Postgame Presser Notes: Iowa

Submitted by Tim on

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Rich Rodriguez

David Molk and Mike Martin were "a little bit banged up during the week," and both came out during the game. Denard's shoulder was bothering him during the week, but he felt better in pregame. He took a shot on it and Tate had to come in. "I would hope. I would think... Molk, Martin, Denard with an open week should be good to go for the next one." Mike Shaw has been a little banged up the past couple weeks. The extra rest should help him.

"Turnovers, it's ridiculous. We were so good earlier in the year at taking care of the ball. We're not good enough to make mistakes and beat anybody." The turnovers and field goals were major wasted opportunities. Penalties also really hurt the team, particularly in the first half.

"Denard Robinson's our starting quarterback. Tate Forcier's a pretty good quarterback too, and so is Devin Gardner." All three quarterbacks get plenty of reps every week. Tate made some good throws and good decisions, some he'd like to have back.

What was said when you had kickoffs go OOB? "Do you really want me to say? Twice? I don't think I should repeat what I was saying to myself." That hadn't happened in practice.

The team should be able to get stops even when they start in bad field position. "When you know they're gonna run it and need to run it, you gotta stop 'em."

Defensive staff will be disappointed with the cutbacks that opened up for Adam Robinson. "That seemed to happen 4-5 times - let him out of there." The crowd was providing enthusiasm for the defense, and they couldn't close.

Lewan penalties - He's a little anxious to get on some good d-linemen. He just needed a few minutes to settle down. "We ran the ball OK, we threw the ball at times ok, but we just didn't finish drives. That's the thing that killed us today."

Tate Forcier

"A loss is a loss, and you know it's going to hurt. Our team fought to the end. I'm proud of our guys, but we've gotta correct the mistakes we had and bounce back the next week."

"It was just a few missed reads. I think that comes with repetition, working with those guys. I think that will come throughout the weeks."

Junior had the DB beat on the bomb to the 2. "After I saw what Junior did for Denard against Indiana, I trusted him. So I just threw it up there and he went up and got it."

"That's what they do, they try to prepare all three of us." Got a few more reps this week with Denard banged up. Never thought during the week Denard wouldn't be able to go. For the next game "I think he'll be alright. He'll be alright." Coach Rod will make QB decisions. "I don't have any say in that. I'm just going to keep working hard and doing what I have to do."

"I think we need it as a team." The extra week will help correct mistakes and prepare for PSU. "When we get that corrected, we should be good."

It felt good to get on the field, but the loss still hurts. "I'm just happy to be a part of this team. I think this is a special team and I'm happy to be a part of it."

Iowa wasn't expecting to play against Tate. Michigan threw the ball a bit more with him in the game. "I think that's when we started moving the ball a lot." Iowa defense is good enough to adjust.

Tate stays warm on the sidelines each week in case his name gets called. This week, it was.

Will there be another second-half collapse? "It's a different team. Our team, we keep fighting. This isn't last year's team, it's just not."

Junior HemingwayIMG_0423.JPG

Tate's been in the rotation in practice all week. When he gets into the game, he does his job.

"I just saw the ball in the air and knew that I just had to get position on him and make a play on it." Used basketball skills to box out.

"We lost to two really good teams the past two weeks." Need to use the bye week to clean up the mistakes they made.

The offense doesn't change when the backup QB comes in. All three QBs can throw as well as run.

Jordan Kovacs

The bye week falls at a good time to help the team get better, because the last two games were physical, gives some guys who are beat up a chance to rest. Losses will serve as motivation during the week off. "Coming off a loss, obviously we have a bad taste in our mouth so we're gonna get after it this week." They're hungry after two losses, and this will prevent a spiral. The team will be ready for Happy Valley in two weeks.

"I just saw the quarterback throwing the ball and realized that I had to make the play." On the interception he couldn't snag. "I felt like I could have made it."

Never happy after a loss. "Obviously we're disappointed, but we did show some good things out there. We fought, you know we played hard."

Being on a short field gives you a disadvantage, but the defense has to be ready to make stops no matter where they start.

When they're missing stops on run plays. "Guys just coming downhill hard, and maybe somebody wasn't in the right gap."

Excited to make the plays when they were only down 7, but couldn't get it done.

What did he see from Kenny Demens? "Good things. You know, Kenny's a good ballplayer. He stuck his nose in a few times and made some big plays for us. You know, I think he's got a bright future here."

Comments

arod

October 16th, 2010 at 10:35 PM ^

was John L Smith worthy.  All we needed was RR screaming, "AND THE COACHES ARE SCREWING IT UP!!" at the half.  That was just embarassing.  I understand that RR does not actually force the players to act stupidly, but I'm pretty sure a presupposition upon which the institution of "coaching" rests is that the way players act is in part influenced by their coach.  Some people on here seem to think that when our players do good things (see:  OMG look what RR has done on offense)  it's clearly influenced by coaching, but when they do bad things we are reminded that the coaches didn't make them do it.    I'm not saying RR should be fired, but that was awful.

jlvanals

October 17th, 2010 at 12:52 PM ^

Even with the talent we've had, they haven't improved much (see Justin Turner, Cissoko before they left and Donovan Warren).  Those guys were 4/5* recruits and the best one (Warren)was better than anything else we had, but didn't even get drafted.  Note: I'm not saying I agree with his post, just playing devil's advocate here.

snowcrash

October 17th, 2010 at 12:04 AM ^

On an average defense, Floyd would be a nickel or dime back. Rogers, C Gordon, Avery, Talbott, and Christian would play only on special teams or in garbage time (the last 3 would be locks to redshirt on almost any team). On this defense, they all play regularly because they're all we have. There isn't a coach in the country who could turn them into a decent secondary. Collectively they have average talent and very, very little experience. 

Kovacs and T Gordon, if you want to count them as DBs, are overachieving relative to their talent and experience.

92MGOBLUE

October 16th, 2010 at 11:12 PM ^

At times I see our D improving but those cutback runs are killing us.  The screens and playaction passes are continuing to kill us.  When we put up 500 yds of offense it seems like we should win.....right?  I definitely think Denard is wearing down.  I think its time to rotate he and Tate at quarterback during games.  Forcier is very accurate on the run and seems to have a better touch on the ball.  He def. looks to throw and finds the recievers a lot faster.

special teams horrible.

turnovers....horrible.

Is our D really going to be that much better next year?  At best it seems like it will be average.  Dont get me wrong, I will be here cheering them on through thick and thin but, jeez, how did it get this bad.  Hopefully this "learning" year for all these freshmen will be our foundation.  Just hope people chill the h*ll out and give rich rod time to right the ship.  I think he has a future here we just have to get the foundation laid on both sides of the ball.

FrankMurphy

October 16th, 2010 at 11:39 PM ^

I'm optimistic. The defense actually played respectably in this game (relatively speaking, anyway); it was our 4 turnovers that killed us. Kenny Demens probably displaced Obi Ezeh on the depth chart with his performance today (though it's not like Ezeh set the bar all that high), so that's a good thing. We're playing so many true freshman, and players improve more between their freshmen and sophomore seasons than any other offseason.   

FrankMurphy

October 17th, 2010 at 12:11 AM ^

Am I the only one who doesn't feel horrible about this loss? The defense actually showed signs of improvement. They lost this game because of turnovers, and turnovers are correctible problems. They only turned the ball over once through the first five games, so these are not completely self-inflicted errors. They just need to protect the ball better against Big Ten defenses. 

There have been 4 games played so far that were regarded as tossups going into the season (though UConn probably shouldn't have been), and they've gone 2-2 in them. Michigan State might actually win the Big Ten this year, and Michigan had a chance to win that game. They've got a bye week now and an opportunity to correct some of their execution problems. Going into this season, most people thought 8-4 was a reasonable expectation, and they're still on target to hit that goal (wins over Penn State, Illinois, and Purdue). 

TennBlue

October 17th, 2010 at 1:03 AM ^

Good effort from the defense, one of their better outings of the year, against a very good team.

Offense rebounded from the stinkeroo versus MSU last week and showed a lot of guts in coming back and making a game of it. 

I was expecting to lose this game, but we might have won it.  We lost due to dumb things that young, inexperienced players do.  Making good decisions under pressure is something you learn in games more than practice, and there's a certain amount of pain you have to endure as these guys mature.

I feel very good about the program at this point.  We ought to win our next three games and finish with the 8 wins I anticipated before the season started.  I just can't get down on these guys for being exactly what I thought they would be in August.

Next year I'm looking for a much improved defense, and a more polished offense leading to 10 wins.  The only controversy remaining is Tate versus Denard, just where we were last year.  Tate is the better tactition and field general - he clearly understands the ebb and flow of the offense and can make it all work better than Denard.  Denard is just a freak who doesn't have to be good at running the offense to make it work just as well.

I guess I want Denard to start, take risks and run wild while he can.  Late in a close game, I want Tate under center.  He seems a lot more calm and centered at this point.

pjmasi

October 17th, 2010 at 10:27 AM ^

What was calm and centered about the last drive, which ended with a 3rd & 19 pass to nobody?  I really don't see him making the offense work better - he scrambles out of his protection until he finds a random guy open.  That's not running an offense, its completely unpredictable.  Blocking for him has to be a nightmare, you never know where he's going to be.

DC_BLUE

October 17th, 2010 at 3:48 PM ^

I agree: let's not forget - Molk, Martin out for much of the game.  There were 7/8 freshman on the field for us on certain plays - yet we were close to knocking off top 15 team despite numerous unforced errors.  Those freshman will be better, if we get Molk & Martin back for PSU we can do some real damage. 

I just wish the coaches would show a little more flexibility in game plan, Iowa with an extra week will of course be ready for Denard, I would have started Tate earlier, especially since their pass D is weaker than run D.  Would have also put Campbell in a little on D just given the Iowa O-line size - would have done these with MSU also.  Of course, I have earned cumulatively $0 coaching college ball.

Trader Jack

October 17th, 2010 at 2:58 AM ^

Is it just me, or does anyone else wish Jordan Kovacs sounded a little more upset after the game with the way the defense played? Everyone else talked about how the loss hurts & we need to correct mistakes but Kovacs just talked about how they played hard & even says that they "did some good things out there today."

yahwrite

October 17th, 2010 at 8:20 AM ^

Joe Paterno has been at Penn State for a long time and look at the mistakes his young team is making this season. Yes, it's frustrating, but the point is you start over with the new players every year.

Unfortunately, Michigan has had high turnover in the secondary and only so much can be done about the learning curve. Yes, RR has some responsiblity for recruits not qualifying and how well they are coached up.

There will be minimal improvements in season, but expect a big jump in performance next season. The whole defense. I hate saying wait until next year, but sometimes it's true.

Meanwhile, the next three games should be wins, although I'm less certain about Illinois than I was in August.

DanRareEgg

October 17th, 2010 at 10:40 AM ^

Wow, have these last two games been discouraging.  I realize that we played two teams that are better overall than us, but the same problems and mistakes that plagued this team last year are springing up again.  Robinson's interception was inexplicable, and the last two games against good defenses have shown that while he is a greatly improved passer, he still has a long way to go to be effective against Big Ten caliber defenses.  Forcier was better, but he never ran the ball and allowed Iowa to switch to a 3-man front and drop 8 into coverage.  Then Forcier did what we saw last year:  hectic scrambling followed by a terrible pass.  As much of a spark as he brought to the offense, he did give Iowa the ball back at midfield against our awful defense.  I don't mean to say 2009==2010 because clearly this year's team has more ability and understand's the spread-option more, but the same hiccups are there.  I'm still inclined to give Rodriguez another year to show that his young players can get better both mentally and physically, but the margin for error continues to get smaller.  Anything less than seven wins is unacceptable, because that implies a loss to either Purdue or Illinois.  If you're not going to beat the good teams you better not lose to the bad teams.

Then again, we could come off the bye week and rip off three wins going into Wisconsin and OSU and all my ramblings and concerns could be laid to rest.  I guess I just wrote this to vent frustration.

wildbackdunesman

October 17th, 2010 at 12:41 PM ^

Forcier has had little playing time and gets thrown in during the 2nd half against a great defense and what does he do?  Move the ball.  Sure he made mistakes.  Overall, his performace considering the circumstances was very solid.  Some of his mistakes came from the fact that he was in a situtation where he had to take risks as we were losing.

 

P.S. He did run the ball a few times, and had a TD run.  He didn't need to run to move the ball.

wildbackdunesman

October 17th, 2010 at 12:37 PM ^

Haters probably have to drop the line that this is a gimmick offense that won't work in the BigTen; considering that no one has put that kind of yardage up on an Iowa Defense since USC in 2002.

jlvanals

October 17th, 2010 at 1:03 PM ^

Look at how far we've fallen: we are rationalizing a struggle to get to 7-5.  I'm not sure if I ever saw this day coming, even after 2008, but man does it suck to be here. 

SeattleChris

October 17th, 2010 at 2:09 PM ^

I hoped we would see fewer turnovers vs. Iowa and we had more  - we keep hearing about the same issues are "correctable" but then they are not corrected or become worse as the season wears on. If we win the next 3 with good showings, this hypothesis will be proven wrong and I sincerely hope it is. Rod and staff, please work some magic..

92MGOBLUE

October 17th, 2010 at 2:11 PM ^

I see your point about tate scrambling and making an errant pass.  He needs to learn to throw the ball away in those situations.....but I think when you have been standing on the sidelines all season and you get your chance, you are going to take it.  Whether or not people like Tate and his style in the game, I think they better get used to him.  DRob is gonna get dinged here and there.  I don't have a prob. with denard throwing the ball on certain plays, but it seems as of late, when d's have him contained, he scrambles and just heaves it into double coverage.  He needs to learn from that.  I think mixing a little tate in will keep secondary's on their heels the whole game....because he is so quick and accurate.  He really seems to have command of the passing game and has a great touch on the ball.

Go Blue!  Hang in there RichRod and Michigan fans.  We will get there.  It's just gonna take time.

West Texas Blue

October 17th, 2010 at 2:11 PM ^

Hmm, in every one of Rod's pressers, he has never once stated that the staff could done this better or that better.  It's always on the players.  If Rod gets fired, he'd be a perfect PR person for a big company; always deflect blame everywhere else.

Durham Blue

October 17th, 2010 at 2:50 PM ^

as the last two games have been, I never felt like we were overmatched.  We were a dumb penalty or untimely turnover away from taking early command.  In many games throughout 2008 and 2009, I felt like we had no chance.  I believe Tate when he says this year's team is different.  Rich and the coaching staff need to spend the next two weeks working to minimize dumb penalties and mental errors and improving special teams.  If those two things improve just a little then I see us winning the next three.  Three straight B10 victories would give this young group a ton of confidence and momentum for Wisconsin and OSU.

bdneely4

October 17th, 2010 at 2:59 PM ^

is I am so glad the majority of the people of his board are just fans, and are not the actual coaches of our team.  Holy crap we would be screwed if some of these people with their rationales and thoughts are our coaches.  It actually makes me appreciate RichRod more with some of the stupid comments that are made on this blog.

GO BLUE!

myblueheaven

October 18th, 2010 at 7:35 PM ^

 yesterday and hello to a beatable Penn State and a 6-2 record. We just got to survive this season while we wait for help in Dee hart, Brennan Beyers and a year of experience for our secondary guys and our days of celebrating the Wolverines we will be back ! Oh and P.S. @least Ohio State loss thats takes a little sting off.