On the biggest takeaway from the Indiana game

I mean, first, I thought our kids fought to the very end. The effort, the attitudes, the togetherness, you could see the culture and who we are as a group, you know, united front, working towards one goal. You really saw that, you know, those guys took a team that had averaged 48 points a game or something like that and blown out everybody by two touchdowns and they took them to the wire. So I was really proud of the kids and how they did that, but obviously, you know, the most important thing is to win. And defensively, I thought the second half was an elite performance, completely shut down that offense. I think they had 56 yards of total offense. And I thought defensively, they did an outstanding job. We had a couple of big plays in the first half, but the staff adjusted, the players adjusted, and they played really well. Offensively, just wasn't good enough for us to win the game.

On the adjustments made on defense

Yeah, I mean, some of the fronts on third down, we did a couple of show looks to show them the pressure from one side and bring it from the other. And, you know, we got there with four-man adjustments and did a really good job. I thought the staff did a really good job of just messing with their protection because they hadn't given up a lot of sacks. They hadn't given up a lot of pressures and we hit the quarterback a lot. And the coverage, the coverages were so good, so tight. We mixed up the coverages in the back end and did a really good job. So that kept the quarterback off balance.

On TJ Guy's performance

Yeah, he played with a super fire. It was crazy. He was the guy that, in the locker room, he was telling the younger guys, remember how this feels. You know, remember what this feels like so we'd never feel this ever again. And he's like, you know, guys that were here last year, you guys didn't go through the pain that we felt before. And that stuck in my mind of a guy that's assembled himself as a true leader on this team. You just watched him play, he played fast, he played physical, and did a really good job playing within his job of the defense and made some plays.

On getting a stop on the first drive on defense

It was huge, because you look at the past two games, Oregon, those guys went down and scored. Michigan State went down and missed a field goal. So, you know, holding them to five plays, I think, on the first drive was really, really big for us. I think those guys just peddled down. Obviously, I thought the play-calling was really good, and those guys just executed at a high level. So it was huge, and to watch the offense get the ball and then go down, you know, you just, you gotta go punch it in the end zone. That's the biggest piece that we have to fix, because it was a well-sustained drive. But the defense getting that confidence for them, and really, it permeated through the whole team.

On how the pressures impacted Kurtis Rourke

Yeah, a lot, I mean, there's a couple clips in the second half, and we did, I don't know if we got the second, we might have got the second, but the pocket just compresses, it compresses. The D tackles are in his lap, the edge guys, and I just like, man, this is just like, this is beauty, this is a masterpiece, and that's what I want it to look like all the time, and I met with the defense, and I said, this is just, this is a beautiful thing that we have to continue to do throughout the rest of these games, and the year, and the rest of this time here, and that's what we want to do.

On a fast start in the second half

No doubt, and the credit to Zeke, man. He doesn't get enough credit. I mean, that guy's played corner for two games, and to do what he's been doing against some really, really good players has been awesome, so credit to him, but it was a huge, huge play in the half.

On Zeke Berry's transition from playing nickel corner to boundary corner with Will Johnson out

Yeah, I mean, I've never been nimble enough to play outside in corner or nickel, but I can only imagine a similar comparison with me would be if I was playing inside and I had to go play tackle. You just have a lot more space to deal with, so for him, it's been pretty cool to watch him do that.

On Will Johnson's status

He's working towards it. He's gonna try to, you know, he wants to play, and he got to running a little bit this week, and so we'll see how he feels as we go into next week.

On Brandyn Hillman's love of football and contact

He craves it. He really craves hitting people. He's been that way ever since he's been here. You've seen the flashes of talent, but to watch him do it on the game days in a big environment, a great stage, has been really cool to watch, and excited to watch him grow even more.

On the youth giving confidence that the secondary will continue to play at a high level

Yeah, I think the biggest confidence builder is to watch guys get better throughout the year, and there's always the piece of we wanna be perfect. We wanna eliminate all the big plays, but to watch those young guys play and make plays on Saturdays has been really good.

On Jaydon Hood earning more playing time

Yeah, I mean, just the way he practices and his focus. He's always completely locked in doing his job, and you always wanna have four backers to rotate in there, and he just does a good job when he gets in there stopping the run and blitzing, and he just keeps getting better.

On the first drive stalling out on offense

Yeah, I mean, it really comes down to moving guys up front. We had some runs that just got jammed up in front, couldn't get enough movement to get the ball in the end zone, and we've gotta do a better job of doing that.

On Colston Loveland not getting involved much against Indiana

Yeah, I mean, part of it was, you know, they're always, there's eyes wherever 18 is, so guys are always spotted on him, but we just gotta continue to move him around so that he can't touch the football.

On dealing with situations where on fourth in short near midfield

Yeah, we call it three-way, right? You got a chance to punt it, go for it, or kick a field goal, and we have different mechanisms that allow me to sometimes do two in one, you know? So right there, we had a play called, and if they gave us the perfect look, we could've ran it, but they didn't give us the look, so we tried to get him to jump offsides, and then said, okay, we'll take the penalty and pin him deep because of what the defense just did, and ironically, we pinned him deep, and then Zeke got the pick, so it ended up working out well.

On Gio El-Hadi's status

He's doing okay. He'll be probably a little bit limited this week, and it's good with the bye week, and then probably back to more next week.

On Andrew Sprague coming in with some juice

It's not surprising. Guys like him, guys like Blake Frazier, very excited about those guys being a part of that room because they have the juice, they have that want to, and they have a little bit about them that just because they're freshmen doesn't mean you can push them around, so was super excited to see him do that.

On how close the offensive line is to pick up the stunts and twists

Yeah, I mean, my comment to them, like it can't be in the fourth quarter when we pick them up, because that's when we did, and then we scored that last drive. We've got to be able to get that fixed in practice and carry that over the game, because those looks that we got in the game were things that we worked in practice, but we've got to be able to do that at a higher level in the game.

On Kalel Mullings' status

Yeah, Kalel really, I mean, he's just had a lot of carries, so working through stuff, but also Ben practiced really well and wanted to get him in the game, so a little bit of both.

On whether he felt the team showed like he thought they would

Yeah, I mean, from an attitude, the way they worked, the relentlessness, absolutely, obviously from an execution standpoint, not where we want to be, but again, proud of how they fought.

On Dominic Zvada

I mean, he's, I was just talking with JB today, he's probably as good as I've been around. I mean, not only is he just kicking the three, but he's kicking, I mean, he kicked that one from 56 with room, and he has such a confidence and aura about him when he does it that you feel like, okay, the ball's on the 40. Most people say, all right, you can punt him. Now he's like, coach, put me out there, I got you. Like, the confidence that the kid has, and he does it in practice, he does it every single day.

On whether to kick a 50+-yard field goal makes a decision harder

Yeah, I mean, so there's that line of when the game is, what type, you know, I think when we punted it, it was 17 to three, when we kicked it, I think we were at six, so we drove again, and I just felt like, all right, we needed to get, we needed to try to get some points on the board. So, I think it also, like, the part of the game, how your defense is playing, those things, all that stuff plays into the game.

On how the second bye week differs from the first

I think the biggest thing is, like, yeah, you're trying to get better, but you really have to focus on the things you need to do to help yourself win. You know, we got Northwestern next week, and then we've got that team down south the week after. So, I told the staff today, like, just, you know, our only job right now is to go win these two games, and not think about anything else, and we got to go get better this week. So, go put together the best plans we've ever put together for Northwestern, and have our thought processes of Ohio State.

On what he wants to see from the team coming out of the bye week

Yeah, I want to continue the juice, the energy, because it's easy for, and it's human nature, a lot of guys, you're 5-5, you're not where you want to be. So it's human nature for people to just, you know, coast and think about the next steps, and think about what they should do next. I've got to talk to all the guys that are possible high draft picks, and there's zero thought process of that, and all those guys want to do is go win, and that's the cool thing about this team, and the people around here, and so our job now is just to go try to win.

On the second bye week impacting recruiting

Yeah, I mean, it just gives you another chance to go out and see people, continue the relationships, and the thing that's undervalued nowadays is senior film, so watching senior film is a huge piece, because we've created a database of people that have gotten really, really good in their senior years that are actually better than guys that are rated above them, quote, unquote, so those are the guys that we'll start to dig into even more, we've had relationships with them, and be able to go see.

On the difficulties of this year and what he's learned

Yeah, I mean, super difficult, because I'm a competitor, and I don't like losing at all, never have, never will, so for me, it's not been, it's been fun, because I have the players, and I have the staff, and I have, I get to walk in here and be a part of this great university, but it hasn't been fun, because, you know, you don't wanna let anybody down, you don't wanna let the players down, you don't wanna let the fans, the university, the alumni, your family, so I think about that tirelessly, sometimes I'll sleep over it, but I think that's part of it, and that's part of the job, my job now is to make sure that we continue in the right direction, and we will.

On the quarterback position moving forward

Yeah, I mean, I think Davis still gives us the best chance to win, and Alex still has a role, you know, he came in there in the second half, ran the quarterback power, and got a first down, got a real good run, obviously had the fumble, and he's just gotta, you know, the goal line play, he's gotta be better on his read. Because if he goes outside with Myles Hinton, he probably scores, and we're not, you know, we're in a different conversation today, so all those things are huge, so they've gotta play at a better level. I thought Davis, you know, overall was good, too much pressure on his face, and gotta clean those things up.

On seeing things he can build on against Indiana

Yeah, I mean, definitely see the receivers make, starting to make more plays, which is good, obviously, Colston's Colston, the guys up front fought, but we just gotta be better in the run game to sustain that, and Davis, what you see is a guy that just isn't scared, and he goes out there and competes and gives everything he's got every game, and that's all you can ask.

On what Veteran's Day means for him

Means a lot. My dad's retired Air Force, so he was a Master Sergeant, and means a lot for me, so big shout out to all the veterans out there, and Papa Moore, love ya, and just continue on to salute them in any way possible we can.

On whether he bounced around as a kid being in an Air Force family

Yeah, I was born in Texas, I went from Texas to Panama, Panama to California, California to England, England to New Jersey, New Jersey to Kansas, and so, I've been in a lot of places, I don't remember the younger years, like the Panama and the England a little bit, but I've spent most of my time in New Jersey and Kansas.

On the fondest memory of his dad

I think just the opportunities to see him. There's some crazy memories of him being in Iraq, because he went to Iraq for four years, and Qatar for another four, so those weren't as fun, because they were a little scary, worrying about him every single day, and not knowing whether you'd hear his voice or not, so those were rough times for me and my mom, but just the times of being around him, and actually we drove from New Jersey to Kansas in a little Geo Metro, so my dad is 6'4", and I'm 6'4", so I was in the back, at that time I was only like 14 or 15, so I was like 5'11 or something, but it was just wild. It wouldn't matter. It didn't matter, it's like a small Geo Metro, purple too, because my mom's favorite color, so that's what we drove from New Jersey to Kansas in, so I remember that pretty vividly, because I was scrunched up at the back, and we were reading a map, no MapQuest, none of that yet, no phones, no Apple, so that was a little crazy, but thankful for them, they always support me in any moment, and just really appreciate my mom and dad.

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