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University of Minnesota Athletics
Postgame Quotes
10/8/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
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Oct. 8, 2016
TCF Bank Stadium
Iowa at Minnesota
Tracy Claeys, Minnesota Head Coach
Overall thoughts…
"Great game, battle all the way. They made a few more plays than us. I thought both defenses played really well and gave both teams a chance to win. We just didn't get it done on offense. We have got to go back and get back to the fundamentals. That's where we need to be better."
On the main problems offensively…
"We didn't control the line of scrimmage. It's simple. This game is a pretty simple game. We got whipped up front. I think up front we did a pretty good job on them. They definitely got us up front. Their secondary is physical on our receivers. We didn't have as much space to catch the ball as we did on other teams. Not a good effort overall but we did fight. We battled and got the ball down there. We've lost two ball games on one series at the end so we are close. We have to learn how to play together. Last week, the defense didn't play well enough for us to win. This week the offense didn't play well enough. We have to play as a team."
On what was working defensively…
"The kids were in a position to make some tackles and they did up until that last drive. We missed one and gave up the big play. We cut down on our big plays, didn't give up as many. But we need to make that tackle there at the end. If we hold them to a field goal, then maybe it's different. Defensively, we lost Antoine Winfield and I thought Jacob (Huff) did a decent job. He only missed a tackle on that one play. But defensively, they gave us the effort we needed today and the other side of the ball didn't."
On keeping the team engaged…
"Just show up by how well you play next week. This game is a tough game and you got to bounce back and get another one. I thought that defensively after the way we played at Penn State we bounced back and gave ourselves a chance to win. We have a good group of leaders on the team. Showing up and battling has not been the issue. We will continue to work out the mistakes. We'll be ok, give us a week and we will be ready to go."
Shannon Brooks, Minnesota Running Back
On what Iowa did to limit the rushing attack…
"We knew going in, it was going to be a tough game, just like the other games this season. You know you have to play all four quarters and come out and do what we did in practice. They are a physical team. This is Big Ten play. We just have to keep working and practicing as an offense and keep moving forward."
On where he thought they struggled in the run game…
"Honestly, I think the holes were there. Maybe we could've broken more tackles. Maybe missed a few holes on certain plays. And the ball security thing, we have to do a good job at that. We need to take care of the ball."
On any positives from the game…
"Definitely, like I said earlier, we will have close games later on in the season. You can't expect to go out and blow out another opponent. It's a tough loss, playing in a rivalry game, but you just have to move forward. This is going to teach us a lot as an offense."
On the reaction in the locker room after the loss…
"Quiet. It was a tough loss in a huge game that we prepare years and years for, 365 days of work for. This is a rivalry game, playing for the pig. It was a hurt feeling in the locker room."
Jonathan Celestin, Minnesota Linebacker
On the game…
"This wasn't something we planned on doing, losing to someone in our division. We still have a chance to reach our goals and push through. We can still make it to Indianapolis, but it's going to be a long road. We have to take it one day at a time coming out of our division."
On how it felt to see linebackers coach Mike Sherels on the sidelines…
"It was an awesome feeling. Throughout this whole process, to come back to the sidelines and see him was amazing because he lives and dies for the game of football."
Nick Rallis, Minnesota LB
On the game…
"Defensively we did a good job keeping them out of the end zone in the first half and got them off the field when we needed to. But there was that big play in there that we needed to stop to play a complete game."
On Iowa's go-ahead touchdown…
"It hurts but it's part of the game. Big plays are something you have to avoid, and one is one too many. We will have to go back, look at that play, and correct it."
On losing Floyd of Rosedale on his last try…
"It's definitely tough because it's something that lives with you forever, but we've got to move on. There is a lot of football to be played, a lot to be played for. Every game in the Big Ten is big. You got that Axe and whatever comes after that. …Tomorrow we are going to go back and get better and get ready for Maryland."
Kirk Ferentz, Iowa Head Coach
"Happy for our players and our team and really proud of them as well. I thought they really competed hard out there and showed a lot of grit and mental fortitude and played with a lot of toughness. Both teams did. Really pleased about that and also pleased with some of the improvement we saw during the course of this week and I think it showed up today. Certainly, offensively, I thought that somethings may sound crazy to you, but our pass protection improved, saw some things we can move forward with. There were some plays in the running game that were really good plays as you can see…There were some good third down conversions and I'm really proud of the offense with what they did with the time of possession. Any time you are in a game like this, where it is a defensive battle, time of possession really plays into itself… First drive, second half, there was certainly a positive for us offensively although we've got to clean up the red zone thing. The biggest on defense to me, we pressured the quarterback a little bit better first and foremost and we played the run better. We haven't been doing a great job with it this year. To have a good defensive football team. You got to play the run successfully and thought the guy really pulled it off today and competed better that way and our fits were better and against a team where we got a lot of respect for that can run the ball very well, so just really happy for our guys and proud of them perseverance they displayed and we will enjoy this one and move on to the next one tomorrow."
On the week of practice after last week's loss....
"I think the big thing every week is that we are trying to improve. That's our sole goal and it's a daily process and it doesn't always show up the week of, but I think our guys have had a good attitude, they have a good work ethic, and it's a lot more fun when you are winning. We all know that and you learn that at an early age, but sometimes it takes a while. This is only one game, but really proud of the way I think we took a positive step today."
On the offensive line shuffling around a little bit…..
"Yeah, just you know it's kind of like a throwback to last year if you will and ironically we did start the same two tackles against Minnesota a year ago, and that wasn't necessarily what promoted it… Just thought maybe it would be a worth taking a shot at and see if Cole (Croston) looked more comfortable on the right side. Boone (Myers) slid out and did a good job and I want to give Ike (Boettger) a lot of credit for going to the guard position…I feel like he competed really well out there and then Sean (Walsh) and James (Daniel) thought did a good job, so this was tough and impressive, very athletic defense, and I thought the guys did a really good job."
C.J. Beathard, Iowa Quarterback
On grinding today…
"We are going to need to work on finishing drives. The defense did a good job giving us good field position a lot of the game, and we need to come out finishing."
On Akrum Wadley's touchdown…
"That was a huddle call. We knew something was going to break, we were so close and we knew if we kept hammering three, four-yard runs we'd eventually get a big one."
On what this win means…
"It's big. Being able to win a close game, we needed this one. We needed to get back to winning, what it feels like to win, and celebrate in the locker room. I'd like to say that we wanted it more. We wanted this very bad. One of the goals during the offseason was to keep the trophies in the locker room and right now we're 2-0 in trophy games."
Desmond King, Iowa Cornerback
On preparing for the game…
"I felt like we had a great week of practice, felt really prepared and we took what we did in practice onto the field today."
On being tested…
"I'm looking forward to it. I always expect the ball to be thrown my way, I'm alert and ready for anything coming my way."
On controlling offensive possession time…
"We wanted this game and we wanted to end with us on the field. That's what we did. We did what we had to do and we came out with the win today."
On giving up 55 points two years ago…
"Back in 2014 we didn't feel like we played a good game, and all of us take ownership of that. This year, we came up here with a different message. We wanted to play all 60 minutes."
On the pig rush…
"I wasn't in on the pig rush, I was over thanking our fans for coming out, but I ended up holding the pig as we went into the locker room."
Akrum Wadley, Iowa Running Back
On his touchdown…
"We ran that play in the first half, and we went back to it. They did a great job blocking, and George Kittle got the last man and all I had to do was beat one and I was off to the races."
On the win…
"It feels great in the locker room. We are definitely going to enjoy this one."
On lack of points through the first 3 1/2 quarters…
"Minnesota has a tough team. They've been winning. They have great defense. Coach is always talking about embracing close games, and we knew it was going to be a close game. It was about who was better today."
