COACH FERENTZ: Looking back, very, very pleased to get a good win, good home win, and close out the month of October last Saturday.
Thought we saw a lot of positives in all three areas, all phases of play. That was good. Now we turn to November. This is always a really important time, certainly for our team to continue to build on what we started back in January 10 months ago. That's our focus right now.
Season-wise we're two-thirds of the way done, but only half of the way through the Big Ten portion of the schedule.
With that being said, we have a lot of work ahead of us right now and certainly another big challenge right now.
Our captains this week are the same four guys, Drew Ott, Jordan Lomax on the defensive side, Austin Blythe and C.J. Beathard on the offensive side.
Injury-wise right now, both Jordan Canzeri and Ike Boettger are making progress. They may go and travel. We'll see how the rest of this week goes. They are making progress. I don't see either of them playing, but at least they're getting closer. We're starting to see them gaining ground here.
Moving forward, we have a road contest obviously against Indiana. It's going to be a real challenge for us. They're very, very productive offensively. They're very balanced. Do a nice job running and throwing. High tempo with really good players. I think one of the better offensive lines in the Big Ten from my vantage point.
Pose a lot of problems, very productive, scoring a lot of points. Defensively they're a very aggressive unit with a lot of different looks and different pressures, certainly not bashful about playing aggressively. So we've got to really be sharp and alert on that side of the football.
On special teams they play extremely hard and do a really good job there. The specialists do a really good job. Again, they're very aggressive in their approach. Ran a fake punt at Ohio State off their own 16, as you saw last year on-side kicked a couple times against us, surprise on-side kicks. You have to be on your toes in all regards. They do a really good job in that sense.
All you have to do is look at them in the Big Ten right now. They played Ohio State in their opening game, finished with first and goal on the six yard line, chance to score and tie the game. Came up a little bit short there. That was one heck of a football game.
Most recently before their bye, 28-26 with Michigan State up in East Lansing. So they played a really good game against an outstanding football team there, too.
They're a very good football team. They're coming off a bye week. We expect them to be rested, well-prepared. Again, going back to November, it's always been really an important month I think for every football team certainly. It's all about how you finish. That's really important in any season.
As we move forward, we're going to have to be at our best. Certainly we realize that. Have a big challenge on our hands. Need to have a great week of preparation. I think we're off to a healthy start so far. But a couple big days ahead still.
We've got work to do. We're trying to get ready for another tough road contest and conference play.
Q. Jordan's status in doubt, must be comforting to know you have three guys that have proven they can run the ball well?
COACH FERENTZ: We caught a break getting LeShun back. LeShun looked the way we hoped last Saturday. That was one of the positives of the game certainly. The other good news is, kind of true of all our injuries situations, we've had guys step up and do a nice job. Whether it's Sean Welsh sliding out to tackle and playing well. Akrum Wadley coming in, doing a good job. Derrick Mitchell has done a good job the last two games.
One thing about injuries, they force you to develop depth. The credit goes to our players who have stepped in and done a good job when they're called upon.
Q. How do you replicate their speed and tempo?
COACH FERENTZ: It's really difficult when you play a tempo team. Hard to get a good quality look from scout teams in general, no matter what the opposition may do. You think about a team like Georgia Tech, for instance. It's a similar challenge to duplicate that tempo, the way they do it with their proficiency, you can't do it, it's not realistic. The onus falls on our players to really do a great job of concentrating.
On Saturday they're going to have to do a wonderful job with communication, getting the calls, communicating with each other, doing it at a really quick rate because it happens fast.
Q. They have the trigger man, too. Hit about any spot on the field.
COACH FERENTZ: He knows how to operate that offense really well. He can make all the throws you have to make. Does a really good job with that. Then they've got a good running team. Sometimes you play teams that are one-dimensional. They're hardly that. They're doing a nice job.
I go back to their offensive line. I think they are well-coached. They do a good job. That gives them a chance to operate proficiently, run and pass.
Thought we saw a lot of positives in all three areas, all phases of play. That was good. Now we turn to November. This is always a really important time, certainly for our team to continue to build on what we started back in January 10 months ago. That's our focus right now.
Season-wise we're two-thirds of the way done, but only half of the way through the Big Ten portion of the schedule.
With that being said, we have a lot of work ahead of us right now and certainly another big challenge right now.
Our captains this week are the same four guys, Drew Ott, Jordan Lomax on the defensive side, Austin Blythe and C.J. Beathard on the offensive side.
Injury-wise right now, both Jordan Canzeri and Ike Boettger are making progress. They may go and travel. We'll see how the rest of this week goes. They are making progress. I don't see either of them playing, but at least they're getting closer. We're starting to see them gaining ground here.
Moving forward, we have a road contest obviously against Indiana. It's going to be a real challenge for us. They're very, very productive offensively. They're very balanced. Do a nice job running and throwing. High tempo with really good players. I think one of the better offensive lines in the Big Ten from my vantage point.
Pose a lot of problems, very productive, scoring a lot of points. Defensively they're a very aggressive unit with a lot of different looks and different pressures, certainly not bashful about playing aggressively. So we've got to really be sharp and alert on that side of the football.
On special teams they play extremely hard and do a really good job there. The specialists do a really good job. Again, they're very aggressive in their approach. Ran a fake punt at Ohio State off their own 16, as you saw last year on-side kicked a couple times against us, surprise on-side kicks. You have to be on your toes in all regards. They do a really good job in that sense.
All you have to do is look at them in the Big Ten right now. They played Ohio State in their opening game, finished with first and goal on the six yard line, chance to score and tie the game. Came up a little bit short there. That was one heck of a football game.
Most recently before their bye, 28-26 with Michigan State up in East Lansing. So they played a really good game against an outstanding football team there, too.
They're a very good football team. They're coming off a bye week. We expect them to be rested, well-prepared. Again, going back to November, it's always been really an important month I think for every football team certainly. It's all about how you finish. That's really important in any season.
As we move forward, we're going to have to be at our best. Certainly we realize that. Have a big challenge on our hands. Need to have a great week of preparation. I think we're off to a healthy start so far. But a couple big days ahead still.
We've got work to do. We're trying to get ready for another tough road contest and conference play.
Q. Jordan's status in doubt, must be comforting to know you have three guys that have proven they can run the ball well?
COACH FERENTZ: We caught a break getting LeShun back. LeShun looked the way we hoped last Saturday. That was one of the positives of the game certainly. The other good news is, kind of true of all our injuries situations, we've had guys step up and do a nice job. Whether it's Sean Welsh sliding out to tackle and playing well. Akrum Wadley coming in, doing a good job. Derrick Mitchell has done a good job the last two games.
One thing about injuries, they force you to develop depth. The credit goes to our players who have stepped in and done a good job when they're called upon.
Q. How do you replicate their speed and tempo?
COACH FERENTZ: It's really difficult when you play a tempo team. Hard to get a good quality look from scout teams in general, no matter what the opposition may do. You think about a team like Georgia Tech, for instance. It's a similar challenge to duplicate that tempo, the way they do it with their proficiency, you can't do it, it's not realistic. The onus falls on our players to really do a great job of concentrating.
On Saturday they're going to have to do a wonderful job with communication, getting the calls, communicating with each other, doing it at a really quick rate because it happens fast.
Q. They have the trigger man, too. Hit about any spot on the field.
COACH FERENTZ: He knows how to operate that offense really well. He can make all the throws you have to make. Does a really good job with that. Then they've got a good running team. Sometimes you play teams that are one-dimensional. They're hardly that. They're doing a nice job.
I go back to their offensive line. I think they are well-coached. They do a good job. That gives them a chance to operate proficiently, run and pass.
