Iowa players on offense
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00:00 you take out of 21 that lesson in this game before a lot of you guys were in
00:04 that game what can you glean from that to kind of maybe change your approach to
00:10 this game but just how you go out there? Yeah I would say we gave our all two
00:16 years ago as well right and that's how the game turned out so how much more
00:20 could we do from two years ago to give us a better chance to win this year? Is
00:25 there anything specific though is it just is it completely different do you
00:29 go in there just saying you know that really has no effect on this or are
00:33 there lessons? What lessons do you take from that? It just seemed like it was the
00:41 stage too big did you guys kind of get caught up I'm just grasping at stuff
00:46 here but just wondering. Yeah so I mean obviously Michigan's a very good team
00:51 right so we know that if we go into a game against a really good team and
00:55 we're not on our P's and Q's that could happen and we don't want that to happen
01:00 so we have to be more mentally locked in this week physically locked in
01:04 everything everything we got to be on our locked in as much as we possibly
01:08 can be to give us the best chance to win this Saturday. How much do you lean into
01:12 the underdog role and how much do you not want to get caught up in that? It's
01:18 been like that all year you know so it doesn't really affect us at this point
01:21 no one expects us to win but that's how we've had it all year that's how we'd
01:26 like it at this point so just got to keep it going. You like it that way? A
01:30 little bit. How do you explain your success in post games? I mean Torrey says a lot of
01:35 its experience and belief. Mm-hmm yeah that's definitely part of it I think we
01:42 have a bunch of guys that believe in our that believe in ourselves and know that
01:45 we could we can win those games we prepare all year long for games like
01:50 that you know that's our big thing is taking teams to deep water and when we
01:53 get them in those situations like that we know teams aren't as comfortable as
01:56 we are we expect games to be like that you know we like when games get tough
02:00 like that when games get grimy and who could out tough the other team by the
02:04 end of the game you know we feel like teams start to get softer at that point
02:08 and we come alive at those points so if we can make a game like if we can make
02:12 the game like that on Saturday I'm very confident ourselves. Good question
02:15 because everybody knows it's a Big Ten Championship game and some games are
02:19 bigger than others but at the same time it's yeah it's 120 yards long the field
02:24 we're still gonna be using a brown ball nothing is really gonna change yeah
02:27 there's gonna be different matchups and things like that but it's really just
02:30 being business as usual you know from a logistical point of view we're obviously
02:33 going up there Friday and leaving Sunday so there'll be a few things different
02:36 you know it's gonna be a little bit of a circus like environment in Indianapolis
02:40 in general so we've yeah we've spoken about those things but in terms of
02:42 football nothing's really changed it's just Michigan's our opponent this week
02:46 and we're gonna do everything we can to beat them. One thing that's changed you're
02:49 gonna be punting inside how do you like that idea talk about that a little bit.
02:53 I love it but I think the biggest thing is just not getting too ahead of
02:55 yourself you know a lot of the time you can get a little bit ahead of yourself
03:00 in the sense that I'm an Adoma I don't have to worry about whether I'm just
03:03 gonna try and hammer balls as far and high as I can and that's when you know
03:06 things can go a little bit of stray it's kind of like when you're out on the golf
03:09 course when you try and swing too hard timings a little off and you kind of
03:13 spray it off to the side which I do a fair bit yeah obviously really excited
03:18 to be able to play in a dome this will only be the second time doing it so yeah
03:22 I'm excited. How do you dial in with you said the circus before there's lights a
03:26 lot of TV cameras how do you dial into the. I mean it's big-time football you're
03:30 kind of used to that I mean there's gonna be fans kind of walking around
03:35 amongst the city and things like that but that's also exciting it's exciting
03:39 for them you know they're very passionate die-hard fans they invest a
03:43 lot of energy and time and money as well so they deserve it as well and yeah yeah
03:48 we're really excited but it's another big-time football game we used to all
03:51 the lights camera action and things like that. I know you're not focused on the team but you're a
03:56 finalist for the Ray Guy award now. Yeah. What does that mean to you to have that kind of accolade?
04:03 I know last year you missed out. Yeah it's obviously pretty special you know I won't speak for every
04:10 Australian but you know you kind of come over here not really knowing what to
04:14 expect and a lot of Aussie guys give up a lot and a lot of time away from their
04:18 families and things like that so it's pretty special to kind of make the top
04:22 three because I've never done that before and it'll be even more special if
04:25 I'm fortunate enough to win it you know no one's at IRAs has ever done that and
04:29 I certainly like doing things that no one else has done so yeah it means a lot
04:33 but if you're not first you're last so yeah hopefully we can go out there and
04:39 win it all but yeah really the only one or accolade or trophy I'm kind of
04:43 worried about at the moment is the Big Ten Championship one this week that
04:47 yeah they haven't won for a while either so and I've never won so I'm really
04:50 excited for that but to answer your question it's obviously pretty special
04:52 because yeah like I said you give up a lot and it's kind of a little bit one of
04:57 those things that you know it's nice to be recognized for hard work and stuff
05:01 the attacking them in the run game is probably the biggest thing I would start
05:05 with and everything else just comes behind it obviously. They got pretty good
05:08 corners. Oh yeah they got they got some they got some solid solid corners but I
05:13 think I think we could handle it you know whether it's blocking on the
05:17 perimeter and things like that I think we're ready just watching the film and
05:20 seeing what those guys look like. You're in the Big Ten Championship your former
05:26 school is not. What do you think about that?
05:29 I don't really got no thoughts like no crazy like headline kind of thoughts it's
05:36 just it is what it is kind of just how it plays out so glad to be here though.
05:42 Why has Iowa been so successful in close games this year you guys seem to win all
05:46 the close ones. That's another good question I would just say our efforts to
05:52 finish like that is in our control like it's like a whole bunch of games that I
05:57 feel like nobody really expected to see how it kind of panned out so you know
06:02 just us guys kind of keeping the faith in each other and I would say that's the
06:06 only thing that kind of skyrocket us at the end of the game and just keeps us
06:10 going so yeah just the faith in our guys and just the effort and toughness to
06:14 finish. You guys seem so calm in close games. Has that come down from the coaches?
06:18 I feel like it's a whole team kind of thing like nobody on the sideline really
06:23 points fingers or anything like that it's just kind of like the next job like
06:27 we all just trying to get it we all like as a you know I'm saying the coaching
06:30 staff and you know the plays and everything like that the players and
06:33 everything which is all trying to win so it's just there's no no time to really
06:37 dwell on what happened already you know just keep going. How do you feel like
06:41 you've helped change the passing game make more viable your emergence do you
06:46 feel like that that's been the case? Yeah I would I would say in a way not to
06:52 my own horn but you know just I would say probably yards after the catch on
06:56 this simple stuff like the screens and stuff like that I think that's probably
07:00 a good thing that was bought to the team you know I mean just you know
07:08 reaching the perimeter and everything like that and making a move and
07:11 you know not allowing the first guy to tackle me and things like that so I
07:14 think that's important. I realize every team is different but Maryland scored 24
07:19 in Michigan two weeks ago Ohio State scored 24 in Michigan so it's not does
07:23 that give you confidence it's not necessarily an unbreakable defense? Oh
07:28 yeah 100% I would say it's more about us at the end of the day like just all in
07:35 all I would say is more about us it's not about the defense or anything like
07:39 that it's more about us and how we run our business. So as you've been getting
07:45 prepared for Michigan like are you guys seeing some things on tape where you're
07:48 like we can take advantage of that that's that's something that's going to
07:52 be served in your wheelhouse or are you just seeing challenge after challenge
07:55 after challenge? Oh no one-on-one coverage things like that those are
08:01 those are plays that it's up to us you know what I mean like probably just say
08:05 those are the small challenges and things like that I want to say as a
08:08 challenge is gonna be a football game you know what I mean definitely picking
08:12 out certain different different things that you know pick up on what we do best
08:16 against them you know that's just key to just watch a film in general so you know
08:22 but it's their challenges out there it's gonna be a good game they're a good team for sure.
08:26 Thanks.