Opening Statement
I think you've heard me say it before, winning is never easy, and that certainly was the case today. First and foremost, we are happy to get the victory, and finish the month 4-0.
Proud of our guys; they've done a good job that way.
Our goal each and every week is to win the game first and foremost and then hopefully improve.
There were some up-and-down moments with that certainly, but especially in the third quarter we saw some growth and good things. We certainly got stress, which is going to help us, and certainly credit Colorado State for the way they played. They came in here to win the football game, and their guys really played hard and did a lot of good things.
As I said on Tuesday, as well, their tight end is an impressive player, and you see guys on film and you're impressed with them, and then sometimes you get on the field and it's either maybe not as impressed or more impressed, and certainly in his case I'd say even more impressed. He's the real deal; just a tremendous football player. I have a lot of respect for him, and again, their whole football team and their approach.
Give our defense a lot of credit today, what they did especially in the second half, kind of buckling down. Jack Campbell did a great job, was all over the place. A lot of good efforts out there and some good team football in that third quarter, but then just a lot of missed opportunities, too, whether it was some things on special teams that didn't look so good, the turnovers was a huge factor both ways, a chance to go in and score and then set them up with a really short field.
Third down was not stellar for us, that's for sure, and then even when we score a touchdown and then we get a penalty. Next thing you know, they have the ball at midfield after we score.
That was kind of emblematic or symbolic of the whole thing. Also, we tried to run around play down there at our end and put the thing on the ground and ended up, whatever it was, 2nd and 30 or something like that.
Just a lot of things that we're going to have to get cleaned up here. The interesting part, I thought we had a really good week of preparation. I thought our guys were ready to go, and it didn't show up on the field.
Got a short week ahead of us right now. That gives us one more challenge, but again, happy to be 4-0, and for us it's as simple as right now we started out it's a seven-game schedule, now it's down to three (before Iowa's bye week), so that's kind of how we're looking at it, and then we'll assess things after that, and starting tomorrow the only thing that's going to matter is the next six days because things are going to happen fast for us.
I'll throw it out for questions.
Q. How much has Keagan shown that big play ability that we saw today, and especially when it's tough for a true freshman to see the field really at any time?
KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, we talked about that the other day. We have five, six guys in the mix there at that position. I've been consistent in just saying he's impressed us since he got here, and Arland Bruce the same thing.
Really nice play today, and that was a beautiful throw, beautiful pattern and big play for us. That's something hopefully we can continue to build on. I'll compliment Arland, too, because that looked like a dead play when he came around that sweep and then he made something out of nothing there.
Those are two young guys that we really have high hopes for, and it's going to help their confidence having that opportunity today.
Q. Can you talk about the adversity your team faced and how you were able to overcome that today?
KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, at halftime we're behind and not playing great, quite frankly. A lot of our own doing, some of the things, especially that field position. We put the defense out there twice on short fields.
It is what it is, and you've got to live with it, and I just told the guys, that's why we play 60 minutes. We always talk about that. Everybody does. But let's play the full 60 and let's try to clean up the things that we weren't doing well and see if we can come up with something maybe a little bit better.
Our guys rallied and they just kept playing, so it's a credit to them. Like I said, especially in that third quarter we started getting a little momentum, a little energy, and good things were happening in all three phases, which we're better when we're doing that.
Q. Connor Colby got the start at guard; any thoughts on how he performed, how Justin Britt is, if he's going to be back shortly?
KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, we thought Justin would be able to go today. He had a little bit of an injury on Wednesday I guess it was, so we thought he'd be able to go, and just couldn't. Threw Conner in there. I thought we were going to rotate them anyway, if not start Connor, because Justin missed a little bit of time.
I don't think it's anything too serious, at least -- I'm not a doctor but I don't think it is. I think with a little bit of time he'll be ready to go.
For Connor, it's kind of like Keagan; this is good experience every snap he gets right now. He's done a lot of good things since we got started, even in the spring. But every snap is going to be important for him.
Q. With the short week coming up this weekend, a lot of travel, does that affect how you prepared for the game today
-- does that affect the week, the previous week?
KIRK FERENTZ: Well, one thing we've talked to our guys about, not this Saturday but the last two Saturdays have been warm. Last weekend ended up being warmer than we would have thought or was expected and then the week before it was obviously very hot, so we tried to talk to them about being smart and realizing that this takes a toll on you.
Now we're facing a short week. Today wasn't too bad as far as heat. But we practiced normal last week. Maybe just gave them a little break only because we had played two hot games, and one thing at least we've had a lot of practice now in these short weeks, and I think we had one last year plus one that had election day in there, so it was like a shorter week.
So we've had a lot of experience with that, and I think we have a good plan, but we've got to go out and execute that and we've got to get better in practice, too. That's the biggest thing right now.
Q. Do you ever lay into your team at halftime? Have you ever been that kind of guy?
KIRK FERENTZ: I can think of a game. It's been 20 years, 21 years. I think Jay Hilgenberg commented on it; he was honorary captain. But it was more about we were kind of sleepwalking, but I think we were not quite sure we could do things at that point.
As a rule, that's not usually the approach unless we're just playing… I think our guys were trying today and they had practiced well but it just wasn't clicking for us.
Q. What did you say? What was your message at the break?
KIRK FERENTZ: We're in a game, and I think they all are aware of that, fully aware of that since we're losing, but we're in a 60-minute game, too, and it's in our hands, so there's no magic here. We've just got to go out and play better. We've got to quit helping the opponent, which is a huge part of winning, and then we've got to do something for ourselves, too.
But I mean, the coaches do a great job. They're the ones who do most of the talking at halftime. They give the guys the adjustments, the plan, and then I just give them a 30-second yabba-dabba-doo and then we're out of there. That's kind of it.
Q. One mediocre half has gotten a lot of teams beaten. What's the difference with you guys?
KIRK FERENTZ: We've witnessed it here, right, in Kinnick and a couple other places the last 20 plus years. I started the talk a week ago, week ago Monday before Kent State. I just kind of cited some all-time disappointing games.
It's about the team. We've got a lot of young guys on our team but we have a lot of veteran guys, and I've been saying that pretty consistently, that I think really they believe and they're trying to do their best. I mentioned the Jack Campbell, Benson and now Justin is catching up lot. He got to play a lot today, and he's catching up.
So we've got a lot of guys that have played and have some experience, have that confidence, and those are the guys that are going to lead us.
Charlie Jones today was huge. Just even complimented him publicly to our team a week ago Wednesday, and I know Ken was worried about that, thought he might tank it, but every time he was out there on those punt returns trying to score, using good judgment and then trying to score.
The guys that have played have had some success and I think are helping lead everybody else.
Q. A lot more throws downfield; what really was behind that?
KIRK FERENTZ: Part of it's the coverage you're seeing and the way they were playing us, we just felt like that might be… things were pretty crowded there in the middle, and we thought maybe we could isolate some guys outside. It was good to have some success there certainly.
I think you've heard me say it before, winning is never easy, and that certainly was the case today. First and foremost, we are happy to get the victory, and finish the month 4-0.
Proud of our guys; they've done a good job that way.
Our goal each and every week is to win the game first and foremost and then hopefully improve.
There were some up-and-down moments with that certainly, but especially in the third quarter we saw some growth and good things. We certainly got stress, which is going to help us, and certainly credit Colorado State for the way they played. They came in here to win the football game, and their guys really played hard and did a lot of good things.
As I said on Tuesday, as well, their tight end is an impressive player, and you see guys on film and you're impressed with them, and then sometimes you get on the field and it's either maybe not as impressed or more impressed, and certainly in his case I'd say even more impressed. He's the real deal; just a tremendous football player. I have a lot of respect for him, and again, their whole football team and their approach.
Give our defense a lot of credit today, what they did especially in the second half, kind of buckling down. Jack Campbell did a great job, was all over the place. A lot of good efforts out there and some good team football in that third quarter, but then just a lot of missed opportunities, too, whether it was some things on special teams that didn't look so good, the turnovers was a huge factor both ways, a chance to go in and score and then set them up with a really short field.
Third down was not stellar for us, that's for sure, and then even when we score a touchdown and then we get a penalty. Next thing you know, they have the ball at midfield after we score.
That was kind of emblematic or symbolic of the whole thing. Also, we tried to run around play down there at our end and put the thing on the ground and ended up, whatever it was, 2nd and 30 or something like that.
Just a lot of things that we're going to have to get cleaned up here. The interesting part, I thought we had a really good week of preparation. I thought our guys were ready to go, and it didn't show up on the field.
Got a short week ahead of us right now. That gives us one more challenge, but again, happy to be 4-0, and for us it's as simple as right now we started out it's a seven-game schedule, now it's down to three (before Iowa's bye week), so that's kind of how we're looking at it, and then we'll assess things after that, and starting tomorrow the only thing that's going to matter is the next six days because things are going to happen fast for us.
I'll throw it out for questions.
Q. How much has Keagan shown that big play ability that we saw today, and especially when it's tough for a true freshman to see the field really at any time?
KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, we talked about that the other day. We have five, six guys in the mix there at that position. I've been consistent in just saying he's impressed us since he got here, and Arland Bruce the same thing.
Really nice play today, and that was a beautiful throw, beautiful pattern and big play for us. That's something hopefully we can continue to build on. I'll compliment Arland, too, because that looked like a dead play when he came around that sweep and then he made something out of nothing there.
Those are two young guys that we really have high hopes for, and it's going to help their confidence having that opportunity today.
Q. Can you talk about the adversity your team faced and how you were able to overcome that today?
KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, at halftime we're behind and not playing great, quite frankly. A lot of our own doing, some of the things, especially that field position. We put the defense out there twice on short fields.
It is what it is, and you've got to live with it, and I just told the guys, that's why we play 60 minutes. We always talk about that. Everybody does. But let's play the full 60 and let's try to clean up the things that we weren't doing well and see if we can come up with something maybe a little bit better.
Our guys rallied and they just kept playing, so it's a credit to them. Like I said, especially in that third quarter we started getting a little momentum, a little energy, and good things were happening in all three phases, which we're better when we're doing that.
Q. Connor Colby got the start at guard; any thoughts on how he performed, how Justin Britt is, if he's going to be back shortly?
KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, we thought Justin would be able to go today. He had a little bit of an injury on Wednesday I guess it was, so we thought he'd be able to go, and just couldn't. Threw Conner in there. I thought we were going to rotate them anyway, if not start Connor, because Justin missed a little bit of time.
I don't think it's anything too serious, at least -- I'm not a doctor but I don't think it is. I think with a little bit of time he'll be ready to go.
For Connor, it's kind of like Keagan; this is good experience every snap he gets right now. He's done a lot of good things since we got started, even in the spring. But every snap is going to be important for him.
Q. With the short week coming up this weekend, a lot of travel, does that affect how you prepared for the game today
-- does that affect the week, the previous week?
KIRK FERENTZ: Well, one thing we've talked to our guys about, not this Saturday but the last two Saturdays have been warm. Last weekend ended up being warmer than we would have thought or was expected and then the week before it was obviously very hot, so we tried to talk to them about being smart and realizing that this takes a toll on you.
Now we're facing a short week. Today wasn't too bad as far as heat. But we practiced normal last week. Maybe just gave them a little break only because we had played two hot games, and one thing at least we've had a lot of practice now in these short weeks, and I think we had one last year plus one that had election day in there, so it was like a shorter week.
So we've had a lot of experience with that, and I think we have a good plan, but we've got to go out and execute that and we've got to get better in practice, too. That's the biggest thing right now.
Q. Do you ever lay into your team at halftime? Have you ever been that kind of guy?
KIRK FERENTZ: I can think of a game. It's been 20 years, 21 years. I think Jay Hilgenberg commented on it; he was honorary captain. But it was more about we were kind of sleepwalking, but I think we were not quite sure we could do things at that point.
As a rule, that's not usually the approach unless we're just playing… I think our guys were trying today and they had practiced well but it just wasn't clicking for us.
Q. What did you say? What was your message at the break?
KIRK FERENTZ: We're in a game, and I think they all are aware of that, fully aware of that since we're losing, but we're in a 60-minute game, too, and it's in our hands, so there's no magic here. We've just got to go out and play better. We've got to quit helping the opponent, which is a huge part of winning, and then we've got to do something for ourselves, too.
But I mean, the coaches do a great job. They're the ones who do most of the talking at halftime. They give the guys the adjustments, the plan, and then I just give them a 30-second yabba-dabba-doo and then we're out of there. That's kind of it.
Q. One mediocre half has gotten a lot of teams beaten. What's the difference with you guys?
KIRK FERENTZ: We've witnessed it here, right, in Kinnick and a couple other places the last 20 plus years. I started the talk a week ago, week ago Monday before Kent State. I just kind of cited some all-time disappointing games.
It's about the team. We've got a lot of young guys on our team but we have a lot of veteran guys, and I've been saying that pretty consistently, that I think really they believe and they're trying to do their best. I mentioned the Jack Campbell, Benson and now Justin is catching up lot. He got to play a lot today, and he's catching up.
So we've got a lot of guys that have played and have some experience, have that confidence, and those are the guys that are going to lead us.
Charlie Jones today was huge. Just even complimented him publicly to our team a week ago Wednesday, and I know Ken was worried about that, thought he might tank it, but every time he was out there on those punt returns trying to score, using good judgment and then trying to score.
The guys that have played have had some success and I think are helping lead everybody else.
Q. A lot more throws downfield; what really was behind that?
KIRK FERENTZ: Part of it's the coverage you're seeing and the way they were playing us, we just felt like that might be… things were pretty crowded there in the middle, and we thought maybe we could isolate some guys outside. It was good to have some success there certainly.
