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Kirk Ferentz Post Game Q&A

Apr 8, 2003
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OPENING STATEMENT

KIRK FERENTZ: Good afternoon, first of all. Just very proud of our team today. Just really proud of their effort, their effort all week, and obviously the performance today was really everything we had hoped for. I thought the guys played really hard out there. They played tough and they played physical. Just really pleased.

Certainly all three segments played well, and most importantly they complemented each other. Not to single players out, but two of the first names that would come to mind for me would be our punter Tory Taylor and also Charlie Jones, two guys that are newcomers that just really impacted the game today in a really positive way. Not also to single out our kickoff coverage team, not that they covered a lot of kicks today, but they've been outstanding all season long, so just really proud of that, as well.

I thought we got off to a strong start and then we just kept playing well and complementary football, as I mentioned, and certainly feels good to get the win today. We needed a win. We needed to play well. Our guys really responded and did a great job on that.

We have to transition now because we've got another challenge. You probably noticed there's a four-week block here. This is week two, finishing week two, but in those four weeks we have three weeks that are very different as opposed to a normal week, which kind of makes the normal week different, too, because it'll be normal in the midst of some weird weeks. Because of that we really want the guys to enjoy the game today, feel good about what they did, what they accomplished, but we've got to really transition fast tomorrow and think about our next game because we're going to be playing Friday. There won't be seven days this time to get ready, down to six, and we certainly still have a lot of work to do.

That's where we're at right now.

The note I made at the end of the week this past week, win, lose or draw today, my point of emphasis to the team is I still think we can practice better. We're doing better weekly, but we still can practice better, and that's not going to change. That theme won't change. It's a shorter week, an unusual week, but we really needed to have a good week of practice and that's where we're at.

Proud of our guys. I think we have a good team. I've always felt like we have a bunch of good guys on our team, and it was good to see them pull together and have some success. I'll throw it out for some questions.

Q. Riley Moss said that it was your best week of preparation this year, and other players said it was a really good week of prep. The short week apparently didn't matter judging by comments like that. What do you think?

KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, it was a little different this past week. Normally Tuesdays and Wednesdays are heavy workdays for us and we couldn't work on Tuesday, obviously. Had to cut things back and really Wednesday was our only hard workday, if you will.

You know, a big part of that, when you're in those kinds of situations, which again we're going to be in the next couple weeks here, it's as much mental as it is physical, and the other thing I would tell you is every good team I've been around learns how to practice each week and learns how to do it better, and they don't get distracted. We still have room for improvement. I wouldn't disagree with Riley but we have room for improvement and we also need to make sure we don't get distracted.

Basically a third of our season is over. There's a lot of work in front of us right now, and hopefully we can build on this instead of be distracted by what happened today.

Q. Can you talk about the importance of the run game today? You know you were missing a couple of guys with Cronk and Schott, I guess. Is there an update on them? Are they injured? Is this long-term? Can you divulge anything that way?

KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, I asked a message to be sent right before the game. It was medical for both those guys, so we'll see how this week goes. We'll see how it goes.

But to that point, it creates opportunity. We've always talked about the next man in, next man up, and graduation causes that, injuries cause that, so it gave some other guys an opportunity to play. I don't know if this was Cody's first start. I think it is, but I thought he did a good job, answered the bell, and certainly Mark Kallenberger out at right tackle did a good job, too. I think it's his first start at tackle. I'm not 100 percent sure.

But the guys practiced well all week, and I think we lost Shooter somewhere midweek, but nobody flinched, they just kept working and I was really happy about that. And then the run game and the balance is something we always strive for. Going back last week, I know we threw it 50 or 51 times, 21 of those were in two-minute drives. You've got to keep that in consideration, too.

At the end of the day we like to be balanced if at all possible depending on what the defense is doing against us.

Q. You brought him up so I'll follow up here, Tory Taylor. Give me a sense of how big of a factor he's been in your eyes with the directional kicks, the distance, the field position he created today.

KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, first of all, just totally unexpected because he's new. He's new to the game. He's new to America. I mean, you go right down the list.

And any time you're counting on newcomers you must know something that other people don't know. He's just been a really pleasant addition to our team. I think it's really interesting if you look at today's game, two of the biggest impact players are guys that are newcomers, both Charlie Jones and Tory.

Tory is a little bit more of a better story because again, this is his first exposure to American football, but he doesn't seem fazed by anything, including wind. Last week was a really tricky situation wind-wise, today it was a factor, and he just goes out and plays. Just really happy for him, really proud of him. He's a delightful young man, just a tremendous young person, so he's been a great addition.

Weather conditions like this week and last week, that makes you that much more impressed, and I think he's gained all of our confidence, certainly his teammates and all of the coaching staff, so been a really good addition for us.
 
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