INDIANA UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 15, 2022

Tom Allen

Press Conference

Maryland 38

Indiana 33

TOM ALLEN: Tough game. Proud of our guys for playing hard. Just the thing that sticks out to me is minus three in the turnover margin. Don't turn the ball over three times, get takeaways, really was the difference in the game.

Played good enough, well enough to win, but not in those areas. That's what it comes down to in my opinion.

Questions.

Q. I know you talk a lot about finishing. In the fourth quarter you gave up big plays on defense. How disappointing was it, they bring their backup quarterback, they have a couple big runs?

TOM ALLEN: Very disappointing. I think that last run, it was third-and-long. They ran the football. Kind of trying to stop some different things. Obviously have that call back, you have a different game. At the same time you got to get him on the ground.

So it's still a run play. Then he had the long quarterback run on a short yardage situation. I thought that was bad execution on our part.

Disappointing. To me you put yourself in a tough spot, the defense has to step up. That really to me was a frustrating thing, without question.

Q. Going back to the turnovers, did you feel it was reflective of an offense that could find its rhythm at times but couldn't find the consistent groove?

TOM ALLEN: Yeah, I mean, the first one was a tip ball. The second was a 50/50 ball. Yeah, they were the first plays. Gave them momentum right out of the start of each half, which is tough.

Then obviously the final fumble. Fighting for yards. We work so hard on ball security every day, to get a helmet on the ball.

Yeah, it's frustrating, without question. But got to do a better job protecting the football. Takeaways, big deal on defense. Protecting the ball is a huge deal on offense.

Q. You gave up 14 points in the first total of three minutes of the first and second half, which puts you in a huge hole, yet still in the game. What do you have to do to stop making those mistakes?

TOM ALLEN: There's no question, yeah. So frustrating for me. Haven't had this type of pattern continue like this. This is just hard to put a finger on.

Obviously we've changed so many different things practice-wise, tried to emphasize the strong starts, big things, giving up points.

To me we got to go back and continue to try to look at different ways to try and create. Like I said, it's not that our guys weren't ready to play. They played hard, were locked in. This one today kind of seemed not able to come up with the play on defense to get a stop. Then you give the ball away right out of the gate, it kind of sets everything off to a negative tone.

They are part of the game, can't separate them. They are frustrating, no doubt.

Q. There was one play where you had a stop basically and Monster gets called for the unsportsmanlike. What did you see there?

TOM ALLEN: I just don't see that call being made in that situation. That's my opinion, so... I just don't see it.

Q. Second game now without Cam and Jaylin. How do you think the defense is adapting to those losses? What areas do you need to see improvement?

TOM ALLEN: Yeah, I mean, you lose two elite players, it's hard. But other guys are stepping up. Yeah, it's made it more difficult, without a question.

But hopefully we get Jaylin back here. Has a chance to come back sooner probably than Cam. Hope we'd get him back here soon.

Yeah, we need those guys, no doubt about it. We need everybody. Brylan Lanier got a huge sack before half, which is huge for his confidence. His execution was tremendous on that play. We worked hard on that. Other guys are rising up and doing things.

Obviously it hurts to lose All-Big Ten guys. Cam was playing at All-American level in my opinion. You just don't replace guys like that.

Q. With Taulia, what was your game plan going in? When he went out, did you see it kind of change mentalities in your defense?

TOM ALLEN: We were trying to prevent the explosive pass plays. That's something he does really, really well. He creates them with his legs as well as just in the flow of the drop.

We had a hard time getting him on the ground. He's a really, really elusive guy. Has been that way every single week on tape. A really good offense, we knew that going in. Knew they were going to be challenging. One of the best receiver cores in the country. No question.

You when have a talented quarterback like that, with the combination, makes it tough. When you get a new guy in there, he played a little bit against Michigan. Came in that game, drove down and scored against Michigan. A little bit similar style in terms of we didn't think it would necessarily change. The quarterback runs a little bit more downhill than they were making guys miss.

We just didn't execute, in my opinion, in terms of the calls that was made for those situations where he broke free a little bit.

But, yeah, I mean, a guy goes down, another guy's got to step in and make plays. Obviously a little bit different style, but similar enough where we didn't think they were going to change things.

Q. (Question regarding Rod Carey.)

TOM ALLEN: I thought they played solid. I haven't watched the film. I saw some improvement, without question. I thought they were a big, physical defensive line that has pressured people. I thought they held up better in the pass protections, did some things to help them as well.

But, yeah, definitely a positive step in the right direction with that group. No question about it.

Q. We've talked over the season about the tackling continuing to be an issue. Another struggle today. What wasn't clicking today?

TOM ALLEN: I thought especially early on, I mean, we had several times where we had guys right there in the right position to make those plays. They got to finish 'em. Whether it's some of our corners trying to tackle their big backs, both of their backs are big and physical, that could be a physical mismatch in some ways. Still got to play with technique.

Man, we've worked extremely hard the last couple weeks on it. Saw some improvement last week. Disappointed in today.

They have good athletes. When you have more elite athletes, it makes it harder. The combination of power and quickness makes it tough.

Just continue to work on it. That's not going to change. Disappointed in that, for sure. Third down earlier in the game where we had the guy two, three yards behind the line, didn't get him on the ground. A couple of them are more of our older guys that we count on to do that.

Never going to cease to emphasize takeaways and tackling. Not getting enough takeaways and we didn't tackle good enough tonight. To me that's the disappointing part for our defense.

Q. You guys were up by three when Taulia went out. You just felt like you didn't execute that last stretch. Without having watched film, what specifically did you see go wrong?

TOM ALLEN: There were a couple quarterback runs, like I said, one in particular. To me the key one was the third-and-long where we had a chance to get off the field and we didn't. They ran the football. We had a pass pressure called and they ran it.

Sometimes you're trying to decide what they're going to do. If you have a run call, if you're going to give them too much time against talented receivers, if you don't get any pressure on the quarterback...

Just part of it. You have to make decisions. I wish we could have that call back, without question. But to me it's just about having a finishing mindset, finishing mentality. We had ourselves in position to do that and we didn't do that. That's what makes this really, really disappointing.

Appreciate it. Have a good night. LEO.