Here are the official transcripts:
COACH JERRY KILL.
COACH KILL: I think, you know, I said this a little bit earlier, and you know, we come off a good win, and then you go home, and you're going to kickback and relax and get you a bowl of ice cream and then you put on the TV and then you watch Ohio State. So then you don't sleep the rest of the night, you don't get a chance to enjoy the win, and now all you do is worry about what you're going to do. So it's been a beautiful weekend, and a long few days, and now I'll take any questions.
Q. What flavor ice cream?
COACH KILL: What type. A little bit of yogurt, and then I slide a little bit of chocolate chip cookie dough in there.
Q. Senior day is Saturday. What every senior class probably means a lot, but this is your first recruiting class.
COACH KILL: Well, you know, it was a scramble, really when we got here, a lot of the kids, you know, had been committed, and we honored those commitments, and then we scrambled around to get some.
With that said, they've gone through a whole lot, I mean a whole lot, and they helped us change the culture, and they had to accept what we were trying to do, which I'm sure it wasn't easy for them. And you know, look what they've done the last four years of where we started and where we're at right now, you know. I can't tell you how much I appreciate them and what they've done, and you know, they've got a lot of a lot of great memories, and we need to make some more.
But great group of guys, being able to handle a coaching transition, and along with some of the ones that came in. So I'm very proud of what they've accomplished, and they've helped move the program forward.
Q. Is Barrett the best quarterback in the league right now?
COACH KILL: You know, let's see. You know, the kid from we haven't played the kid from you know, we haven't played everybody, and as far as the ones we've played, I will tell you this is that I said Braxton Miller when we started the year was the best quarterback, and maybe one of the best in the country, you know.
It's one of those things, I would tell you is that Braxton is very, very good, but this young man, they've done a great job of bringing him along, and he has the same type of running ability, but he throws the ball better right now, I believe, than what Braxton did, and Braxton threw it good. But this kid's on fire right now. And his receivers are you know, we haven't seen any receivers like, like this since we played TCU, I mean that type of speed.
So they're built for speed. They do a great job of recruiting, and you know, there's and they've done a great job of developing that young man. And from the start to where he's at now.
Q. Does it surprise you that they put up the points and the production they had against the defense like Michigan State's?
COACH KILL: Well, I knew they were pretty good, but that just emphasized how good they are, because I know how good Michigan State's defense is. You know, but they you know, they were able to run the ball. They were able to throw it. And again, he threw it with such accuracy. And they keep you off balance because you gotta stop him on the run game or he's going to run, and their tailback's very good. And then about the time you have to line up and stop the run, you gotta play coverage, and he gets people one on one and he hits them all the time.
And it doesn't matter and his receivers are good. I mean they're just executing at a high level, so yes, I mean I didn't think that they would be able to put that many points on the board.
Q. When you look at the offense putts up that kind of points, everybody is going to focus on your defense, but how important is it that your own offense can control the ball on those drives?
COACH KILL: I think it's essential. I think you have to be patient, you gotta be smart. It's the same thing as last week. You cannot turn over the ball. You just can't. You can't do that in any game. If you look at it, when we don't turn it over and we're able to run the ball, and I don't know exactly what the stats, over 100 yards or 200 yards, we've been pretty successful. And then the other thing is just like we did last week, you cannot get in third and long against them because of their pass rushing abilities. They've got great defensive ends. You can't do that and you gotta be able to handle them.
So it's really kind of the same principles we went into last week, field position. They do a great job with the kicking game. A lot of people don't talk about their kicking game. Their kicking game is very good, and you know, we take pride in our kicking game. So it's going to be a very similar, as far as plan, to beat them.
And then on defense, you just can't you can't give them the big play. You can't give them the big play. And you've gotta find a way to keep that quarterback under control. I mean there's no question. Get them in third and long so you can deal with them a little bit easier.
Q. It looks like your defense is coming off one of the best games since you've been here. How much can that help you going against this team?
COACH KILL: I think our kids are, you know, played with a great deal of confidence, with discipline, you know, on Saturday. And we tackled well, created some turnovers, and again, against Ohio State, with the athletes they have, you're going to be in some one on one situations and we're going to have to tackle very well and we're going to have to be disciplined. You jump everybody down there on the dive and the quarterback pulls it and he's one on one with somebody or somebody makes a mistake, you know, it's a big play.
We didn't do that against Iowa. We played against a great deal of discipline, you know, as far as the run. We got every gap filled. Our safeties did a great job. You know, we were able to take away what they do good.
The problem is with Ohio State they're double edged sword you take the run game away from them and they're going to hit you over the top. They're very they're different to defend, because their receivers and their skill people are as good as anybody in the country. I think that's pretty evident after Saturday night's performance.
Q. What do you think Maxx Williams has come the most from freshman into the sophomore year?
COACH KILL: Well, he's been good when he's a freshman, and we probably hadn't done a good enough job with him, but you know, as you grow, and as your quarterback grows and protection grows, all that kind of stuff, it allows him to do more things. He played a tremendous game on Saturday but one thing I would tell you a lot of people concentrated on his receptions, but he had a very good job executing his blocking assignments.
He's a great player, great athlete, and the biggest thing, he's put on weight. I think Max weighed about 200 pounds, something like that, played quarterback. And you know, he's in that, you know, 2 I'm guessing 240, 245, somewhere in there. Maybe even 250. I don't know, but he's you know, he's gotten stronger. He's gotten bigger, you know, and that's kind of the recruiting, you know, philosophy. However you knew Coach Miller talked about that, you knew he was good because of his daddy, his daddy was good. And everybody says his mom was the best athlete of all of them. And his dad played in the NFL, so I'd say that's a pretty good blood line. So he's just a good player.
Q. The way you guys used K.J. Maye on Saturday is that something you guys have been holding onto or would you have liked to have done that earlier in the year?
COACH KILL: It's more about what the defense gave us. You're getting up the field defenses like Ohio State, they're going to play in the defensive line, like every snap is a pass rush. They're going to get defensive ends up the field and those kind of things. Iowa is a team that plays more on the line of scrimmage. They're a different style than, you know, I gotta go back and think. Most of the people we played have gotten up the field on us. That's been their style. But they're more of a team that bottles everything up inside. They don't not going to let you run inside, try not to let you run inside. So that allows you to do more of the things that we did. And so you know, that's the biggest that's the biggest reason.
Q. K.J. looked different, I don't know if he played faster Saturday or what, but is it just a sign of him being healthier?
COACH KILL: Yeah. I think he's healthier, you know, and it's a deal where, you know, he's an explosive player, but you know, he's had I think he even surprised I mean, wow, he did. I mean, you know, and maybe the bye weeks and things have helped him. And part of that again is him getting touches and so forth, and he's made some big catches for us this year. But he looked extremely fast, you know, and quick on Saturday.
But I think a lot of our whole team was much quicker and faster on Saturday, and I think the off week had to do with it, and I think our kids, towards the end of that (stretch) where we made a good run, I think we got tired, you know, and it's evident in the game we didn't do as well on and got beat. You know, we didn't play as fast and, you know, I mean sometimes you try to explain that. We did some things different.
But you know, we just played faster. And we have to be careful this week. You know, I said, hey, we gotta make sure we're smart on practice schedule. We can't we gotta be careful how much time we put in, we gotta be careful on a lot of things so we can play fast, because we gotta play really fast this week. So we certainly don't want to be, you know, not out there where we can run?
Q. This time of year you can get cold, you can get snow, obviously in the BIG TEN. Does that ever influence, not necessarily your game plan but just how you approach game day when it does get there?
COACH KILL: It more affects what you do all along than what your philosophy is, because you know, you're going to have to recruit what you're playing in.
You know, the south schools, they recruit differently. You know, if you're playing up here in this time of year, if you look at the teams that we're going to play, Ohio State runs the ball, Nebraska runs the ball, and Wisconsin runs the ball. And guess where we're all located.
So I mean that's you know, they may run it a different way, but you have to run the ball when you're where we're at, in the upper Midwest, where if you're in great weather all the time, you can do things a lot differently. That's why I say we need to get some of those southern teams up here about this time of year. Get them up here when it's snowing and cold and so forth.
But that's what you have to do, you know, and I think people say, hey, coach, why don't you do this, why don't you do that. That's why you gotta play great defense and be able to run the ball this time of year. I mean you just have to.
Q. Talk about the timing when you played Ohio State and you played TCU this year. Your program do you think is more ready talent wise to play those type of teams than it was your first two years?
COACH KILL: Well, you know, I got asked that million dollar question, which one is better, all that kind of stuff, and I said, I don't know that. We'll play and so forth.
I will tell you this is that Ohio State is playing a very high level right now and playing as good as anybody in the country. But as far as us being more ready and so forth, you know, at TCU we turned the ball over five times, and you're not going to beat anybody turning the ball over five times, and they were tremendously athletic and did some good things, and we also did some good things except turn the ball over all the time. And evidently they're pretty good because of what they're doing right now, but we didn't do ourselves any favors.
Going into this game we're going to play the unbelievable athletes and if we turn the ball over five times, it's going to be a long, long, long, long, day. So are we better equipped to play these people better than we were our first year, I'd like to think so. But you know, and we're longer in the year right now, too. You know, we've improved, too, since early in the year. But so have they.
So it's a deal where I think we all know we're going to have to play at a very high level, and our kids, they're fired up and, you know, they'll be ready to play. And I don't know how you can't be. So that's how we'll approach it.
Q. Did you come out pretty good injury wise, I know Lauer has been hobbled and stuff.
COACH KILL: I think Ben's in a position where he could give us some minutes, if necessary. You know, we've got some bumps and bruises. K.J. got bumped, carried the ball, bumped up a little bit, but as far as losing anybody for the game, not at this point. Again, we play physical, so you got a few guys banged up, but you know, we didn't lose anybody, which is about the first week we haven't lost somebody for either the year or something, so that's a good sign in itself.
Q. Against TCU, you turned the ball over a couple of times and struggled?
COACH KILL: Five times. Not two times. (Laughs).
Q. I thought I said that.
COACH KILL: You said a couple. (Laughs). My hearing isn't that bad.
Q. Check the tape.
COACH KILL: (Laughs).
Q. But since he's improving so much and gotten healthier, do you feel like his emergence is one of those factors that will allow you to pull off the upset as opposed to the TCU game?
COACH KILL: Mitch? Well, I think of the biggest thing is as long as we can the quarterback gets judged, which we understand, but the reason he's gotten better, and he's a good player, is the offensive line has played better. And if our offensive line plays as good, you know, plays like they did last week and they prove and we can protect him, he can throw it. And I think he's proven that. But when you got people hanging on you and in your face, and at TCU, man, you know, it didn't matter who we put back there. You know, he got some heat and his mobility wasn't quite as good.
But it all starts, you know, up front. I mean that's just the way it is. And so our challenge is how good we're going to play up front, and you know, if we play good up front on both sides of the ball and we tackle out in space, you know, that's the key for us. And as he matures as quarterback, yes.
He made I guess the best part about it, he made great decisions on Saturday, you know, with all the options stuff that we did. I mean he made excellent decisions. I don't know I think he missed one read, which is very unusual for what people are doing, you know, similar, but doing it a different way is what Ohio State does. They just do it a little bit differently, but their quarterback has to read things, and he has to throw it, just like our guy right now. Very similar really.
You know, you gotta be able to run the ball in play action, and that's what Ohio State does?
Q. I think the only thing people are talking more about the Iowa win is your post game dance, so can you comment on your locker room celebration, where you got those smooth moves?
COACH KILL: Well, first of all, there's nothing smooth about them. No. 2, Paul Rovnak's job is on the line because he lets everybody in there after the game. And third of all, you know, sometimes kids need to see that you're human and it'll probably be the last time because I figured out I'm stiff, old, and need to understand that I'm not a kid anymore. So with that being said, and it was a heck of a win, and you know, it is what it is, I guess. But I blame it all on Rovnak. That's the deal. He hasn't been doing his job. Plus he's a graduate of Ohio State, so he's not allowed in any meetings. This is his last meeting. I do not trust him one inch. (Laughs). We have a guy down on the other end that handles the money, so we're not going to ever get money because he's from Ohio State. So we got a couple Buckeyes running around here and we're going to lock them in the closet until after the game. That's the best answers I can give. I'm kidding, Paul. (Laughs).
MATT LIMEGROVER
Q. Matt, it's early to put into words what the seniors mean to you.
COACH LIMEGROVER: You know, it's hard. It's hard, because, you know, when you work for Jerry Kill, it's more than just kids coming in and out of the program. You know, they become like extended family.
So to have this group of guys that, you know, some of them we recruited ourselves, some of them that, you know, had only been on campus six months when we got here, it's pretty neat to watch them develop, and you know, even you know, for some of those guys who maybe didn't play as much as they'd like throughout their career, with the way things have gone for them and them being part of the development, it's a pretty neat day. You know, any coach tells you differently, they're lying. It's pretty special.
Q. Did you save Cobb's legs a little bit last week, not by design, but he didn't have to carry as much. Is that a good thing?
COACH LIMEGROVER: Oh, I think so, because we're going to need him this week.
Obviously game plan wise things were a little bit different for us, and you know, I can tell you this much. I think that if you ask the Iowa defensive coaches, they weren't going to let David beat them. And so you know, not trying to, you know, pound all the mud out of that hole, probably was a good thing, both for David and for us.
So we're hoping he's feeling pretty good and wants to get back at it, carry, 25, 30 times this week.
Q. I know you guys have been trying to figure out ways to best utilize K.J. Maye's speed. Was Saturday just basically everything clicking on all cylinders for him?
COACH LIMEGROVER: Yeah. You know, you always try and find the best way there's two parts to the equation, the best way to utilize the people that you have and their skill set, and then the best way to attack the defense. And fortunately on Saturday those two things converged with regards to K.J. You know, being able to get him on the perimeter. Not everybody plays the same, you know.
And it was well documented. I talked about it a lot. I didn't run from it, you know, terrible game plan last year against Iowa, and was bound and determined not to let that happen again.
Hopefully, I said to myself, I learned a few lessons, and we did as an offensive staff. So when we went into preparing this time, we said, okay, what can we do differently and that's when a guy like K.J. really became part of the equation because of what they were going to take away from us and what we had to do to be successful.
Q. Was there any way Maxx was pulling that ball in?
COACH LIMEGROVER: Oh, absolutely. I never doubt Maxx. All right. Now, you guys may, but I never do.
You know, honestly, I didn't have any doubt he was going to catch it. Obviously the biggest thing was, was he in bounds or not. And pretty happy that he was.
I mean he just he does things, and I heard coach Z talk about it on Saturday after the game in an interview. He talked about Maxx is the kind of kid that he does that kind of stuff in practice. We have to hold our breath sometimes because he just doesn't know how to not go after it. He doesn't know how to pull back, and so I think that just carries over into the ball games.
Q. Back to K.J. Maye, talk about the decision when you did switching him from running back to receiver, and obviously he has that ability to run the ball, but you needed someone at that spot?
COACH LIMEGROVER: Yeah, you know, and K.J. has done a remarkable job of making himself you know, if you remember, K.J. was a high school quarterback, so when he came in, we had an immediate need for someone to help us at running back. So he was able to jump in there.
We recruited K.J., we said he has a pretty neat skill set from the standpoint of things he can do, and then we said once he gets here, we'll kind of figure it out as we go. And early on we needed him at running back, and as time went on, saw that his skill set tended more towards receiver.
And I think one thing people don't realize is when you look at a guy like K.J., you think slot receiver, inside kid, you know, can do some stuff inside. You know, he plays more for us as an outside receiver, and he's going and blocking and going down and cracking safeties and things because you usually don't equate that with a guy his size.
But what you can't quantify is how big that kid's heart is and his desire to go play football. It's hard to keep him off the field when he's healthy and the great thing is he's healthy now, so he gets a lot of time because he's a dependable kid. There's ways you can get him the football that are obviously nontraditional for a receiver, and he's worked darn hard to make himself a better receiver.
So there's that combination that now he can play inside for us, can play outside, and he's a kid that we just have a ton of faith in.
Q. Lastly, you kind of knocked Nebraska off balance with the receiver sweep thing, and you saw the same tendencies in the Iowa defense?
COACH LIMEGROVER: Yeah. You know, I'd like to say that we felt like it was going to be, you know, that it was going to be successful just by virtue of doing it, but it was almost out of necessity. I mean they are so good from tackle to tackle defensively that you watch some pretty good offenses not do a whole lot, trying to run the ball between the tackles, so it was almost a matter of necessity slash survival that we were going to have to get the ball in the perimeter, and then, you know, that's where the work came in is just trying to find the best way to do it.
And at the end of the day I think it probably had a similar effect in what Nebraska did, but you know, there was a time, probably this time last week, where we were all scratching our heads saying, hey, is this thing actually going to work. I mean there's always that doubt with a team you know, Iowa, defensively is better than what they showed on Saturday, and I think they're going to show that the rest of the year. We just probably happened to catch them, you know, a little bit off guard with the things we did and were able to get rolling.
Q. K.J. on those runs, a lot of them were to the short side of the field. What did you kind of see there?
COACH LIMEGROVER: Well, you know what, people would say, why do you run an outside play to the short side of the field. There's a numbers game to it. You know, sometimes more is not better. You know, we may be able to get more people to the field, but so will an opponent, and then what you end up running into is more things that can potentially go wrong.
And so when you go back into the boundary, you can keep things a little more simple, and that's you know, against Iowa, that's what they were going to give us, the way they were going to play structurally into the boundary. We felt like the numbers were good, and even though we were going in the short side, we had a strategic advantage numbers wise, and we liked that.
Q. They had like 14 receptions. Is that based on the pressure you gave them?
COACH LIMEGROVER: Oh, absolutely. As far as that goes, I think there's only one guy this year, the Clark kid from Michigan that and they seem to have three of them, you know. They just keep rolling guys in.
You know, the style of their defense is those guys are going to rush the passer every down, whether it's 1st and 10 or 3rd and 12. They're going to try and disrupt and they're going to try and rush the passer and figure out run after that and disrupt blocking schemes by getting pressure as much as they can.
So it's almost the polar opposite of what we just faced with Iowa. Iowa is going to hang in, get body on body, try and work you down the line, shed you and go play. These guys are going to try and beat you with speed and quickness off the ball, try and disrupt your blocking speed that way, so it's a flip of the switch as far as the emphasis goes for us up front.
Q. Mitch was real good all around, but on the rollouts, was that something you guys have seen a lot of him doing well in practice, too, especially even going left?
COACH LIMEGROVER: Yeah. I think that fits into where he's at right now and his comfort level is being able to get on the move on some things.
You know, we want him to get that incorporated as much as we could. And then, you know, the other thing is is he's healthy and when you're getting the ball on the perimeter and you have a healthy quarterback and he's feeling good, then he becomes a run threat. Whether he's going to it or not, that stresses the defense as well. So it just made sense to put some emphasis on that and get them out there and get him moving around a little bit. And it's something that he does well, so it fit with what we were trying to do last week for sure.
Q. Seemed like a lot of times those guys were hitting Cobb, they don't know where the ball is.
COACH LIMEGROVER: Yeah. That part of his game, it's funny you bring that up, because that part of his game, I think, has been the biggest step forward over the course of the year, because it's setting up with play action and zone read. He's really feeling comfortable with that part of his game, and therefore, that's keeping the defense even more off kilter, so to speak, and forcing them to be even that much more true with their eyes and their reads and things.
You know, he's doing a really good job of that. There were a couple of times, to be honest with you, I mean not as long as Coach Kill, but I've been doing this pretty long, and I'm watching David Cobb, and Mitch is going out the back door or obviously I know when it's play action, but just kind of seeing how things are reacting up front, you know a kid's doing some things right when you've got safeties stepping up and linebackers filling holes and the quarterback stepping back to throw. So definitely need to continue that as we go forward because that's part of who we are.
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COACH TRACY CLAEYS
Q. Tracy, that game against Iowa, is that about as good as you've seen your defense play from beginning to end?
COACH CLAEYS: You know, they played well. I still we played pretty good the last two games last year against two very good running football teams, so you know, I mean it was a good game for us, don't get me wrong.
But that's kind of the expectation around here. We'd like to play that way.
Q. Did you do anything did you feel like you schemed any differently?
COACH CLAEYS: No.
Q. Or is that just everybody just locking in, just not making any mistakes?
COACH CLAEYS: Yeah. We didn't change a whole lot of anything really. They're two back, downhill, and it's who executes the best, and we happened to stop the run, and after the first series, we played well on third down, and anytime you play well on third down and the offense has the success they had, you limit how many snaps they take.
I said before, the best defense is still standing on the boundary watching the offense. It's hard to give up any points that way. I thought our kids when they did get on the field, though, executed very well.
Q. Coach Kill said as much as he enjoyed the Saturday game, he didn't have a whole lot of time to enjoy it after watching the Ohio State game later that night. Did you feel pretty much the same that night?
COACH CLAEYS: You know, I don't watch other BIG TEN games. We spend so damn much time watching film of them. I go home at night, I like to watch other conference games and be a fan of college football, and so you know, I don't watch other conference games.
So I have that rule, no matter what, till midnight, and so I enjoyed it and got up the next morning and then you go to work on the next opponent. So they're a very good football team. And it'll be a challenge again, you know, I mean they're playing as good as anybody is playing right now. I think they continue to get better on offense and defense since the first of the season, and so but anytime you have a chance to still be playing for the divisional championship in your division and you get to November, then it's more of an excitement than it is worrying about who you're playing.
Q. They converted 51 percent on third downs. Is that going to be a key this week?
COACH CLAEYS: Yeah. I think every week, you know, I say that, I know it gets boring when you're saying that, but don't give up the big plays. Play well on third down, you should get to the fourth quarter and have an opportunity to win the football game. Then at fourth quarter you gotta make plays.
Q. They were going third down and crazy and that got shut out.
COACH CLAEYS: Yeah, you know, they caught a ball on Eric, I think. They caught one or two balls on Eric, and one was a bad call on my part with 3rd and 3. I didn't do a very good job on the 3rd and 3 one.
And the same thing is that, you know, you get those first two drives you get what they work on all week long that they think is going to work against you or they change the scheme, and you try to find a way to survive those first couple of drives, and we haven't been very good at that, and that's my job, so hopefully we can play better out of the gate and get off the field on the third down.
But I thought we played with a lot more energy, and not one time did a kid get discouraged by it. I just told them, you know, I'm in the box, I just told the coach on the headphones, just make sure they can't run the thing, keep stopping the run and we'll be just fine. And we were able to do that, execute on that day.
Q. Everett Williams didn't have a ton of big offers. Obviously the way he moves, it couldn't have been his speed. Do you have any theory on how he kind of fell through the cracks recruiting wise?
COACH CLAEYS: You know, everybody has their own evaluations. People get tired of hearing this is that, you know, Coach Poore is the one who found Everett. I flew down and watched him practice, you know, in the spring. I liked the way he practiced, and so we offered him.
And the side note to that, the day I went and watched him practice down there, it was about it was in May. It was about was it May, I think? And it was about 30 degrees and windy, and so I was the only coach out there. Nobody else another coach I was with went earlier in the day to the school, and he said, I can come back on another day when it's warmer. And I couldn't, you know, since I flew down there.
You know, it's the same old thing, we just go off of our own live evaluations and feel like the kid's got the strength and the speed to play and plays well, then we're going to offer him. And there's a handful of kids. There's quite a few of them out there like Everett that don't get as high of praise, and you just gotta be willing to put in the time and the effort to find them.
Q. Coach Kill said he thought J.T. Barrett has been passing better than Braxton Miller was. What has been your impression of the job he's done for them?
COACH CLAEYS: Again, on my side, I haven't seen them when Braxton Miller played as far as breaking them down. This is the first time we've had the opportunity to play them.
I just know that right now they're throwing the ball they're very efficient at it. They really are.
The other problem that they present is that if you miss a tackle on them, they can get it over with, you know. So that's you know, they spread you out, they got very good athletes, get you in space. It'll all come down to not only the third downs, but how well we tackle. They're going to throw some short balls, and we gotta get the ball on the ground.
Q. Saturday is senior day. What have guys like Cameron Botticelli and Cedric Thompson, how critical to what you guys have done in the evolution of this defense the last four years?
COACH CLAEYS: Those kids coach has said before we don’t win the Kentucky Derby with a mule. And you know, to play good on defense, you gotta get players, and those kids have gotten here, they've developed, they've been working extremely hard. They take great pride in it. When we first got here, nobody expected that, you know, and so we owe everything as a staff to them, to buy into the philosophy and believe that you can actually win football games by stopping people rather than out scoring them.
And so to all those seniors, I mean it's and they come here at a time we weren't very good. Let's face it. And so they had to believe in what we were doing, and they did, and for that we'll always be loyal to them and what they've done at the University of Minnesota.
Q. Some of those critical third downs there in the second brought Murray off the edge with some pressure. Is that just you being aggressive or your confidence in him to make the plays?
COACH CLAEYS: The funny thing about that is on Eric Murray is that I have more confidence in Cedric Thompson to make that tackle, because when Eric comes, then Cedric Thompson on the one, third and nine, it made him throw the ball sooner. You don't make that tackle, there's no help over there and that play scores, you know.
Eric, we've always kind of done that. Like I said before, is that everybody goes, well, how many times are you going to blitz during the game. Whatever it takes to get the ball out quick, you know, and so after the first series, we thought, okay, now, you like to find out what teams' checks are when you blitz them and that.
So usually we do that one of the first or second series just to see what their checks are going to be, but it helps to bring an athlete. There's no question he can run, and it helps to blitz somebody that's 190 some pounds, so when they get there they got a chance to do some damage if they do hit somebody.
Q. Jerry said that Ohio State's receivers are just about as fast as TCU's. Having already played some high caliber guys, is there anything you can take away from that game to prepare for Ohio State?
COACH CLAEYS: I believe in our guys. I thought we covered TCU pretty good. And you never know speed until you actually play them. I know Ohio State's guys can run. We played TCU's, but as far as comparing them, I'll have a better idea once we're done. I just know we have enough defensive backs I believe that can run. I believe we can cover people.
My thing is and what we preach to the kids is not only covering them but when they catch them is not giving up yards after the catch. That'll be a huge factor in what happens on Saturday.
Q. Still playing with a lot of confidence. One on one. Are they really motivated?
COACH CLAEYS: They're pretty motivated. That's what I say, Eric wasn't very happy with himself, you know, after the first drive, Eric Murray. Reminded my a lot of the Nebraska game last year. He gave up a couple of catches to Kenny Bell early on and said, coach, it won't happen again.
The other thing to that is we go into that, again, by watching film, you can tell how kids can run but you don't know how fast they are, and I always tell the DBs, on that first series, let's don't be stupid and just give up one over the top right away. Let's make sure speed wise where we're at and how to play them. So everybody gets a little bit more comfortable defensively with the speed of the game as it goes on as compared to just coming out of the gates.
So again, part of that is probably my fault by telling those guys anytime we start a game we're out there on an island, we give them a little bit of space till we know exactly how fast they are. And I'm not one that believes in you can take somebody who's slower and press up and play man and stop him. I don't buy that. You better have better horses to do that.
Q. They ran the ball the last two years against you guys. Control the line on Saturday?
COACH CLAEYS: I think the linebackers fit the fullback better. We went more downhill. We didn't stretch as much. Last year Iowa was the first team we played like that. Damien Wilson hadn't played against a team like that.
So there's a lot of variables in there, and so you know, we're still fortunate that during spring ball and fall camp that our offense does some two back stuff, and we ask them to do a couple of those plays during spring camp and fall that they don't necessarily run here, but Iowa does, so we could get some work on fitting those plays.
All that goes into just being better prepared or experience playing against it, you know.
Q. Richardson was effective earlier in the year. You could see how good he could be, but did you wonder at all how he would do once he got against these gigantic BIG TEN lines?
COACH CLAEYS: No, because I'm not worried about height. If you look at the way the kid's built, he's a rock, you know, and he's explosive. So if you have the size and the strength he has the only reason that kid is not playing at the so called helmet schools is because of his height. I mean he can play anywhere in the country, anywhere in the country.
So we give him a hard time he's not going to bat down a lot of balls, you know, but besides that he can stop any run gap and he's pretty good at rushing the passer, too. He had a lot of sacks in high school.
Again, we're very fortunate to have Steve and for him to want to be here at the University of Minnesota.
Q. You mentioned just as a fan, but watching other teams around the country. Can you put into perspective maybe how good Ohio's State's offense is, how it might compare with the best ones in the country?
COACH CLAEYS: I think I told somebody this the other day, is that I really haven't watched them until I'd done this tape. And the only thing I know is at one time that's not true. I watched them play a little bit against Illinois. That's where I got the stat is I heard that for four games in a row, they'd had over, I think, 400 yards offense and 40 points or 500 yards, whatever it was. They were the first Ohio State offense to ever do that.
Well, when you do things that is being done for the first time ever at Ohio State, I think that speaks huge as to how good you are on offense. So I think they're very good.
I told somebody before, I think they've been their rankings are it's been unfair to them, because they're starting with a new quarterback. I don't care how good you are when you start with a new quarterback. At the beginning of the season you're not going to be as good, and that happened in August after they lost Braxton after they already started practicing. So what they've done offensively to grow and get better and improve they've just been continuing to do it all year and playing against anybody, and it will be a tremendous challenge.
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