Post Game Quotes: Indiana
11/2/2024 8:47:00 PM | Football
Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith
Opening statement…
Okay, well obviously that was tough, you're going to get exposed against a really good team when you don't execute very well and credit to those guys. Sometimes when we're moving quickly, you just think about ourselves and how we did, those guys executed at a very high level, the separation between the two execution levels of the two teams, and I think that's why the score is where it's at. All three phases. The start of the game it felt like the guys had great energy and we were moving around, the first quarter went our way, but then it turned into playing three more quarters against a really good team, and all three phases we just contributed to a lopsided loss. So, we have to regroup, and we have a bye here to absorb this thing, and we have three opportunities moving forward.
On keeping the team focused through all the injuries…
It's a physical game, I think all four of those guys you mentioned, from the quick report I got, obviously they are looking for further evaluation, but this isn't season ending for any of those guys. But this is November now, injuries are going to take place, and opportunities for other guys to get in the game who have been practicing a long time. I'm convinced listening to those guys in the locker room, this group, they are going to be back to work, stick together, and know that, yeah, we got embarrassed today. It's a terrible taste in our mouth, but that's what you sign up for sometimes when you're going to play big time ball and against a good team and you don't play well, you have to bounce back, and I plan on these guys doing it.
On anticipating if Aidan Chiles will be available to play at Illinois in two weeks after the bye week…
Yes, I would.
On offensive line protection today…
There's a lot there, but when we had the ball, the line of scrimmage matchup, we lost that by a wide margin. Some of those too we were taking sacks, trying to throw a screen, some of the operation too, where guys were at, they did a nice job in their movement, where we were just swinging and missing, so were getting tackled in the back field. Credit to those guys, but we didn't execute very well upfront.
On balancing lessons with losses…
The approach is we are going to look, correct, and improve whatever the score was. We've got three more opportunities, we want to play better than we did today, and so the only thing you know how to do is go back to work, and then try to clean some things up, and do some things at a higher level.
On keeping the team level when things spiral out of control during the game…
It's a group effort, coaching, leadership on the team. I did feel like even as the start of the third quarter as bad as that was, we needed something to bounce back. A momentum change, a play to be made, create a turnover, something, but we never got it, and credit to Indiana for executing at such a high level.
On not challenging the second turnover…
Those guys look at any change of possession, scores like that, they take a deep look at it, so I didn't think to do it.
On keeping the locker room 'positive'…
I don't think it's always about being positive, I think it's about being optimistic, knowing that we can get some things fixed. You (can) give all these locker room speeches, it's all about words going into action. Again, I've liked this group from the start. I think these guys will be back. They're disappointed, shoot even embarrassed in there, but I'm pretty confident they know what's in front of them. They got three more opportunities to still feel good about a season.
On the defensive pass rush being 'nonexistent' the last four weeks…
It was today, and we didn't affect them. We only had a couple of times I thought we could get them on the ground, and we have to keep looking at it because I like those guys up front, especially on the edge, I think about Bogle and the effort he goes with and Anthony Jones and that, but we have not affected the passer nearly as much, especially against this team, this guy could throw it. He's going to stand in the pocket, some other offenses we played it wasn't the case, but didn't show up tonight.
On the last possession before halftime…
We got ourselves into a long-yard situation. I think we were talking about (Nick) Marsh; we completed to him on the sideline. Yeah, he's toward the sideline with his forward progress. I think it's the correct call. Clock's gonna wind. We need to find a way to get back on the ball. We were probably a second or two off from getting it snapped. I don't remember how many seconds, five, seven, were left, but that was taking place.
On going into the second bye week as opposed to the first…
We did the deep dive of the six games; now we're only talking about three, but it gives us the chance to maybe study some other ideas and then again emphasize what we see out of these last three combined with the six we've seen and maybe come up with a new wrinkle or two in some areas that we need to improve on.
On staying competitive against good teams…
Yeah, we gotta keep working, keep growing. This is a game of development, and we're in year one. I like this roster, but we gotta grow and develop these players currently. We gotta be recruiting to continue to add to the locker room; that's the approach we're gonna take.
On comparing Indiana to other ranked teams they've played…
I think the physicality, the d-line gave us issues. I think they'll match up pretty well there or within that ballpark. I do think their execution in all three phases, they do not beat themselves. When plays are there to be made, they're making it, and so I think they can play with anybody.
On Indiana's defense…
I thought they did a nice job of disguise, looking like it's one high, turns into two, and then you compound things with the pass rush cause he didn't have a clean pocket nearly enough. And so that makes it tough when they're disguising, and you don't get a lot of time to recognize it.
On what Indiana has done this year...
They have done a great job, obviously with the roster, the schemes; give him credit for what he's done. I'm focused on ourselves; we gotta find ways to score some more points and not give it away. I did credit our defense, we turned it over the first time, and they bowed up, going three and out. Field position flipped on that because they got the next one, but we gotta find ways to continue to score. We got third and one in the red zone, not quite the red zone, but down there, and we go backward on that play. But again, 10 points, 47, I don't know if one play really would matter.
Indiana Head Coach Curt Cignetti
Opening Statement…
Good road win. Now that we can't say we never trailed before because we got down 10 to nothing. Now we all know how we will respond when we are down, I probably won't get that question Thursday night. Michigan State came out and really made some impressive plays on offense throwing and catching. We responded with a nice touchdown drive, then we got a couple of turnovers on defense which were huge. We were making plays on offense, timely plays. Then our kicking game was starting to contribute. Our punt return game, we got a couple of nice returns and we blocked a punt. We put a lot of pressure on them and they muffed a punt, which led to points. It was a pretty dominant win, 47 straight points on the road against what I think is a good football team. We took the crowd out of the game certainly, it was a good win. We will enjoy it for 24 [hours], the coaching staff will get to enjoy it for about 12 [hours]. It will be a nice trip home.
On how the team can continue to keep compartmentalizing and succeeding…
I think we are all on the same page. I think they are buying into the main thing, how we approach the main thing: What is important to us and how we want to play. They are older, they got good character, there is good leadership on this team, they are hungry for success. A lot of these guys came from P5 (power 5) level, Texas Tech, Wisconsin. Even those aren't who came from Kent. We got a good leader at quarterback. We got a lot of guys who are good leaders. We are balanced on offense, we spread the ball around. We got a lot of guys that can make plays. Defensively, we create havoc up front, we swarm the ball. They got a little edge about them, the whole team, they've got a little edge about them. So, they continue to play very consistently, never perfect. They are never satisfied.
On when he felt comfortable playing Kurtis Rourke…
I think I knew early Monday, maybe Tuesday that he could start. Every day was better than his previous day in terms of his execution and accuracy. Was there some curiosity about how effective? I think human nature would. I decided at some point to just believe in our team, which you got to do as the head coach and the leader of the team, you just got to believe in your team.
On what he saw from his team finally facing adversity…
I didn't talk so much about wanting to see how this team would deal with adversity, you guys did. I knew at some point we would be behind, and I knew we would be fine. So, now we have been behind, and we responded.
On the team's defense…
Fifteen tackles for loss and seven sacks. I don't like the full composite in front of me, but like, that is really impressive. I don't know if I have ever seen those kinds of numbers on a team that I coached. That is a great credit to our defensive players and our staff. They got after them up front, you got to win up front. That's the first thing you got to do to win games is win up front on both sides of the ball and I know we did knock the quarterback out at one point. I mean it was pretty dominant, it got pretty dominant there.
Sixth-year Defensive Lineman Khris Bogle
On what leadership looks like now in the locker room and going forward …
Basically, just making sure everybody is on the same page. We are having a hard time right now, we didn't win the game, we just need to bring everybody close. Closer than ever right now. Everybody has to be on the same page at the end of the day. No mistakes, everybody has to be on the same page. We have a bye week next week and the last time we had a bye week we grouped together and came back to beat Iowa. Same thing this week.
On what happened after getting the early lead…
Just piggybacking off of what Mav said, right as they called game, we went out there and we executed in the first quarter, first half really. Second half, we just didn't execute the game plan. He had a great game plan, and we went over it all week, they have iPads like Mav said, they just made adjustments, and we just didn't execute. I put that on me and Mav also; as the leaders on the defense, we should've stepped up and talked to the guys, told them 'Hey we need to turn it up a notch'. Just things like that.
On what changed during the game, from the early start with pressure to second half…
Nothing has changed. Like I said, we just have to go out there as players and execute a game plan. He gave us the game plan to the best of his ability. He called it a great game, I can't lie. But I put that on myself, the rest of the guys on the D-line. We have to step it up at practice. Hopefully with this bye week, we know what is at stake, we know what we have to do and hope fully we will get better.
On no sacks by the defense and what the unit can do moving forward…
Like Mav said, it starts at practice. We just need to do better, overall. Up front, get to the quarterback as much as we can. I mean, we haven't done it in a couple games, but that starts with us up front. If we can't get to the quarterback, we're bailing the DB's out and the DB's have to cover. Constantly. I put that on us up front. We have to get to the quarterback as much as we can.
On any surprise at not getting to the quarterback…
No, I wasn't surprised. I got to him a couple times; I just didn't finish. I put that on myself.
Sixth-year Defensive Lineman Maverick Hansen
On what leadership looks like now in the locker room and going forward …
To piggyback off of that, as a leader you need to rally everybody together. No pointing fingers, no 'it's offense's fault' or 'it's defense's fault', none of that. We can't have any of that. Moving forward, we have to start diagnosing our film. What did we do wrong? What can we fix, what can we do better to move forward? The good thing about the bye week is that you get a chance to really dive in deep until the last few games, and you really realize what we're doing and kind of get the chance to build off of what we were doing well and fix what we were doing bad. As a unit, as a whole team really, we just need to come together, love each other, and make sure nobody is strained away. Nobody's going down the path of no regrets and no turning back. We can't have any regrets or anything. I felt like we had a good week at practice this past week and didn't come out on top, but we need to keep working putting our best foot forward.
On what happened after getting the early lead…
I will say, they have an iPad too. They're on the sideline fixing things, seeing what we're doing, seeing how they can scheme up our defensive calls. I'm sure that their defense is doing the same thing to our offense. We just need to be able to out execute them. It comes to the plays on the field. We need to execute that play, whatever play is called and no matter what block we get. We need to be able to execute our job. I feel like they were better today. That's what it comes down to – they executed at a better level than we did.
On no sacks by the defense and what the unit can do moving forward…
It starts at practice. Coming out and working. You can't feel sorry for yourself going into these practices. I know it has been a rough stretch, but no one cares. Their next opponent doesn't care about what happened to us in the previous play, none of that. They don't care about what happened to the guys in this game that are out now. They don't care about any of that. Really what it comes down to is going out at practice, executing what we need, and getting the job done. Simple as that. They out executed us, and that's really what happened.
Opening statement…
Okay, well obviously that was tough, you're going to get exposed against a really good team when you don't execute very well and credit to those guys. Sometimes when we're moving quickly, you just think about ourselves and how we did, those guys executed at a very high level, the separation between the two execution levels of the two teams, and I think that's why the score is where it's at. All three phases. The start of the game it felt like the guys had great energy and we were moving around, the first quarter went our way, but then it turned into playing three more quarters against a really good team, and all three phases we just contributed to a lopsided loss. So, we have to regroup, and we have a bye here to absorb this thing, and we have three opportunities moving forward.
On keeping the team focused through all the injuries…
It's a physical game, I think all four of those guys you mentioned, from the quick report I got, obviously they are looking for further evaluation, but this isn't season ending for any of those guys. But this is November now, injuries are going to take place, and opportunities for other guys to get in the game who have been practicing a long time. I'm convinced listening to those guys in the locker room, this group, they are going to be back to work, stick together, and know that, yeah, we got embarrassed today. It's a terrible taste in our mouth, but that's what you sign up for sometimes when you're going to play big time ball and against a good team and you don't play well, you have to bounce back, and I plan on these guys doing it.
On anticipating if Aidan Chiles will be available to play at Illinois in two weeks after the bye week…
Yes, I would.
On offensive line protection today…
There's a lot there, but when we had the ball, the line of scrimmage matchup, we lost that by a wide margin. Some of those too we were taking sacks, trying to throw a screen, some of the operation too, where guys were at, they did a nice job in their movement, where we were just swinging and missing, so were getting tackled in the back field. Credit to those guys, but we didn't execute very well upfront.
On balancing lessons with losses…
The approach is we are going to look, correct, and improve whatever the score was. We've got three more opportunities, we want to play better than we did today, and so the only thing you know how to do is go back to work, and then try to clean some things up, and do some things at a higher level.
On keeping the team level when things spiral out of control during the game…
It's a group effort, coaching, leadership on the team. I did feel like even as the start of the third quarter as bad as that was, we needed something to bounce back. A momentum change, a play to be made, create a turnover, something, but we never got it, and credit to Indiana for executing at such a high level.
On not challenging the second turnover…
Those guys look at any change of possession, scores like that, they take a deep look at it, so I didn't think to do it.
On keeping the locker room 'positive'…
I don't think it's always about being positive, I think it's about being optimistic, knowing that we can get some things fixed. You (can) give all these locker room speeches, it's all about words going into action. Again, I've liked this group from the start. I think these guys will be back. They're disappointed, shoot even embarrassed in there, but I'm pretty confident they know what's in front of them. They got three more opportunities to still feel good about a season.
On the defensive pass rush being 'nonexistent' the last four weeks…
It was today, and we didn't affect them. We only had a couple of times I thought we could get them on the ground, and we have to keep looking at it because I like those guys up front, especially on the edge, I think about Bogle and the effort he goes with and Anthony Jones and that, but we have not affected the passer nearly as much, especially against this team, this guy could throw it. He's going to stand in the pocket, some other offenses we played it wasn't the case, but didn't show up tonight.
On the last possession before halftime…
We got ourselves into a long-yard situation. I think we were talking about (Nick) Marsh; we completed to him on the sideline. Yeah, he's toward the sideline with his forward progress. I think it's the correct call. Clock's gonna wind. We need to find a way to get back on the ball. We were probably a second or two off from getting it snapped. I don't remember how many seconds, five, seven, were left, but that was taking place.
On going into the second bye week as opposed to the first…
We did the deep dive of the six games; now we're only talking about three, but it gives us the chance to maybe study some other ideas and then again emphasize what we see out of these last three combined with the six we've seen and maybe come up with a new wrinkle or two in some areas that we need to improve on.
On staying competitive against good teams…
Yeah, we gotta keep working, keep growing. This is a game of development, and we're in year one. I like this roster, but we gotta grow and develop these players currently. We gotta be recruiting to continue to add to the locker room; that's the approach we're gonna take.
On comparing Indiana to other ranked teams they've played…
I think the physicality, the d-line gave us issues. I think they'll match up pretty well there or within that ballpark. I do think their execution in all three phases, they do not beat themselves. When plays are there to be made, they're making it, and so I think they can play with anybody.
On Indiana's defense…
I thought they did a nice job of disguise, looking like it's one high, turns into two, and then you compound things with the pass rush cause he didn't have a clean pocket nearly enough. And so that makes it tough when they're disguising, and you don't get a lot of time to recognize it.
On what Indiana has done this year...
They have done a great job, obviously with the roster, the schemes; give him credit for what he's done. I'm focused on ourselves; we gotta find ways to score some more points and not give it away. I did credit our defense, we turned it over the first time, and they bowed up, going three and out. Field position flipped on that because they got the next one, but we gotta find ways to continue to score. We got third and one in the red zone, not quite the red zone, but down there, and we go backward on that play. But again, 10 points, 47, I don't know if one play really would matter.
Indiana Head Coach Curt Cignetti
Opening Statement…
Good road win. Now that we can't say we never trailed before because we got down 10 to nothing. Now we all know how we will respond when we are down, I probably won't get that question Thursday night. Michigan State came out and really made some impressive plays on offense throwing and catching. We responded with a nice touchdown drive, then we got a couple of turnovers on defense which were huge. We were making plays on offense, timely plays. Then our kicking game was starting to contribute. Our punt return game, we got a couple of nice returns and we blocked a punt. We put a lot of pressure on them and they muffed a punt, which led to points. It was a pretty dominant win, 47 straight points on the road against what I think is a good football team. We took the crowd out of the game certainly, it was a good win. We will enjoy it for 24 [hours], the coaching staff will get to enjoy it for about 12 [hours]. It will be a nice trip home.
On how the team can continue to keep compartmentalizing and succeeding…
I think we are all on the same page. I think they are buying into the main thing, how we approach the main thing: What is important to us and how we want to play. They are older, they got good character, there is good leadership on this team, they are hungry for success. A lot of these guys came from P5 (power 5) level, Texas Tech, Wisconsin. Even those aren't who came from Kent. We got a good leader at quarterback. We got a lot of guys who are good leaders. We are balanced on offense, we spread the ball around. We got a lot of guys that can make plays. Defensively, we create havoc up front, we swarm the ball. They got a little edge about them, the whole team, they've got a little edge about them. So, they continue to play very consistently, never perfect. They are never satisfied.
On when he felt comfortable playing Kurtis Rourke…
I think I knew early Monday, maybe Tuesday that he could start. Every day was better than his previous day in terms of his execution and accuracy. Was there some curiosity about how effective? I think human nature would. I decided at some point to just believe in our team, which you got to do as the head coach and the leader of the team, you just got to believe in your team.
On what he saw from his team finally facing adversity…
I didn't talk so much about wanting to see how this team would deal with adversity, you guys did. I knew at some point we would be behind, and I knew we would be fine. So, now we have been behind, and we responded.
On the team's defense…
Fifteen tackles for loss and seven sacks. I don't like the full composite in front of me, but like, that is really impressive. I don't know if I have ever seen those kinds of numbers on a team that I coached. That is a great credit to our defensive players and our staff. They got after them up front, you got to win up front. That's the first thing you got to do to win games is win up front on both sides of the ball and I know we did knock the quarterback out at one point. I mean it was pretty dominant, it got pretty dominant there.
Sixth-year Defensive Lineman Khris Bogle
On what leadership looks like now in the locker room and going forward …
Basically, just making sure everybody is on the same page. We are having a hard time right now, we didn't win the game, we just need to bring everybody close. Closer than ever right now. Everybody has to be on the same page at the end of the day. No mistakes, everybody has to be on the same page. We have a bye week next week and the last time we had a bye week we grouped together and came back to beat Iowa. Same thing this week.
On what happened after getting the early lead…
Just piggybacking off of what Mav said, right as they called game, we went out there and we executed in the first quarter, first half really. Second half, we just didn't execute the game plan. He had a great game plan, and we went over it all week, they have iPads like Mav said, they just made adjustments, and we just didn't execute. I put that on me and Mav also; as the leaders on the defense, we should've stepped up and talked to the guys, told them 'Hey we need to turn it up a notch'. Just things like that.
On what changed during the game, from the early start with pressure to second half…
Nothing has changed. Like I said, we just have to go out there as players and execute a game plan. He gave us the game plan to the best of his ability. He called it a great game, I can't lie. But I put that on myself, the rest of the guys on the D-line. We have to step it up at practice. Hopefully with this bye week, we know what is at stake, we know what we have to do and hope fully we will get better.
On no sacks by the defense and what the unit can do moving forward…
Like Mav said, it starts at practice. We just need to do better, overall. Up front, get to the quarterback as much as we can. I mean, we haven't done it in a couple games, but that starts with us up front. If we can't get to the quarterback, we're bailing the DB's out and the DB's have to cover. Constantly. I put that on us up front. We have to get to the quarterback as much as we can.
On any surprise at not getting to the quarterback…
No, I wasn't surprised. I got to him a couple times; I just didn't finish. I put that on myself.
Sixth-year Defensive Lineman Maverick Hansen
On what leadership looks like now in the locker room and going forward …
To piggyback off of that, as a leader you need to rally everybody together. No pointing fingers, no 'it's offense's fault' or 'it's defense's fault', none of that. We can't have any of that. Moving forward, we have to start diagnosing our film. What did we do wrong? What can we fix, what can we do better to move forward? The good thing about the bye week is that you get a chance to really dive in deep until the last few games, and you really realize what we're doing and kind of get the chance to build off of what we were doing well and fix what we were doing bad. As a unit, as a whole team really, we just need to come together, love each other, and make sure nobody is strained away. Nobody's going down the path of no regrets and no turning back. We can't have any regrets or anything. I felt like we had a good week at practice this past week and didn't come out on top, but we need to keep working putting our best foot forward.
On what happened after getting the early lead…
I will say, they have an iPad too. They're on the sideline fixing things, seeing what we're doing, seeing how they can scheme up our defensive calls. I'm sure that their defense is doing the same thing to our offense. We just need to be able to out execute them. It comes to the plays on the field. We need to execute that play, whatever play is called and no matter what block we get. We need to be able to execute our job. I feel like they were better today. That's what it comes down to – they executed at a better level than we did.
On no sacks by the defense and what the unit can do moving forward…
It starts at practice. Coming out and working. You can't feel sorry for yourself going into these practices. I know it has been a rough stretch, but no one cares. Their next opponent doesn't care about what happened to us in the previous play, none of that. They don't care about what happened to the guys in this game that are out now. They don't care about any of that. Really what it comes down to is going out at practice, executing what we need, and getting the job done. Simple as that. They out executed us, and that's really what happened.
Players Mentioned
DL
/ Football
QB
/ Football
DL
/ Football
DL
/ FootballJonathan Smith | Football Press Conference | Nov. 24 2025
Monday, November 24
Jonathan Smith Postgame Comments | Iowa
Saturday, November 22
Jonathan Smith | Football Press Conference | Nov. 17 2025
Monday, November 17
Jonathan Smith Post Game Comments | PSU | Nov. 15 2025
Saturday, November 15