NoelarBear
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2019
- Messages
- 676
- Reaction score
- 1,965
- Points
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Opening Statement...
“We will start with the positives. We didn’t turn the ball over against a really good defense. I
thought our guys fought incredibly hard and played incredibly tough. (Oregon) is a really good
football team that played pretty close to flawlessly tonight. We were going to have to have
some things go our way, and unfortunately, they didn’t. There were a lot of really good things
that came out of it, which gets overshadowed by the score. I’m proud of our guys and how hard they fought, scratched and clawed. There are no moral victories; I don’t believe in that, but I do look at the positives in everything that we do. That is my job first and foremost. I have a football team to coach. They’re hurt, and they’re disappointed because every single person
went into this game thinking that we could win the game. That is why I love coaching this team.
I wouldn’t want it any other way. I think one of the best examples of that is the final two
minutes. I went into the huddle, and I said ‘I want to see our culture on display because we
have done it all game.’ Then, they get a minus-three-yard play. No matter who was in the game.
We just didn’t play well enough to have a chance to win this game. We got one takeaway,
which was great. We did not turn the ball over. We just didn’t execute at a high enough level.
On the other side, I am not taking away from anything (Oregon) did. They played almost
flawlessly. (Dante Moore) is unbelievable. The throws he made tonight, tremendous. Those are
Heisman-like throws. He can run, he can throw, and they made some unbelievable catches. We
have to give credit. They made plays when they needed to, especially on third down. We would
be there to contest it, and they would catch it. They just played really well. I am sure Coach
(Dan) Lanning is going to say, ‘Well, we didn’t play this, and we didn’t do that,’ and rightfully, so.
Every coach looks at what they don’t do well, but that was one of the most complete games I
have watched them play. We had to make them earn it, and they definitely did. That is what a
top-six team in the country does. At this point in the year, you want them to play at that type of
level, and they did. We didn’t make it any easier on ourselves with a few things. We knew we
were going to have to tackle these guys really low, and I don’t think we did a very good job of
that tonight on defense. We just didn’t play well enough to win. When you go on the road to
play a top-six team, a playoff team that is really well coached, that has athletes everywhere.
Every single one of those guys can run. They can fly. Every position...they are big and strong,
and they are a very complete team in every sense of the word. Coach Lanning should be really
proud of his football team because they played really well tonight. We just didn’t play well
enough to be in the game consistently enough and long enough. I love our team and our
players, and I love how hard they fight, scratch, and claw. We just didn’t do enough to win. You
have to give Oregon a lot of credit. This is a really tough place to play and a really amazing
environment. Again, we didn’t play well enough to win.”
On defending the Oregon offense...
“I have to give (Oregon) credit. They designed a bunch of things to put you in space. They do
that to everybody. They gap you out. You make one guy miss in that gap, and you don’t take a
good angle. At times, your “X” isn’t as good as that “O,” it makes it miss, and there is a lot of
space. Your eyes have to be in the right spot; maybe somebody misdirected things. They make
you look at different people. Our guys have to be really disciplined to give us an opportunity.
You have to give them credit. They hit the hole really hard. They’re explosive. They’ve got great
athletes, and if you look up, they are going to get you on the ground, and they’re going to gain a lot of yards. That’s the best way I can describe it to you. It’s not like our guys are out of position,
but if the technique gets reached and turned, and that’s this gap, you’re out of a gap. He’s
fighting to get back in his gap, but he gets reached. It’s going to be a huge hole, and that is why
you have to also give them credit. There are times you get beat, and we got beat. We didn’t
beat ourselves with all of these things. We got beaten. You do everything you possibly can. You
can’t just say, ‘hey, we are going to put two guys on that guy. We are going to double-team that
guy.’ That is like fan words. It doesn’t make sense. You have to gap them out, and they have
athletes everywhere, which makes it really difficult for you. We had some success with it, and
at times, we weren’t very good at it. We just couldn’t get them off the field. I don’t think they
punted until the fourth quarter. I think that tells you everything there is to know. It’s not like
every time we were playing defense, we were out of position. We weren’t. We just didn’t make
a play here and there. You have to give (Oregon) credit, too, because at times they got us out of
position.”
On a potential turning point in the game...
“21-3...I don’t think that’s a turning point in the game. We kick a field goal...that’s 21-6 and two
possessions. I don’t think that’s a turning point at all. I think we got the ball down there. We
had a really good drive, kicked a field goal down two possessions, and we needed a stop. When
we opened the second half, we went all the way down the field for 15 plays and got a
touchdown.”
On conversations with the officials...
“I’m not going to talk about that. They have a job to do and I have a job to do. I have a ton of
respect for the guys that do their job: the referees. I coach the game. I don’t know what to tell
you. I fight for my team. I fight for my players. What do you want me to do? Stand there? I
don’t get paid to watch. I get paid to coach, so I get paid to fight for my team. I love fighting for
my team so I am going to keep doing it because I believe one thing and I’m going to make sure
that is heard. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. I think that’s the game of football,
NFL, college, high school. I’m passionate about our team. I’m passionate about how the game
goes, and I play to coach this game a long time. I’m not just doing it to do it.”
On closing the gap...
“We have to get better in every aspect of our game. They’re a really good football team. I’d love
to sit there and say we had some magic pixie dust that was going to make us play better but
(Oregon) executed at an incredibly high level today. That’s what a playoff-contending team
does. They’ve got every resource known to man but they also coach really hard, and they’re
really good coaches. When you combine that really good athlete with that really good coaching,
and that environment and that type of talent, that is what you see. Your question is really valid
and I wish I had a good answer for you. I have to watch the film, but I’d love to be able to close
the gap. We played Ohio State on the road, and got beat pretty good. Played Oregon on the
road and got beat pretty good. Iowa lost to Oregon and dropped one spot. I think that shows
how good Iowa is this year. Whether they’re our rival or not, they’re really good. We have a
really good football team, too, but we’re playing a lot of guys at times that really need this
experience and I have no problem with the investment piece of that. I wish I had all the
answers right now before watching the film. I’ll have more information for you next week. It’s
about getting better, that’s all it is. From tackling to execution, to the pitch and catch piece, all
of it.”
On Minnesota’s game plan against Oregon...
“I love the game plan: offense, defense, and special teams. We had two weeks to prepare for it.
(We) got our team out in space and showed them a lot of different stuff, but executing it is
another thing against a really good defense. I thought we were able to do that at times but
sometimes we weren’t able to do it. I really liked our game plan going in and the thought
process going in. Dante Moore executed really well on their first opening drive and now it’s 7-0
just like that. We have to start faster and it’s not because we’re not trying to start faster.
There’s reasons for that in the fundamentals and techniques of the game. We have to get a lot
of our players to be better at those things. (Oregon is) a really good football team and I can’t
take credit away from that. I would love to sit there and have all these reasons why, but they’re
really good. They’ve done that to pretty much everybody but we’ll respond from it.”
On Drake Lindsey’s performance...
“I have to go back and watch the film but he’s getting better every time he goes out and plays.
It might not be leaps and bounds better where he’s 24-for-25 for 350 yards against this defense
but every time he plays, he keeps getting better. He showed a ton of poise, made some great
throws today, made some great decisions and then there were some times he didn’t. The
intentional grounding...he can learn from that. It’s not that he made a bad decision. He threw
the ball and just needs to throw it with a little more arch. We know the escape, we know where
the end of the route is going to be, (and) if you’re going to throw it out of bounds, throw it a
little bit higher. Let Meke (Brockington) come into play. At least he’s around and close. There’s
so many things he’s going to keep learning. That’s why you invest in a freshman because you
know every time he goes out there, he’s going to get a little bit better. It’s not even that he’s
just going to get better and it’s going to show positively...even the things that he doesn’t do
well, he’s got to go through that. We can’t skip steps. Their quarterback played lights out but I
definitely thought there was some really, really good that Drake showed and a lot of positives
that we’ll be able to take from the game and also some things we’ll have to learn from pretty
quick.”
On Darius Taylor’s return...
“He’s one of our best players who’s been missing for more than half the year. We’re a different
offense when we have him in the game because he’s so dynamic. He can do a lot of different
things. I thought he ran the ball really hard and played behind his pads today. I thought he got
some hard yards when he ran it. We get a holding call with Jameson Geers early and that was
unfortunate. Those things are going to happen. Those are hustle plays, I’m okay with that. Even
in the pass game, getting him back consistently is really going to help our offense keep moving
forward. We played some really good defenses, and they’re really good defenses for a reason
because people aren’t putting up 500 yards of offense against them. We have to give them
credit. They take out of a lot of different things and they’re really good players.”
On message for the team...
“The message is that we will respond from this. We’re a really good football team playing really
good football teams and we’re going to learn everything we possibly can and respond this week
in practice That’s why I’m really proud of this team. They fight. They’re fun to coach because
they fight all the way to the end. We have guys not wanting to come out in the last six minutes.
Not wanting to come out of the game. There’s there that have a problem with people wanting
to come out of the game. I’m taking them out of the game based on my decisions. The message
was ‘row on, man.’ Put the oar back in the water and let’s go. There’s a lot to learn from and I
know they’re respond to it.”
“We will start with the positives. We didn’t turn the ball over against a really good defense. I
thought our guys fought incredibly hard and played incredibly tough. (Oregon) is a really good
football team that played pretty close to flawlessly tonight. We were going to have to have
some things go our way, and unfortunately, they didn’t. There were a lot of really good things
that came out of it, which gets overshadowed by the score. I’m proud of our guys and how hard they fought, scratched and clawed. There are no moral victories; I don’t believe in that, but I do look at the positives in everything that we do. That is my job first and foremost. I have a football team to coach. They’re hurt, and they’re disappointed because every single person
went into this game thinking that we could win the game. That is why I love coaching this team.
I wouldn’t want it any other way. I think one of the best examples of that is the final two
minutes. I went into the huddle, and I said ‘I want to see our culture on display because we
have done it all game.’ Then, they get a minus-three-yard play. No matter who was in the game.
We just didn’t play well enough to have a chance to win this game. We got one takeaway,
which was great. We did not turn the ball over. We just didn’t execute at a high enough level.
On the other side, I am not taking away from anything (Oregon) did. They played almost
flawlessly. (Dante Moore) is unbelievable. The throws he made tonight, tremendous. Those are
Heisman-like throws. He can run, he can throw, and they made some unbelievable catches. We
have to give credit. They made plays when they needed to, especially on third down. We would
be there to contest it, and they would catch it. They just played really well. I am sure Coach
(Dan) Lanning is going to say, ‘Well, we didn’t play this, and we didn’t do that,’ and rightfully, so.
Every coach looks at what they don’t do well, but that was one of the most complete games I
have watched them play. We had to make them earn it, and they definitely did. That is what a
top-six team in the country does. At this point in the year, you want them to play at that type of
level, and they did. We didn’t make it any easier on ourselves with a few things. We knew we
were going to have to tackle these guys really low, and I don’t think we did a very good job of
that tonight on defense. We just didn’t play well enough to win. When you go on the road to
play a top-six team, a playoff team that is really well coached, that has athletes everywhere.
Every single one of those guys can run. They can fly. Every position...they are big and strong,
and they are a very complete team in every sense of the word. Coach Lanning should be really
proud of his football team because they played really well tonight. We just didn’t play well
enough to be in the game consistently enough and long enough. I love our team and our
players, and I love how hard they fight, scratch, and claw. We just didn’t do enough to win. You
have to give Oregon a lot of credit. This is a really tough place to play and a really amazing
environment. Again, we didn’t play well enough to win.”
On defending the Oregon offense...
“I have to give (Oregon) credit. They designed a bunch of things to put you in space. They do
that to everybody. They gap you out. You make one guy miss in that gap, and you don’t take a
good angle. At times, your “X” isn’t as good as that “O,” it makes it miss, and there is a lot of
space. Your eyes have to be in the right spot; maybe somebody misdirected things. They make
you look at different people. Our guys have to be really disciplined to give us an opportunity.
You have to give them credit. They hit the hole really hard. They’re explosive. They’ve got great
athletes, and if you look up, they are going to get you on the ground, and they’re going to gain a lot of yards. That’s the best way I can describe it to you. It’s not like our guys are out of position,
but if the technique gets reached and turned, and that’s this gap, you’re out of a gap. He’s
fighting to get back in his gap, but he gets reached. It’s going to be a huge hole, and that is why
you have to also give them credit. There are times you get beat, and we got beat. We didn’t
beat ourselves with all of these things. We got beaten. You do everything you possibly can. You
can’t just say, ‘hey, we are going to put two guys on that guy. We are going to double-team that
guy.’ That is like fan words. It doesn’t make sense. You have to gap them out, and they have
athletes everywhere, which makes it really difficult for you. We had some success with it, and
at times, we weren’t very good at it. We just couldn’t get them off the field. I don’t think they
punted until the fourth quarter. I think that tells you everything there is to know. It’s not like
every time we were playing defense, we were out of position. We weren’t. We just didn’t make
a play here and there. You have to give (Oregon) credit, too, because at times they got us out of
position.”
On a potential turning point in the game...
“21-3...I don’t think that’s a turning point in the game. We kick a field goal...that’s 21-6 and two
possessions. I don’t think that’s a turning point at all. I think we got the ball down there. We
had a really good drive, kicked a field goal down two possessions, and we needed a stop. When
we opened the second half, we went all the way down the field for 15 plays and got a
touchdown.”
On conversations with the officials...
“I’m not going to talk about that. They have a job to do and I have a job to do. I have a ton of
respect for the guys that do their job: the referees. I coach the game. I don’t know what to tell
you. I fight for my team. I fight for my players. What do you want me to do? Stand there? I
don’t get paid to watch. I get paid to coach, so I get paid to fight for my team. I love fighting for
my team so I am going to keep doing it because I believe one thing and I’m going to make sure
that is heard. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. I think that’s the game of football,
NFL, college, high school. I’m passionate about our team. I’m passionate about how the game
goes, and I play to coach this game a long time. I’m not just doing it to do it.”
On closing the gap...
“We have to get better in every aspect of our game. They’re a really good football team. I’d love
to sit there and say we had some magic pixie dust that was going to make us play better but
(Oregon) executed at an incredibly high level today. That’s what a playoff-contending team
does. They’ve got every resource known to man but they also coach really hard, and they’re
really good coaches. When you combine that really good athlete with that really good coaching,
and that environment and that type of talent, that is what you see. Your question is really valid
and I wish I had a good answer for you. I have to watch the film, but I’d love to be able to close
the gap. We played Ohio State on the road, and got beat pretty good. Played Oregon on the
road and got beat pretty good. Iowa lost to Oregon and dropped one spot. I think that shows
how good Iowa is this year. Whether they’re our rival or not, they’re really good. We have a
really good football team, too, but we’re playing a lot of guys at times that really need this
experience and I have no problem with the investment piece of that. I wish I had all the
answers right now before watching the film. I’ll have more information for you next week. It’s
about getting better, that’s all it is. From tackling to execution, to the pitch and catch piece, all
of it.”
On Minnesota’s game plan against Oregon...
“I love the game plan: offense, defense, and special teams. We had two weeks to prepare for it.
(We) got our team out in space and showed them a lot of different stuff, but executing it is
another thing against a really good defense. I thought we were able to do that at times but
sometimes we weren’t able to do it. I really liked our game plan going in and the thought
process going in. Dante Moore executed really well on their first opening drive and now it’s 7-0
just like that. We have to start faster and it’s not because we’re not trying to start faster.
There’s reasons for that in the fundamentals and techniques of the game. We have to get a lot
of our players to be better at those things. (Oregon is) a really good football team and I can’t
take credit away from that. I would love to sit there and have all these reasons why, but they’re
really good. They’ve done that to pretty much everybody but we’ll respond from it.”
On Drake Lindsey’s performance...
“I have to go back and watch the film but he’s getting better every time he goes out and plays.
It might not be leaps and bounds better where he’s 24-for-25 for 350 yards against this defense
but every time he plays, he keeps getting better. He showed a ton of poise, made some great
throws today, made some great decisions and then there were some times he didn’t. The
intentional grounding...he can learn from that. It’s not that he made a bad decision. He threw
the ball and just needs to throw it with a little more arch. We know the escape, we know where
the end of the route is going to be, (and) if you’re going to throw it out of bounds, throw it a
little bit higher. Let Meke (Brockington) come into play. At least he’s around and close. There’s
so many things he’s going to keep learning. That’s why you invest in a freshman because you
know every time he goes out there, he’s going to get a little bit better. It’s not even that he’s
just going to get better and it’s going to show positively...even the things that he doesn’t do
well, he’s got to go through that. We can’t skip steps. Their quarterback played lights out but I
definitely thought there was some really, really good that Drake showed and a lot of positives
that we’ll be able to take from the game and also some things we’ll have to learn from pretty
quick.”
On Darius Taylor’s return...
“He’s one of our best players who’s been missing for more than half the year. We’re a different
offense when we have him in the game because he’s so dynamic. He can do a lot of different
things. I thought he ran the ball really hard and played behind his pads today. I thought he got
some hard yards when he ran it. We get a holding call with Jameson Geers early and that was
unfortunate. Those things are going to happen. Those are hustle plays, I’m okay with that. Even
in the pass game, getting him back consistently is really going to help our offense keep moving
forward. We played some really good defenses, and they’re really good defenses for a reason
because people aren’t putting up 500 yards of offense against them. We have to give them
credit. They take out of a lot of different things and they’re really good players.”
On message for the team...
“The message is that we will respond from this. We’re a really good football team playing really
good football teams and we’re going to learn everything we possibly can and respond this week
in practice That’s why I’m really proud of this team. They fight. They’re fun to coach because
they fight all the way to the end. We have guys not wanting to come out in the last six minutes.
Not wanting to come out of the game. There’s there that have a problem with people wanting
to come out of the game. I’m taking them out of the game based on my decisions. The message
was ‘row on, man.’ Put the oar back in the water and let’s go. There’s a lot to learn from and I
know they’re respond to it.”