Iowa coach postgame press conference
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00:00 So, you know, needless to say, disappointing game, disappointing outcome for us.
00:05 And, you know, we really never got to in a position to put any stress on our opponents.
00:10 So credit goes to them.
00:11 They got a really good football team and played pretty much flawless tonight.
00:15 I don't want to say we helped them along, but certainly turnovers didn't help and some penalties didn't help.
00:21 But outside of that, really not a lot to say.
00:25 You know, it's a tough loss for us.
00:26 We'll move forward and the biggest thing right now is, you know, we'll go back to work tomorrow.
00:31 So we can learn from this.
00:32 That's all about pushing forward.
00:34 A lot of football left right now.
00:35 That's going to be the key thing as we move on here.
00:38 So I'll throw it out for questions.
00:40 There's a lot of breakdown here at the boards, I guess, starting with offense.
00:43 But I think you had five or six yards the last three quarters.
00:47 What happened offensively where you couldn't get an establishing?
00:51 I mean, really the second half, nothing was good out there.
00:54 The second half, we're 10-0 at half of the wave, right?
00:57 I think so.
00:58 So, you know, it just -- I'll say one of those halves, but sometimes things just kind of snowball.
01:06 That's really what took place tonight.
01:09 The first half, you know, we started out, had the drive, and then, you know, the turnover right there.
01:15 And after that, we just seemed to lose momentum.
01:17 They're a good team.
01:18 They're a good defensive football team.
01:19 And, you know, we'll just go back to work.
01:21 Did you have much time tonight when we dropped back to pass that was a product of what they were doing defensively
01:27 or the offensive line communication?
01:29 No, I mean, they're a good front.
01:31 They've got a lot of really very athletic guys.
01:33 So I don't think it was necessarily the case in the first half so much.
01:37 But, you know, once you get in a behind position like that against a team like that
01:41 and they're able to pin their errors, it gets pretty tough.
01:44 And for the half, you know, it was a tough situation there too.
01:46 So, you know, we'll go back to work.
01:48 You've been in those types of situations before me, 2016 years, kind of similar in a way.
01:53 But what has been your approach in those cases as a coach to kind of let it marinate with the guys for a while?
01:59 How do you approach that?
02:01 We'll try to move on as fast as we can.
02:03 And '16 was not--didn't feel--this didn't feel as bad as if that's possible.
02:08 It felt like a little different scenario, a different type of game.
02:11 I mean, it was really--you know, it was a 10-up and half time game.
02:14 So a little different situation there.
02:16 But, you know, whether you lose by, you know, 30 or you lose by one, it's still--it's tough.
02:20 It's hard.
02:21 And I think the biggest thing, again, we'll try to learn from it.
02:26 We'll get through the tape quick tomorrow, and then we're going to move forward
02:29 and focus on next week, and that's really all that's going to matter at this stage.
02:32 Kirk, even though you never felt like you got the chance to put stress on them,
02:36 how much of your offensive game plan did you really hide into the chance to get to
02:39 because you kind of put the most stress on them?
02:41 You know, once you get behind--first half, that wasn't the case at all.
02:44 It wasn't anybody's ballgame at that point.
02:47 So once the second half started rolling downhill, it's a whole different situation.
02:52 But, yeah, we just weren't getting things done, you know,
02:56 really on either side of the ball, and that's what it is.
03:00 Back-to-back games now where you're starting quarterback,
03:02 you've completed less than half of the passes.
03:04 What's the plan?
03:06 What can you do in terms of revitalizing this past game?
03:09 Yeah, I mean, nothing looked good tonight, I mean, really.
03:12 So, you know, we'll go back to the board tomorrow and just push forward.
03:16 We've got good players.
03:17 We've got good young people.
03:19 And I think we're on a good football team that we clearly have work to do.
03:23 Kirk, that first half point is coming off of, you know, Eric Fumble.
03:27 How critical were those turnovers at that point in the game?
03:30 Yeah, I mean, you play a team like this, especially.
03:32 They've been clean all season long, so we knew that coming in.
03:36 And the penalty, you know, obviously it hurt us.
03:38 They called a leaping on us.
03:40 Which, you know, took a blocked field goal off the board
03:43 and gave them a chance for a touchdown.
03:46 So, any mistakes against a really high-quality opponent.
03:49 And Penn State, you know, they're three games into it, coming into tonight.
03:52 They looked really good tonight.
03:53 They played extremely well.
03:55 Credit to them, and, you know, we've got work to do.
03:59 Was there something defensively that they were doing
04:01 that just didn't seem planned for, or was it just execution?
04:04 I think, you know, from where I was standing and all of us in discussion,
04:08 no, they did what we thought they did.
04:10 They're very talented, very athletic.
04:13 You saw that.
04:14 And good in cover, so, yeah, they made it tough on us.
04:18 You needed to get off the field,
04:19 especially a couple times in the second half, it didn't happen.
04:23 What were they doing?
04:25 Or were they doing any kind of thing you weren't prepared for?
04:28 Yeah, I don't think so, no.
04:29 I mean, it's a combination of, you know, again, we weren't sustaining drives,
04:32 which, you know, at some point it starts wearing on you a little bit defensively.
04:36 But, you know, first possession, they took it and drove it however many yards,
04:41 70, 75 yards.
04:43 So, you know, at some point you've got to get off the field too.
04:47 But they're a big physical team.
04:48 They've got a, you know, a new back coming in.
04:50 They're a big offensive line.
04:51 They've got two good running backs.
04:52 Quarterback does a good job, big receivers.
04:54 So, you know, again, this is just one of those games where not much looked good,
04:59 not much went well, and, you know, we had to put it behind us,
05:02 learn from it, and then put it behind us.
05:04 What's that conversation like with Cade in the middle of that offensive
05:08 outage like?
05:09 Are you trying to keep them in -- I don't want to say that's an okay,
05:14 but are you trying to keep the spirits up or what sort of message are you
05:18 trying to give them?
05:19 Well, same with everybody.
05:21 You just got to keep playing and try to find some things.
05:24 You know, at some point you've got to change the momentum,
05:27 offensively, defensively, or a special team.
05:30 So, yeah, there's no special message.
05:33 There's no secret sauce to this whole thing.
05:35 We just got to play a little bit better, execute better,
05:37 and there's always conversation about, you know, what are you seeing,
05:39 what do you think might be good, that type of thing.
05:42 That's win, lose, or draw, you're doing that.
05:44 But it's just, you know, there's not a lot you can say.
05:47 What is the concern level for you?
05:50 It's -- tonight we didn't score points, though, you know,
05:53 and we didn't stop them on defense.
05:55 So, it's not a good night.
05:57 My concern level is -- I don't know.
06:00 I don't know.
06:01 I mean, I don't have a concern level, if that makes any sense,
06:04 other than we got shot out tonight, and that's something.
06:06 There's not much good about that.
06:07 There was a -- after a mishap on the conference, they had a 4-1 sneak.
06:12 The replay showed it looked like you were short.
06:15 Yeah, we thought so, too.
06:17 Did you get any message from your PD?
06:19 They said they looked at it, so, you know.
06:21 Oh, the official did?
06:23 Supposedly, yeah.
06:24 Did you think about challenges in that area?
06:28 You know, challenges on short-arrived plays are really --
06:32 I mean, it's hard for anybody to see,
06:34 so I think you've probably buttoned the on-draw on that one.
06:36 Schematically, do you see any issues with what you're doing offensively,
06:40 or is it just a matter of continuing to do the same thing?
06:44 We're not going to, you know, create a new playbook, is that what you're suggesting?
06:48 Or just -- I know that you aren't a fan of wholesale changes,
06:52 but is there anything schematically that you think needs to change?
06:55 I'm not a wholesale believer in just, you know,
06:58 changing because you had a bad game.
07:00 It was not a good game tonight.
07:02 I think we've made progress in three weeks.
07:04 Tonight was disappointing, but a really good football team.
07:06 We'll keep it in perspective.
07:08 And, you know, we'll evaluate things over the course of 12 games.
07:11 We've still got eight to play, so that's, you know, not really --
07:14 we've got quality guys.
07:16 We've made improvement.
07:18 I think we're doing a lot of things really well.
07:20 Not tonight necessarily, but, no,
07:22 we're not going to just start over again in any case.
07:25 I don't think we've ever done that.
07:27 With the poor quality of K, was that just simply, you know,
07:32 the team was kind of lost at that point and let D.B. get in?
07:35 He was cramping up a little bit in his hand.
07:37 And at that point, yeah, I think it's a smart thing to do, certainly.
07:40 Okay, thanks, Coach.
07:42 Okay, thank you.