Opening statement (speaking following head soccer coach Janet Rayfield)
Our football team can't wait to get into a position where we have our team where Janet (Rayfield) has her soccer team. She talked about the grind that you have to go to, talk about being relentless, and she talked about having a telescope to look and see exactly where you would like to go. As we go into Big Ten play, we have an opportunity. We haven't been over .500 in Big Ten play since we've been here, and in order for that to happen we really do have to hone in microscopically on exactly what we're doing right now. Just kind of recapping last week, we made some changes. When you get to the bye week, you kind of evaluate where you are, and that's what we did. Sydney Brown, Tony Adams in particular, putting them into the starting lineup at both safety positions. Love what they did. Played hard, relentless, flying around. Of course Nate Hobbs coming in, giving us a play there. He's a good football player. We like some of the things we were able to do there defensively. Jamal Milan, we get our best defensive lineman back into the mix, that helped. Just some things we have to tighten up, I feel like we can go forward with this group. Defensively, we have to keep taking the ball away. We're not pleased with the total yardage, we're not pleased with some other things that we're doing, but we are pleased with the guys knowing how important it is to take the ball away for our offense. Love what our offense is doing. Those guys are going to talk about how many plays we left out there, but getting AJ Bush back helps a lot. When your quarterback can throw the ball but can also move the chains, scrambling around. But to me the star of the game was our offensive line. They did a great job of getting our running backs to that second level whether it was AJ or Reggie Corbin. Love what they were able to do, talking about our offense, o-line of course and the rest of the crew. We realize where we are with a 3-2 record right now, in order for us to take steps, we have to continue. One of the most important statistics to look at is turnover ratio. I think we're about as good as anyone, maybe right up there with the best of them in college football. That's about ball security and taking the ball away on defense. Did some good things, get that win, just makes this game a lot bigger. Our players realize what we're playing for again this week. Purdue, we have a long history with them. They're a good football team that had a chance to sit and watch us last week, but we're excited about coming back to Memorial Stadium. Just had a chance to go on campus and talk to some of our students. Everyone I talked to said they were showing up this week, and we need them. We need that college energy in our stadium. Big homecoming game for us, it's always exciting when alums get a chance to come back, and we want to show them exactly where our program is right now.
On success running the ball
I like where we are. Not satisfied by any means, but it's giving us a chance. If you can run the ball, you have an opportunity, especially when you go on the road, so, pleased with that. In order for truly explosive plays to happen, wide receivers need to do a great job blocking down field, and that's what we had.
On freshman continuing to succeed
Our freshman are contributing right now. I talked about some of the changes made… Jartavius Martin. I don't know how many freshman cornerbacks have three interceptions right now. As a freshman, we like where we are with him. And each year, freshman are going to play. That's just how I coach. Sydney Brown, aggressive, he made plays the other day. He'll hit, he'll tackle, he has good ball skills. He's got a chance to be a pretty good football player.
On Reggie Corbin
Relentless, that's just what he's done. Even last year, I can recall a play last year, as good of a play as you'll see. Reggie Corbin can make you miss in the open field. You just have to stay the course, and eventually if you're a good football player, you'll get an opportunity to showcase your skills, and that's what Reggie has done.
On getting first Big Ten win
We needed to get a win. It was a big win for us. As I talk about an opportunity to be over .500 in Big Ten Play, that's big for our guys. To find a way to win, each game is going to get bigger and bigger.
On improvement as a team so far this season
I think we are getting better. We said that before we won the game this past week. We have so much farther to go, and I'm just looking forward to taking more steps this week. If you watch that game, there was so much we left out there, and we are not a finished product by any means, but we have an opportunity, now that we're healthy to take another step this week.
