Here are the official transcripts:
An interview with
COACH KILL
COACH KILL: You know, we have gone into the off week, and I thought we did what we needed to do, our kids enjoyed last Sunday and Monday and after that they came in Tuesday. You wouldn't have never known that we had won the last game or anything. They came back to work, it's been the same group all year. We lost to TCU; they just go to work. I have been pleased with that.
We practiced well on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, gave them some time and went on Sunday to get that extra day, had good work on Sunday, so now Monday off and back to work today, and looking forward to going out and practicing and continue our preparation for Northwestern. With that, open it up to questions.
Q. With Northwestern, Coach, dominating the way they had over Penn State and played well and beat Wisconsin last Saturday, what particularly impresses you about Northwestern and how they're playing right now?
COACH KILL: Well, you know, they always play hard. They reflect their head coach. I mean, Coach Fitz was a great linebacker, great intensity, and their football team reflects him. They're always in the right place. They always step up with big plays. They have since he's been there. They did it in the Wisconsin game.
They step up at the right times. They make you drive the football and make you make a mistake. They always hold field position through special teams. They're just they're in the right place at the right time and they're disciplined. They don't make mistakes, and last two ballgames they've just played dominating football. Their type of football. They win doin' it.
Q. Jerry, with a young team, sort of curious how your young guys would handle that "high" coming back from a game like that?
COACH KILL: You always do as a Coach, wonder that, whether it's a younger team or veteran team, but I had no inkling to that whatsoever, the way we approached Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and we talked all year long about here is the goal, this is what you got to do to get there and I think they know it's very early in the season, and I think, to be honest with you, the way Northwestern is playing, they're on a roll, we're similar football teams, really are and I think we try to win games similar ways and it's a huge game. It's the next game on the schedule, but right now it's a big game for both teams so glad we're playing at home and we need that home field advantage.
Q. Jerry, I know you want to look ahead to Northwestern, real quick, when your coaches dot back from recruiting what was the feedback you were getting from recruits about now that you've added Michigan to the list with Nebraska and Penn state as teams you've beaten?
COACH KILL: I think certainly we're gaining credibility that we're moving in the right direction and I think it opens doors and people are talking about it and certainly in certain states, you know, and so it does nothing but help you, winning solves a lot of problems, no question about that and certainly in recruiting and always talk about you put time and go research the players, all those things, you search all over the place but the most important thing to do is win, because winning, you can do all that stuff and you're not successful, it's hard to get recruits, so concentrate, and I think that's what Bill Snyder does a great job of that, and they say, well, "Coach is late on this kid and that kid" and his answer is, "Just win!"
Q. How about that ESPN, how bought them rating you fourth in the power in the Big Ten?
COACH KILL: I don't know anything about it, to be honest with you.
Q. They have you ranked fourth in the Big Ten in power ranks on ESPN.com.
COACH KILLS: I'll worry about all that stuff at the end of the year. That tells you how educated I am, that's that Cheney education, so I didn't know anything about it. All that's good.
Q. How about TCU beating Oklahoma.
COACH KILL: I said they were pretty good. They proved that.
Q. Must make you feel pretty good, you lost to a pretty good team.
COACH KILL: I feel good because I know Gary, I don't feel so good we turned the ball over five times but I'll try to put that out of my mind.
Q. From a confidence standpoint, Michigan game must have been a plus for Mitch.
COACH KILL: If you look at players, David Cobb, we go back and how all of the sudden he's gained confidence and now he's off the board on confidence in what he's doing, I think you have to have success to get better and you have to have success on game day. You can do great things in practice, but you got to be able to take 'em over to the game and when you have a good ball game, and you're successful at executing the game plan, all that does is build confidence and that's what you need to become a very good player, and the ones that play at a high level, once they get going and they develop the confidence that they can do this, this and this, is that they get better. There is no question that helps the process of what we're trying to do. We got a lot of processing to do yet but it certainly helps.
Q. The bye week help you from a standpoint, getting a little extra time?
COACH KILL: Yeah, it's guys like David Cobb was beat up pretty good, gives him a chance to get healthy, with several injuries you know, we held probably 12, 13 guys out. To get them healed up. However, Sunday was a different day in an offensive line, I think we had three offensive guards not practice, actually four, so for different reasons we're hoping we get two of the four ready to go and hopefully they will be back to work today. That's what I've been told. But, you like that continuity in the practicing and that continuity hurts you on game day sometimes so, it's heart of the game and certainly shuffling people around and stuff gives you more experience, that's the other way you look at it. Take a negative, turn it into a positive and that's what we've done up front in the defensive line and those guys are playing at a high level, those young guys as well as the older kids.
Q. Has Zac made the progress you wanted him to have on the ankle?
COACH KILL: It's been slow. That's a tough injury, Mitch's injury is a tough injury and anytime you have a high ankle sprain, guys take three, four weeks, sometimes longer, but he's a tough 'ol kid, I think everybody knows that, that's kinda his reputation. This week it certainly helped him. I think it's been whatever days it is and he's going to try to practice today a little bit, but we'll damn sure be careful.
Practice time I had a kid at Northern Illinois had the same situation and he couldn't he would get about three reps on Thursday and play on Saturday and go right back into a boot and do it again, and he was a senior, so not many can do that and you hate to see that, but according to our trainers, he's better, a lot better than he was, and that off week, that part of it helps a guy like that and Mitch for that matter.
Q. You guys and Northwestern have dealt with injuries throughout the year but you've been able to still play at a high level. What's the key to that?
COACH KILL: I think you know as a group of players, one gets hurt and we put the other one in and we don't change practice, we don't change what we do. We may be a little smarter in how we do it and I think it's the attitude of the coach, how he approaches it, and you're going to have situations, you're going to have adversity, and like the New England patriots, guys won Super Bowl, great player and they were all after him and they just go, "win!"
I think they know how to handle adversity, and Northwestern has had adversity, we have had adversity and I think we just stay to the plan, don't try to create things or change the world, stay with your plan and believe in it. I know we believe in what we're doing as a coaching staff and players and you just stay with it. You be consistent as a coach. We lost to TCU but we weren't any different. We got to get better, beat Michigan and we came back and said great win but, you know, gotta get better.
So I think no matter what the results if you stay consistent as a coach, I think that helps those things.
Q. How do you feel Mitch is moving? How is Mitch's mobility?
COACH KILL: I think it's that we wouldn't play him if it was a risk or anything like that. I thought he moved well on Saturday. So it's, again, a credit to him, but I thought he moved well. We ran a lot of nakeds and boots and stuff to get him out of the pocket and move the pocket and help protections and so forth. I thought he moved well, I really did.
I think that I don't see anything different this week in practice, he practiced all week in the off week.
Q. When you watch Cobb run just yards after contact and the way he refuses to go down, is that balance? Strength? What's the key?
COACH KILL: I think probably both that you mentioned. I think that's a good observation. He's got great vision at the line of scrimmage, and he's got a knack of keeping his pad level down and then the strength in his legs, he's very strong down below and he's just I think he's harder to tackle this year than he's ever been and we noticed that in camp. I think he's worked so hard. He's stronger, leaner, he put time in camp, staying out longer than everybody else. I think the maturity he wants to be good, he wants to be really good. You gotta love football and that kid loves football. I think the balance, the strength, and he's got a knack to get better as the game goes on.
Q. How would you rank his speed? Average or what?
COACH KILL: I think it's good. You know, it's whether it's the National Football League or wherever it is, I think secondaries got so fast you don't see as many break away runs, if you really think about it. You don't see that very often because of the secondaries. But he's faster than he was a year ago because he's stronger and we've I've been fortunate to have good backs and I think he's the burst, he's got a great burst, Montee Ball he ran, what, 4.6? Don't quote me on that, that's one of the deals, is he fast enough, and he got injured but he's played well and I would compare that to his speed and I believe that's good speed. I don't know how fast the back is at Seattle, you know, but he gets yards. I think you judge a back on his burst through the line of scrimmage and yards after contact, so he's an awful good player and he's getting better. That's the thing I really notice, he's getting better and he's good pass protection, that's the other thing. He's learned to do that because a lot of backs don't want to do that, he's good at pass protection.
Q. California and Northern Illinois are solid teams but were you surprised that Northwestern struggled against them early on?
COACH KILL: I think if you look at us you would say we struggled, too. I think teams sometimes early in the year for whatever reason, timing, continuity, injuries, things of that nature, sometimes you get off to a slow start, until everybody comes together. I think the key to the season is long in college football so I think the key is that you keep improving each week, and disregard everything that happens just get better and get better, you know, as you hit the Big Ten and just keep climbing the mountain. There are certain teams in our league that do a heck of a job of that. Iowa does a good job of that each year, everybody goes, "ahhh," and they just keep climbing. I think the key to it is your approach and you gotta have the approach and you gotta get better every week and if you have a set back you got to recover from that, so I think we're all like that to a concern extent.
Q. Coach, what does the Michigan win do for your team confidence-wise? Is everybody going to walk around with a certain beat in their step?
COACH KILL: I wish I could they're excited, and so forth, but our administrator over football, is up there I haven't really it certainly gives you confidence, it has to, you go on the road and win and those kinds of things so I think deep down I'm sure. I think everybody feels more confident from coaching staff to players but as far as visually showing it, I haven't seen a difference. We practice faster, more like we like we were earlier in the year but I think that's because of the off week, I think some of them got their legs back underneath them and we practice at a speed I would like to see us practice at on Sunday because we got the Catapult system and it works. I can see us working at a faster rate and when I say faster rate I mean playing with more speed and I think we played fast at Michigan but we can play faster.
Q. Where is the jug right now?
COACH KILL: I think it's on State turf right now. It's in here some but I think it's traveling. I said that was the State's jug so I think it's got appointments. I know I have been told earlier in the week I couldn't get an appointment, so I think the President overrules the head football coach, so I think it's been moving around and it's certainly great for our fans in the state, but with that being said, there is a lot of other things we need to accomplish, and that's a great one, but this week I can't emphasize the importance of this week and the weeks to come, because it's a long season. That's how we've approached it but there is no question that I don't think any of us I'm not from the state but to play in a game like that, the tradition and so forth, everybody should enjoy that, with every win, you know? We need too enjoy it, and I've said all along, it's not Coach Kill's football team it's the State's football team, they've invested in the University and the team and it's their team.
An interview with
COACH CLAEYS
Q. Coach Claeys, what do you think is the key to making this defense as good as you've been when you have your opponent backed up in their own territory this year?
COACH CLAEYS: We've kind of kept the pressure on as far as, possible, in the past, sat back and played more zone when people were on their way out and played it more safe and I think we have been a lot more aggressive with our back to the wall a little more because we've given up a lot of field position in the last two years when we have had people pinned down deep so I would say that's the biggest reason.
Q. On the reverse of that, when you look at the shorter yardage situations you've been in, has there been something you have noticed where the defense has struggled to lock in?
COACH CLAEYS: I think a couple of fade patterns, we made a couple of plays on a couple of fade patterns, people completed more balls on us in the red zone than what they did a year ago.
Q. What's the health of your regular players, including Wells?
COACH CLAEYS: I don't know if Coach went over stuff, I don't know. Like I said, I will know when we get to practice today, if he practices or not. We will see if he practices well this week if he will play, but I don't find out until Tuesday when we get to practice who is going to go. I know he's going to work out with Ed and see how it goes, and besides that I think everybody else is good to go.
Q. Offensively what particular challenges does Northwestern present?
COACH CLAEYS: They move their receivers in a bunch of formations and the tight end, they move 'em all over and it makes it hard to get matched up with them and at the same time the last two weeks they've gotten better at running the ball. I think that's why they've been successful, they ran the ball a lot better here the last two weeks so they try to lull you into the fact that they're going to throw the ball but they do an awfully good job of running the football so we will have to make them one dimensional or they will be hard to stop.
Q. Last year Colter got hurt and I think he was hurt a little bit going into that game too, do you see a difference the way he played that game to especially the last two?
COACH CLAEYS: Actually the biggest difference is they have been able to run the ball so much better. I think he's the same. They do a nice job with their route combinations and things like that when you try to when you play zone coverages and things like that. He's been in the system long enough he knows what he's looking for so if he struggled early on because of not being able to run the football and keep people honest, here the last two weeks they have.
Q. With your freshmen defensive linemen, to lump 'em all together real quick, if you had to compare where they were week one to where they were at Michigan and maybe now, can you compare that?
COACH CLAEYS: They're just so much better and part of it's getting used to the physical part of the game because each week you play a little bit better team and I think that even though we didn't play our best, we didn't play terrible at TCU but the young kids really played pretty good at TCU up front, and I think that gave them confidence by the way they played at TCU.
Q. Given the changes you have made has this defense exceeded your expectations in some regard because you have had to adjust on the fly?
COACH CLAEYS: I think up front with the young kids they played a lot better, but in the back end, I thought we would play well and we have. We've gotten better at linebacker and I think that's shown with how well they've played. I still think we have room to improve so, we had a good week of practice last week, and focused on fundamental and so on, and looking forward to another challenge.
Q. How much has Damien Wilson meant to this defense?
COACH CLAEYS: You have three of them, we played a lot of nickel so extra DB, but Jack Lynn and De'Vondre and Damien, all three of them, they're good players in space, they've tackled well on the run, so that's one of the reasons we've been able to play as many DBs as we have and still play well against the run because of how well they've done.
Q. With the young group especially up front do you wonder how well they handle success against Michigan or was it good to have a bye
COACH CLAEYS: I think it was good to have a bye, let everybody enjoy it for a couple of days and we came back to work, practiced awfully well. We still have problems and they understand that and it's just one game in the Big Ten, so far, so there's a long ways to go.
They understand that.
Q. How far has Gaelin come specifically?
COACH CLAEYS: Same thing, it's just the physicalness of it, that's the thing you gotta get used to once you get into the intensity of the conference games. So he's made some big plays for us and he's still learning, all of them are, they're still learning.
Q. Across the board you had guys you didn't expect the beginning of the year. Is that one of the biggest surprises, they've overcome not just the line but the secondary?
COACH CLAEYS: Mainly in the line. You lose three down linemen in the very first ballgame that you play, and you're awfully young, don't know how deep you're going to be, that was a huge concern. So we are getting back healthy, except for Scott, so we've got everybody back, now it's turned into, in certain situations there is a lot of depth there to use that probably wasn't counting on at the first of the year.
Q. I know we talked about turnovers, a lot, but 15 in five games when you looked at this group going into the season did you think this was a type of unit that could create turnovers like that?
COACH CLAEYS: Anytime you play fast and physical you have a chance of doing that, and I think we haven't gotten as many sacks up front but the ball has come out quicker and I've always said if you're playing the secondary linebackers, the faster the ball comes out, the easier it is to defend and I think that's given us the opportunity to make those turnovers, because of how fast the ball has come out. We've tipped a few of 'em up front to people, so, you know, anytime people spread the field, like I say, so much comes down to athleticism and how athletic we are is probably as big of a deal as anything with regard to the turnovers opinion.
Q. Do you feel like the pressure is there, and you're getting the kind of pressure you want?
COACH CLAEYS: We time the ball and how quick it's coming out and except for a handful of … this year we've gotten the ball out awfully quick and where it gets frustrating for the "D" linemen is the faster the ball comes out the easier it is to defend and I think those guys up front have done a good job of getting the ball out quick.
Q. With the intensity on defense, when you're building a program is that one of the toughest things to teach, intensity from down to down?
COACH CLAEYS: Yeah, when we got here, I think I told you this before, a lot of people told me I shouldn't come because they had a new "D" coordinator every two years for however many years it was and when you come to a place that's not used to playing defense it takes a little bit of time, but it still comes down to good athletes that love the game of football and the thing you have to do is you have to sell kids on the fact that what happened in the past has no affect on the last game. If you get yourself ready, play hard, you got a chance to be successful. If you sit around and rely on the past all the time it's going to get you in trouble. I think that's the thing of getting kids to do their work and prepare every week and don't compare scores, I think that's the challenge we all have, especially when you haven't been very good.
Q. Do you anticipate Alex Keith having a bigger role this week based on what you saw last week?
COACH CLAEYS: We will keep playing one week with the hot hand and we're going back to a "no huddle" team so we'll probably try to rotate guys in there a little bit more. They're all capable of playing he will get his opportunities to make plays like the rest of 'em will but Mike has played well and T.C. has played well so we will stick with our regular rotation and go in and see what happens.
An interview with
COACH LIMEGROVER
Q. Matt, the way you seemed determined to establish the run early, can you talk about that game plan? Can you talk about your approach to that?
COACH LIMEGROVER: Well, you know, we felt like we matched up probably as well as we ever have with Michigan. To be honest with you, early on we got a few things going and when you do, you tend to stay in that kind of groove when things are working for you.
We kinda had a couple different routes we were ready to go, in case things didn't work out in our favor early with running the football but we never felt like we had to get out of that base plan. Just continued on with that, and then what I think you saw against Michigan was being able to run the ball, and then also the way they were structured we were able to build some passing game that Mitch felt comfortable with around it, and those two fed off each other and you could see that throughout the ballgame as it went on.
Q. We have a guy like Cobb running the way he is as a play caller, how much does that open it up in terms of play action and opening it up?
COACH LIMEGROVER: I think it's huge. It would be remiss to say that defenses don't know exactly when No. 27 is in the game and are keying on him. Defenses spend all week talking about him so that does open up things. I think a great example of that was Michigan was bound and determined on our first touchdown to not let David Cobb get the first down when we were down about the 7 yard line and we ran a naked boot leg because they all crashed down there and there just wasn't anybody left. That's what having a run game and a guy like him does for the rest of your offense, without a doubt.
Q. Matt, you ran the Jet Sweep quite a bit last year. What do you need to see the defense as giving you or inviting you to maybe run that in certain situations?
COACH LIMEGROVER: Well I think it's with a lot of things, I look back in the NFL a couple of years ago, the Wildcat was popular, the Dolphins were doing it, and eventually people catch up and do their homework. The Jet Sweep package is good at times but you can't make your living in that.
You got to pick your spots. We try and find a couple of spots each game where we feel like or a couple of formations that we can do it out of but the defenses have caught up with some of that stuff. They see those things happening and can react quicker. If you look at the teams that have had success over the last couple of years, you know, watching Wisconsin play Northwestern, I don't know if they actually handed the ball on a Jet action, they maybe did it once with Melvin Gordon as a fake and it's getting harder to find those spots where they can't read and react and like I said, it's just like the zone read in the NFL or Wildcat, people catch up with you so you got to get ahead of the curve and find that next thing that will keep them off balance.
Q. Seems like Mitch has been able to spread the ball out to tight ends, running backs, receivers, how does that benefit the offense's passing game when you can do that?
COACH LIMEGROVER: I think it's harder if you have one particular person that the quarterback is trying to target every time, it's different when you're turning around trying to hand the ball off to a running back. There are a lot of factors in that. Teams can take away that in the passing game and you have to have the ability to find that secondary guy or use that guy as a decoy. We targeted Maxx a few times against Michigan and there were several more that he was the initial target but they were looking to take it away and Mitch did a nice job of finding that secondary receiver or understanding this isn't going to be there, here is where I can go next.
Q. Do you think he's developed chemistry with one particular receiver at this point in the season or is it because he had an injury and he didn't pass as much
COACH LIMEGROVER: I think it's a process. You know, I don't know at this point if it's going to be a one to-one receiver, I prefer it to be just what you started out saying, spread it go around, hitting different people and getting the backs involved, being able to throw screens to David Cobb and getting him sprung on those things and hitting the quick passes and screens and things. Obviously you would love to have that kind of one to one with any quarterback and receiver but like I said, defenses can find a little bit more of a way to take that part of it away from you, as opposed to if you have a back that's feeling it, you can even though they know at the end of the day he's probably getting it, it's how you you're getting it to him, and I think that's the difference when you're running the football as opposed to throwing it.
We kinda like the distribution that Mitch had and would like to keep that going.
Q. With Cobb, how many times would you say you see one of his runs and you think it's going to be a 4 yard gain and it ends up being an 8 or 10 because he doesn't go down?
COACH LIMEGROVER: You know what? He's amazing. It's even more amazing when you're watch it go and you go, "wow," but then when you go back on Sunday and you get the end zone copy and go, man, there just wasn't a lot there and like you said all of the sudden it's a 9 yard gain, you're at second and one. That's pretty special quality and there's a lot of kids as high school running backs, they're just bigger, faster, stronger than whoever they're going against so they're going to have 200 yards a game, but it's that special kid that can translate over when he's going against everyone else who is as big and strong and fast when he can find a way to turn those 4 yard gains into 10 or 10 yard gains into 20. That's when you know you got something special.
Q. Matt, what makes their defense so tough, especially the last couple of weeks?
COACH LIMEGROVER: They don't make a lot of mistakes, I was a GA in '95, '96 when Pat Fitzgerald was a linebacker there. He's probably one of the smartest defensive players I've ever been around even though I was GA on the other side of the ball and you see that carry over. They don't beat themselves. They don't have a lot of penalties. You don't often go, we can exploit them there, their kids get in the right spots and I give him and Mike Hankwitz a ton of credit, they just stayed with the plan, the kids are starting to feel it and cut it loose in play. That's dangerous, because when you get that and they're doing what they're supposed to, they can really get after it and that's where I think they're at right now.
Q. The bye came at a good time for Mitch to get him extra rest and keep working his way back to healthy?
COACH LIMEGROVER: I think it came at a good time for a lot of our guys and we could see on Sunday when they got back into it, there was zip in the steps of the guys, that benefited, not just him but particularly the guys that were beat up, him, Zac, some of the guys that had the bumps and bruises, Maxx was coming back off the calf strain, he's now 100% so we feel like it came at the right time and it benefited us, as a group those kids are feeling as good physically right now as you can right now, five games in.
Q. Jerry mentioned that Isaac was a guy to keep an eye on the way he was seeing him in practice and the way he had two catches and just missed that one, the DB got a hand up, but how close do you think he is to one of those break outs?
COACH LIMEGROVER: You know what? He's a guy that's great because he's an under the radar guy and he just comes to work every day. He puts his time in, doesn't say anything and come game day he always seems to find a way. Maybe not catching the football, but having a positive impact on the offense. I think it's just a matter of time where those pieces fall into place where he's that guy that has six, seven, eight catch game because of how a defense is playing or where he's putting himself or where we're putting him more specifically in some situations to be successful.
So I think it's not a matter of "if" but "when" at this point. There is a lot he does for us that doesn't show up on the stat sheet. He's one of those kind of kids and we all really appreciate that as a coaching staff about him.
