Rutgers Head Coach Greg Schiano
Opening Statement
GREG SCHIANO: Okay, guys, thanks for sticking around. Appreciate you guys as always covering the team. Certainly hard down there in that locker room with the players. Put a lot into it; coming up short tonight for a lot of reasons that are disappointing. But, we got a good, really good group of people down there, coaches and players alike. We'll scrape ourselves off the mat and get back to work and fix the issues that are costing us right now. We get another opportunity in seven days, so looking forward to that. I'll try to answer the questions, anything you have.
Q. Greg, six penalties and they all seemed to come at really debilitating times. How frustrating and debilitating was that for your team?
GREG SCHIANO: Yeah, we been doing really well the last probably, I don't know, 20 games or so. Tonight, some really critical errors. You know, it's 28-24 with about eight minutes left and we make a big third down stop, and that was a crushing blow. But there were so many things. There was no one play that -- we made too many mistakes against a very good football team tonight. We need to coach better. We need to play better. You're not going to -- Iowa is not going to beat themselves. I said that earlier in the week. You have to go beat them and we didn't. Had we won it, we really would've been getting out of there with one that really wasn't rightfully ours the way we played.
Q. To go off that, two straight games with a blocked kick the opening kickoff return touchdown. What did you see from your vantage point on some of those special teams mishaps, and are you worried about the trend it's setting the last couple games with the special teams mistakes?
GREG SCHIANO: Yeah, certainly they're bad plays, right, to open the game with a kickoff return for a touchdown to. It's not like we don't know why it happened. It was an unusual circumstance. I don't know why we did it. That's frustrating. We've done very well. It's too bad. Really bad way to start a game, spot someone seven points. Then the PAT field goal stuff, I got to look at that play. I kind of felt like maybe there was something that wasn't right there. But we have to be able to block it no matter what. Then we missed one. And the penalty there, the illegal procedure penalty, that's not -- can't have that either. I don't know if it changed it or not. You know, does he kick it from -- it is what it is. Happened. We got to clean it up. We won't win games making those kind of mistakes.
Q. To score 21 points in the first three possessions and then only seven the rest of the way, are you disappointed by execution, missed opportunities? What are the reasons for that, you think?
GREG SCHIANO: Well, I don't know exactly, Steve. I think when I watch the video I'll know more exactly why. We came out very hot. Athan was extremely accurate. I think he put up 400 yards against an Iowa defense? That's plenty good enough to win. To be honest, 28 points is plenty good enough to win. I don't think that's the issue. I know what you're driving at. It seemed almost easy at the beginning. You know, sometimes games go like that, the ebbs and flows, and people make adjustments. I thought that they turned the heat up a little bit with some blitzing. That's one thing they did. We made a couple errors. Cut a guy loose one time. Athan almost got hammered there. Again, to me, I don't look at that and say oh, that's the biggest thing we have to get fixed.
Q. Coach, defensively can you just speak about going up against their quarterback Gronowski? Three rushing touchdowns; couple at the end of the game. What went wrong defensively trying to defend against him and his ability to run?
GREG SCHIANO: Well, I don't think -- again, I'll look at it. I have the worst seat in the house. I don't think we tackled very well and he's 235 pounds so he's like having a fullback back there. We did some things to try to get numbers advantage in the run game, but when you run the quarterback it adds another guy back to the numbers for them. It was a good adjustment by them. He ran a little more tonight than he has in the first three games. Even against Iowa State he didn't run like he did tonight. But that's probably what I would've done, too. That's what he does best.
Q. The fan turnout was reminiscent of the Washington Friday night game last September. What do you want to say the students and the fans who packed this place tonight?
GREG SCHIANO: I thought it was great. I looked at that student section even in warmups it was almost full. The entire game I just I wish we could have come through for them and provided a win, right, to build on it. But I do know that this team is going to be a good football team. Right now we're not quite there yet. We will be. We will be a good football team. Got another couple injuries which that's not good. So going to have to assess where that leaves us. There are young players that are ready and have been developing. They'll step up. Probably should say it now, CJ is out for the year. He was on the injury report today. So, yeah, I really appreciate everybody that came out. It was outstanding. We'll be back. We'll play well and we will give them reason to come. I understand it's frustrating when you get close and aren't able to pull it off. It was really impressive. I'm focused on the game, but there are so many times that there are things going on in the stadium. It had to be a very impressive and fun experience for our fans. Just wish we could do the thing that makes it the most fun and that's win the game. But we will.
Q. On Monday you talked about Ian Strong, saying he may not be able to play the game. What did you see from him tonight?
GREG SCHIANO: Yeah, played like a man, no doubt about it. You know, we've seen him do it before. Tonight I think doing it against that defense is a little bit different. You got to remember that is one of the most elite defenses over time. Whether this year's is, I don't know that. It's too early in the season. Over time, you know, you look at some of the stats over the last 10, 12 years, really, really, really good. For Ian to have that kind of day is indicative of the kind of player he is and can be going forward.
Q. Athan was sacked three times today; faced a good amount of pressure. What did you see from the Iowa defense that worked against your offensive line?
GREG SCHIANO: Well, you know, the two edge rushers are good players, right? Then the big guy, 95, he's a powerful dude. I thought early on we were protecting extremely well. Then as I said, they heated us up a little bit with some pressures. Sometimes when you use pressures and then you don't bring the pressures, guys are worried about the pressure so they don't do as good a job just blocking the straight front. I don't know if that happened tonight. I have to watch the tape. It kind of felt that way a little bit. But I don't think that -- again, I don't think that was the problem. That's a good defense. They put pressure on everybody and they cover well. I thought there was a lot of DPIs called and maybe there may have been some that weren't. I think our guys did a good job in the receiving corps of getting open, and Athan did a good job getting them the ball most of the night. Yeah, we got to assess where we are injury-wise and get back to work, and we will do that.
Iowa Head Coach Kirk Ferentz
Opening statement
Kirk Ferentz: First and foremost, I'm really excited to get the win tonight. I'm really proud of our team. They did a great job. You know, competing for the full 60 minutes, and that is a part of football. And going back to earlier in the week, we talked to the guys about expecting this game to be a really tough challenge. Coming in on a Friday night blackout game, a really good crowd and tough tough environment, but against a good football team too, these guys. I got a good team, and we went and set it tonight. So happy that we could fight through some things; the first half wasn't exactly by a script. But the guys kept pushing, kept taking, and believed in each other, and sometimes you got to win games like this, too. We had to work 4% of tonight, which is a real credit to Rutgers. You know, they came out on fire basically, offensively, and pretty much just went them down the fuel pretty much at ease and us. And then, you know, obviously, we sparked us when the kick returned. He's just a pretty dynamic guy. First straight and out, he had some opportunities, but you know, came up short, and then a little bit, we started getting a little traction, too, so first half, I kind of flashed back to 1983. I'm going to Penn State, we won 4238 man, it just it was up and down. So luckily at halftime things settled down a little bit. We started getting some traction defensively. Second half, probably much better, you know, getting off the field on third down. and it was certainly good. And then we were answering all offensively, so that's the biggest part. But it was a tough tough hard fought game for sure. Both teams, you know, and they've had some really good players over. They're a good coach. You know, happy to get the win. And we'll go back and watch everybody work tomorrow, and we're going to put in our weight whenever we get back there. So hopefully get a chance to go from there a bit. A lot of positive efforts out there again and just I think the way the team stuck with, you know, we'd be each other, the dialogue was good, everybody's good at halftime, and the coaches obviously did a good job, making some adjustments, and just got moved forward. So I saw a lot of growth, a lot of improvement. There's more out there to be had. That's our biggest challenge here. And, so we talked as about a five week block and, you know, we're four points about from away from being, what do we want to be? That's yesterday's news, so it's all about, you know, taking care of tomorrow, we recovering, and then hopefully have a great week of practice here. Throw up for questions.
Message to the Defense:
Kirk Ferentz: Just a key player. It's a 60 minute game and not that anybody wanted it. It's be the way it was, but I mean, we basically just couldn't get them off There were many runs in there either, so they clearly had a plan. And part of our plan, I didn't any defensive plan, anytime you play defense, you want to get the offensive off schedule a little bit, and we have no success with that. But also, you know, it's a 69 a game and it's hard sometimes and, sometimes it just feels like, you know, it's coming downhill on you. But you you just got to stay the course, work through it, and bank on the fact that it's not going to have for 60 minutes, there's some point things's got to come back to the man and you hope. And But the guys didn't. I'm proud of the way they computed, especially in that second half and not day, you know, third down conversions, first half, second half. We did a good job on the penalties, did a good job in the red zone. We had four touchdowns over our five trips and a field goal, and then, you know, probably the biggest thing. It's just you know, as much as it just, sticking with it and taking to a plate at time.
On the Growth of Mark Granowski as a Runner:
Kirk Ferentz: No, it's helpful and not all by design, but a guy that can break and what he does and we've had that issue the other side where we've led guys break in. A couple times last week, a couple too many times. That's a bad thing for a defense, so put stress on him. And then I got to can break the container, keep looking at the throw, which marks mark those is really good. We don't necessarily want to, I think we're in the teens here tonight. I don't think that's necessarily the plan, but do do what you got to do to win games too. But it's one more thing for T to worry about. I've said it before. We don't necessarily looking for a guy who' can run or we just want to get quarterbacks, and Mark Patton to have a skill set that's pretty versatile. To your first point is just, yeah, I think you've seen him get more comfortable with each week. I think he's probably represent our team. I think he can play better. I still think he keep making strides and they go to years of our team can get better, too, if we keep our focus where it needs to be and that's the biggest trick.
On what he saw from Kamari Moulton:
Kirk Ferentz: Yeah, it looked like him. You know, it was good to have him back, right to him back, not good. And you always hate to lose any. You don't want anybody not to be able to play, but you know, Kamari's a really quality young guy, and he's done a great job. Since he's been here, personality-wise, he hasn't changed at all, but he's a little bit more mature now and a more mature player. And so it's great to have that. His vision's really, you know, a little bit better was he years ago and I get a little more through it now and more mature. And so, you know, he's doing a really good job and likes to get all those guys healthy at once. That'd be really good, but hopefully Jazz isn't too bad and maybe we'll see what happens with Xavier next week optimistic.
