try to change what they do. They're just going to line up and be exactly where they're supposed to be or block a play exactly how they're supposed to. That's why they've been so successful.
They're going to be very, very solid. I think they play to their strengths defensively. They're a Top 10 team in the nation. I think they're No. 2 in the nation in turnover margin, so they set that defense up well by being smart on offense and not trying to get outside and do something they're not.
They're a physical football team. I think Saturday the most physical team will win. It's gonna be like a heavy-weight fight. Just gotta keep getting up and getting off the bench and coming out there and throwing punches. It should be a special day.
Hopefully with that win over Illinois, a lot of our people will come back out on Saturday. Iowa always travels well, so we hope with Senior Day also to have a great atmosphere out there. Their two D-lineman, Clayborn and Klug, you know, those are two great players. Tyler Sash in the back end makes a ton of plays for 'em?
They're just so sound and solid with what they do. Offensively, Ricky Stanzi has had an outstanding year. Sounds like maybe they're starting runningback might be out. He got hurt there towards the end of that Iowa State game. Seems like whoever they put in at runningback always comes out and does a great job for 'em.
You know, up front on offense they're always tough guys and play very well. It's kind of as we come down here to the end for sure me, just thank you. For me it's on been an honor and a privilege to be the interim head football coach here at Minnesota. I didn't want to be, didn't want these circumstances, but it's been an honor doing that.
You know, a new guy coming in. If we can give him a chance and get the stability kind of like you look at an Iowa and the things that other people have done in the league. Let's get behind him and make it work. We're not that far away. I don't want to sound -- now I'm the laughingstock of town. But it's not as far away a people think.
It's going to take some time. It's not going to happen overnight. But if we can really rally behind and get the thing established, I don't think it's as far away as people think.
Again, I enjoyed meeting with you folks. It's been great. Obviously easier for me because I was just an interim guy on a train. As we talked before, you know, you get on the train and you get off the train. But it's been fun.
On the injury front, it was good having the bye. We should be almost back to full strength up front. Ryan Orton is probably the only guy that will be very questionable this week in the offensive line. He got hurt in the first quarter the other day. We actually only had five lineman finish the rest of that game against Iowa. One of them was Dom Alford who was probably on one knee because he had just come off the knee surgery.
We'll get Matt Carufel back; Dom is probably back at full strength; Eddie Olson looks like he'll be able to go, so he should be back. So really, Ryan Orton will be the only guy out up front.
Collin McGarry who missed probably a month, month and a half with concussion symptoms, he practices last week; he's practicing this week. He's a full go, so be good to get him back. Austin Hahn who had the knee surgery a week ago, he's back, and will be able to add to depth in the defensive line.
I would say in the Illinois game, Bryant Allen went out with the ankle. I would say that's still questionable. We'll have to monitor that as the week goes on. You could see the other day we had A.J. Barker in there, Victor Keise. We were running them all in there the other down in Illinois.
But those guys competed, and one of 'em needs to step up again. We're probably as close to healthy as we've been all year, and we'll need 'em all on Saturday. Like I said, that will be a fistfight against Iowa. We need to turn that rivalry into a rivalry. We need to make it exciting and do everything we can to try to find a way to get a victory on Saturday.
With that, thank you guys and ladies, and open it up for question.

Q. Carufel is not on the two-D, but he will play?
COACH HORTON: Yeah, he should be on the two-D. He's on the one I got.

Q. And Ed Olson?
COACH HORTON: Eddie, you know, he looked better. He should be able to play. I anticipate him -- probably go with Dom to start out, and then Eddie can spill in there in case somebody else goes down. Ryan Wynn will play a lot, too. Ryan has backed up every position. He came in against Illinois and did a great job with it.

Q. With the banquet on Sunday there be some kind of ceremony with a torch and the captain. What exactly are the captains doing?
COACH HORTON: You know what, this is my first banquet. As I understand it, all the old captains, the ones that come back, come to the banquet, light the torch, and they pass it along. Brandon Kirksey will be the only captain coming back, and they kind of pass the torch to him and he takes it from there.
This is my first one, too. 1984 with Lou, but we didn't do that back then.

Q. Does Kim Royston have any chance to...
COACH HORTON: None. No. And it's unfortunate. He'll be honored there obviously with the seniors, but he's just -- you know, unless it's a miracle this week, but I don't anticipate it.

Q. What have you enjoyed the most about being the head coach the last few weeks? I know you came in in a tough spot and the expectations were low. But what did you enjoy the most?
COACH HORTON: All right. Probably when I moved down this office. You got your own shower and bathroom. That's probably the best part down there. You feel big time then. You don't have to get in withe everybody else.
You know what, it's been great for me because I've gotten to know a lot of the other players. I was always be on the offensive side. I didn't know the defensive players very well. I knew their names, but never around them or sit in on the defensive meetings.
And then I think on gameday, being able to make decisions. You know, which way you gonna kick? You gonna take the ball? Not take the ball? You know try to beat a guy to rally up both sides. Get involved with the kicking game on game day.
Just the support has been fun. It had been a long time obviously. Like we had after the game the other day, you know, the nine-game losing streak then I had the other losing streak that a lot you always brought up around here.
But you know, that monkey had grown into King Kong, a full grown gorilla. I told my wife the other day, she wants to be -- I don't know if it's kind of not proper -- but she said she wanted to be cremated. I always say, at least when they throw me in the grave now that losing streak doesn't go in there, so there might be room for you, also. Opened up some room for her, so...
But it's been good. We had to make some tough decisions early with the kids and doing things to help the kids that you hope down the road. I think our obligation or my obligation was just try to be able the calmness in a sea of -- it is, there's some turmoil there. It's tough every day coming to work.
We had great support from the administration, and each day is a challenge. But for the most part, it was pretty smooth. I want to thank the players and the assistant coaches for that. It's kind of a little bit of a rudderless ship, but you try to be the constant guy every day to keep it going. There're been great times.
We wanted to win all five games; we didn't. Just to get the one win was awesome. Certainly want to get it again. I think our big responsibility was to make sure the players are still doing the right things, so that when the next coach comes in he doesn't have a long list of a lot of issues that maybe we can head off before he ever gets going.
So let's build it for the next guy and have the players going into the right direction so everybody goes into the recruiting in the off-season in a positive way. So really it's been an honor and a privilege. I mean, you're in the Big 10 and you get a chance to lead the team on the field and be the head coach for five games, whatever it is, that's an awesome experience for me. I feel very fortunate and very lucky.

Q. If you had the opportunity in some capacity to back, would you like to?
COACH HORTON: Well, I love living in Minnesota, University of Minnesota. If the new coach wants it keep me, I would being excited about that. Again, you know, Vegas guy, not good odds, but you never know. If he did, I would certainly want to be a part of it.
As I mentioned, it's not going to happen overnight. If we can get behind it and get that good foundation, I think it's not that far away.

Q. Do you get the sense that your team is looking forward to a cold-weather home game?
COACH HORTON: I think so. It's gonna be a fun week. It was fun last week with the win and just the attitudes, and we'll have fun today going outside. I told 'em those periods, depending on how cold I get, we might start shortening those periods down a little bit.
But I really think the atmosphere on Saturday is going to be a great experience. I think people will be out there and it's gonna be loud, noisy. It's kind of the way you picture a midwest game.
This is the latest -- I believe the Big 10 has usually been done by now. They never played over Thanksgiving unless they had a game in Hawaii or something like that. So I think it's going to be a neat weekend. This is a Minnesota day. I know they're only down the road, what, five hours or so, but hopefully we'll use the cold to our benefit.

Q. What do you do after Saturday? Do the resumes start going out? Do you pack the moving van?
COACH HORTON: Usually you don't get a job by resume. To be honest, it's usually you know somebody or somebody knows you or whatever. My obligation until they name a new head coach, I'll be here every day. I'm going to try to help the players. We have different coaches coming in here every day.
Finals are, what, a couple weeks away, week and a half away, so it's not long until that. We'll be here each and every day for 'em until the one day when you come in and you put the key in and that baby won't turn.
Okay, where is that Amtrak? I think it's right over here. It goes by the practice field. At least we don't have far to walk. It goes right by the practice field every day.

Q. You've used MarQueis two different ways now. Gave him a whole series two games before, and kind of spotted him last time.
COACH HORTON: Yeah, we thought that changed it up a little bit more with what they do defensively, the mix and match a little bit in there. We'll continued to that this week and do some different things with him series-wise.
Iowa is the kind of team they blitz the least amount. They don't move around. They're who they are. You know, the old Denny Green, they are who they thought they were. They're just going to line up there and play. They're tough to run against. They're, what, top 10 in the nation.
So we're going to have to do some things to try to move 'em around and spread out and change up some things. Try to get some points, because we haven't scored any points in, what, two years, I think, against 'em.
Last year we had 80-something plays, and I think we only had 160 or 70-something yards. So that's a lot of plays for not having that many yards. I know we were across the 50 a bunch and inside the ten I think twice and came away with nothing.
So against a team like Iowa, you got to take advantage of those opportunities to score. They're really great in the red zone and they're great on the goal line. We've got to find a way to punch it in there.

Q. Do you sense the excitement is still from the Illinois game, or are guys excited about playing Iowa now?
COACH HORTON: I think a little bit of both. I think obviously the excitement of winning the game is huge, and then I think going into your bye week -- we gave the kids the weekend off, Friday, Saturday, Sunday off. Nobody's had that off since back August 2nd, whenever we started camp. So that was good.
And coming back, being the last game, playing Iowa, I they still got the good mojo going. I think we'll have fun out there practicing today; it'll be a good week. Thursday we're going to start meetings in the morning at 9:00 on Thanksgiving day and then practice and we'll be done around 11:30.
We have a great Thanksgiving dinner planned here at the complex. I said whatever the budget was, double it. Let's bring in extra pumpkin pies, extra apple pies. Whatever we have for that meal, let's make it like the last supper.
Because they're we're over the holidays. We want them to feel good. I'm challenging the Minnesota kids to take the out-of-town guys home at night and have dinner with their families, too. It's tough over a holiday. We all sit around, I got my wife, you got your families. But those kids are on their own, and a lot from a long way away.
So we want to have a great practice Thursday morning, have a great meal for 'em after practice and make it feel just like home with Thanksgiving. All the sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, no processed turkey. We want a real turkey and stuff, and make it good for 'em.
Then Friday we'll do our deal, and Saturday let's go have some fun and finish it up the right way. Then the banquet Sunday, and off we go.

Q. Without giving away your game plan, can you almost kind of see not only opening up the cupboard, but putting in anybody as quarterback, whether it's MarQueis or Adam or changing things around to...
COACH HORTON: Yeah, no, that won't happen. It'll be one of those two guys in there. We're playing about all we can play. Really nobody -- I think the last two trips on the road, I mean, the guys we've taken, those are guys can play. There won't be anything crazy like that. We got to just be able to -- we know what they're gonna do, and we gotta be able to take our shots and make it work against 'em.

Q. Playbook-wise, can I...
COACH HORTON: Trickery, trickeration. You never know. My wife is on me all the time about that. She loves that trickeration. Run more. Do more of that. I get it harder at the house than I do from you guys.

Q. Would you let her call some plays?
COACH HORTON: Yeah, no. She'll kill me for this. When they were doing the Wrigley Field thing, she's like, Well what if somebody intercepts it? Do they got to turn around and go the other way? I said, Oh, no, no, he can finish still going the same way, even though it's into the wrong end zone.
No, she was kidding on that when she said that.

Q. Do you feel any more pressure to finally get a trophy back in the trophy case in rivalry game?
COACH HORTON: The big thing we talked to the kids about was winning Illinois was the first Big 10 win in November in I think three years. Here's our last chance to get a trophy. We've got too many empty trophy cases around here. That's our last chance. We broke the one streak; why not break another?

Q. Did you talk to Coach Brewster at all after...
COACH HORTON: Oh, yeah. I talk to Coach all the time, yeah. Says he's running on the beach with his shirt off enjoying Naples as we're freezing.
No, he called right after the Illinois game. He was really excited. I know he talked to some of the players. He's following to and feels good with to. Coach Brew is a great man. He'll end up coaching somewhere next year.
There's a lot of coaches out there where to didn't work out. You got one here in town who is a play away from going to the Super Bowl last year, and you all of a sudden he's out. It's a tough business. Sometimes to works and sometimes to doesn't.
Just because you lost, as I said afterward, doesn't make you a loser or a bad person. He's a good person and he's a good football coach. Real good. He'll rise back up again somewhere.

Q. If you were able to give Leslie Frazier some advice going over to the Vikings, what would you tell him?
COACH HORTON: I'm not in the advice business. Just trying to hang on right here for four days. Leslie is a sharp man. I've met him before. He's sharp. Players seem to respond to him. He's done obviously a great a job with their defense, so it'll be interesting.

Q. In the Illinois game, do you think to showed the next coach quite a bit of what he's inheriting?
COACH HORTON: I think so. Like I mentioned here, I think there's some good young players here. We have some depth issues. I've mentioned the receiver, O-line, and defensive back are areas where you need immediate help in where you might have to look at some junior college guys.
I think there's a good young nucleus. You five O-linemen you redshirted. There are some good things here. Couple spots need to be added in, especially like if 'Queis moves to quarterback. If to fits the new coach's system, then you really only got Da'Jon out there.
You got him, Eric Lair at tight end. I think if we had won more games he would be a candidate for a lot more kind of awards, because he's had an outstanding season. I think the competition at runningback next year is gonna be off the charts. You got DeLeon and Duane back.
Then you got Donnell who played earlier before he got hurt, and then you got the two guys, you know, redshirt. I mean, there are some good players there that are going to be good.

Q. With the Iowa game, obviously winning is key and being competitive at the least to carry something over confidence-wise going into the off-season?
COACH HORTON: I think huge. Forget the competitive start with trying to win that thing. You're exactly right. You had the win a week ago in Illinois, now go get another one here. You hire a new coach. That's just a lot of good things happening right at the end that all of a sudden to can make you forget what's happened before.
That's our mission this week. I know Iowa is on a mission. Like I said, really, really, when you watch them on film -- I always say it don't take long to watch 'em because they do what they do, and they do to really well. Coach Ferentz has done a great down there.

Q. Since last time they were here, has 55-nothing come up at all?
COACH HORTON: Hasn't come up with me. I wasn't here. But like anything else, that's in the past. Unless you let it affect you, it shouldn't affect you. It's a new scoreboard, 0-0 when we go out there. Let's control that part.

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