Post-Game Quotes: Indiana

Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker

Opening statement...
This was a good, good win for us on the road. Very tough environment. Indiana's a well-coached football team, they were coming off of a bye, they were very prepared, we knew that. We were expecting them to be at their very best, actually better than what we've seen on tape cause we know that their coaches would have their guys ready to play, we would have to match that intensity and exceed that in order to get the win on the road, and I was very proud of our guys, our squad, and our coaching staff and our entire organization, the way everyone held in, held it together and continued to chop wood, and really throughout the game just kept pushing. Never flinching, and found a way to get the win which is the most important thing. Turnovers were huge for us in the game, defense was playing hard and holding them to low numbers, and then our offense really did some things in the second half. We started playing complementary football and that's why we were able to get it done. Very proud of our team, very proud to get the Brass Spittoon back because it's important to us to get that trophy back. Our guys were asking about it after the game, they wanted to know where it is. I said they gonna bring it to us don't worry, we'll get it, and we got it, and we gonna take it back to East Lansing where it belongs. We got a bye, and so we'll rest up. We got a few things we need to fix and correct; we'll do that, and we'll get ready for the next one which we all know what that one is.

On the importance of the defense after the win...
It was huge because defense has been playing hard all year and we just need to tighten some things up. I've been seeing improvement from our defense, steady improvement as we've gone and played against some very tough opponents and to hold people to field goal attempts is huge, to get takeaways, to score on defense. If you score on defense, you're going to win 90 percent of your games. And the guys are just a tough, hardnosed group of guys and they play it regardless of the situation, they don't blink and continue to play. And that's what you have to do on defense, you have to have that mentality like just put the ball down and let's play, regardless of the circumstance, it could be a sudden chance situation, it could be a two-minute before the half, two minute end of game, whatever red zone defense, let's go play ball, let's find a way to get a stop, get the ball back to our offense, and that's what you saw today.

Indiana head coach Tom Allen

Opening statement…
Really disappointed. Frustrated right now. Thought our kids played hard. Thought the defense played awesome and did what we asked them to do. We kicked too many field goals in the first half and didn't finish in the fourth quarter. So disappointing without question.

On how the team can start scoring touchdowns instead of settling for field goals…
I just feel we need to evaluate why we're not executing those critical situations. You know, you feel good about certain things coming off the bye week, which I did, but continued to be same issues. As far as not finishing drives in the red zone, moving the football but not getting the touchdowns, eventually that can be the difference in losing a game by five points. And then you give up a pick six, you know, which can't happen.

Protecting the football, that continues to be -- to me, that's kind of a glaring thing. We got some takeaways on defense, which were huge, but not protecting it and then not scoring is just like a double whammy to me.

That's what really sticks out in my mind the most. Even at the end, some dropped passes. You've got to make plays and we have to put our guys in position to be able to make those plays. So, yeah, frustrating.

On keeping Michigan State's rushing attack bottled up…
[Kenneth] Walker is a great player. I watched him on film six straight weeks, and he just makes everybody miss. Averaging 150 [yards] a game. We knew he was a great player. We had some things from a technique perspective and schematically that we were trying to do. I thought Coach [Charlton] Warren did a great job implementing those things, being able to keep him hemmed in and not give him a chance to get out in space and make those guys miss. And you want to gang tackle him.

I mean, I thought our defense played awesome. I don't know what else to say. They did everything you asked them to do except maybe score. That's the one thing they didn't do is score a touchdown.

Our defensive staff, just complimenting them and to be able -- it wasn't even just the run game. Their pass game has been impressive, too. I was kind of more worried about that because those are just big explosive plays that just gut you when you spend so much time trying to stop such a great running back and then they hit you over the top. It's just really challenging. But didn't give those [big pass plays] up either and worked really hard. Another week that we didn't have Tiawan [Mullen], our All-American cornerback. Then, Reese [Taylor], I expected him to play at least half the game, but he went the one series and just couldn't keep going. So, you had two of your top three corners didn't even play against some really talented receivers I thought.

So just an overall -- defensively, you mentioned Micah [McFadden], he was just everywhere. It's just hard to believe they they're able to complete that pass to the quarterback on a reverse and then the quarterback makes a toe-tap catch after Micah is in the guy's face trying to make the throw. Hats off to them for making a play there. But, yeah, Micah played hard like he always does and very good. Led the defense. Thought our defense -- like I said -- did what they were supposed to do to help us win.

On how he felt Jack Tuttle played…
There were some good things. I just still feel like -- you know, the one pick, he got hit on. The pick 6 was just a bad read. It was a mistake. And you can't get those back. Gosh, those are costly, especially in a game like that. We knew it was going to be a one-possession-type game, at least I felt it was going to be. It was going to come down to the wire.

Jack did some good things. I thought a couple times maybe he needed to run, just take it and run it. Didn't like taking that sack there at the end. And the second to last drive, in those situations, we had a little momentum got a few yards there, but don't take a sack in that situation. He's got to learn those lessons for sure. He did some good things but still just protect the football. Got to protect the football. Got to block better for him, you know, and catch better.

Still thought we had a few drops, not a lot of them but some costly ones at the wrong time that hurt us. And that's really more about making key plays at critical times. That's, to me, what this game is about at this level, both sides of the football.

Even look at special teams. We had a ball hit off James Miller's leg, which is kind of hard to prevent. Then we don't down them inside the five. Then they get the ball on the 20. That was the drive where they went down and scored off of. It's different when you start on the five or inside the 5-yard line. Even special teams, we've got to execute that. We've got to down that ball inside the 5-yard line. That changes a lot of things. Changes play calling.

Had a couple punts that weren't good enough. So those things hurt you. It's being able to execute at a high level at critical times. We just don't have a lot of margin for error in certain situations right now. We've lost some playmakers on offense, but guys have got to step up. We've got to coach them better. We've got to make better play calls. We've got to do a better job of getting our guys. And when we do that, they've got to make plays.

At the end of the day, buck stops with me. I'm responsible. Kids played hard. And they were -- from that perspective, I can't fault them on that. They've just got to execute. That's the bottom line.

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