Opening Statement
Happy normal seven-day prep week. You know, week four of the season, we’re finally getting one of these, which is nice. So, got the boys back this morning. Put obviously the great win to bed and turn the page to a really tough opponent that’s battle tested. Has played two power four teams in Maryland and Mississippi State with Northern Illinois. Coach Hammock and his staff run a great program. You know, they do it the right way and they do a tremendous job of getting the most out of their kids and they historically get better and better and better with every single week. So excited about the opportunity to go do what good teams do and earn the right to win on the road. So got to have a good week of preparation, have a great response after a great victory and get back on the climb here because it’s so early in the season. Obviously we got a lot of room to improve as well. Victory Monday really important for the mindset of kids that have been worked hard and haven’t gotten a lot out of it. I mean winning cures a lot of things, right? And so being able to have all the deposits that we’ve made, all through the days and the years that we’ve been here now, the guys obviously stayed for a reason. They believed in what we’re building and Saturday night was a great return on that investment. So as good as that was, now we got to do a great job again putting our heads back down, putting the blinders on and refocusing on the task at hand because winning requires your best each and every single day. So there’s been a lot of praise. There’s been a lot of messages. There’s been a lot of things that have been said. And as nice as that is, it doesn’t matter. We got to go back out and we got to get better.
Did you expect it to be as complete considering what had happened prior?
I believe in our team. I believe I was asked that—hey, do you still believe and absolutely right? Like we’re a good team that played complete football, that played complimentary football that, you know, for the most part we did not beat ourselves. There’s some things that we still need to clean up. But when our guys are that focused, when they’re that intent, when they’re that purposeful, and most importantly, they’re playing that well-connected together and for one another, you know, again, we got a good team, and I believe in them wholeheartedly, and that showed. And again, it’s one good opportunity, right? We haven’t given up any points at home. We’ve defended our home turf and now that’s got to go travel, right? We haven’t done that yet. So, that’s the challenge. That’s the response. That’s the call, you know, for us to again put our head down, go back to work because that’s who we are, right? We want to continue to improve. We want to continue to compete and we get an opportunity to do that today and earn the right to win today.
When you have that big of a win, what do you do to guard against let down?
I mean, I think there’s a lesson, a hard lesson that we already learned, right? Like from week one, we had a really nice win and we probably felt ourselves a little bit too much, felt a little bit overconfident, right? And we didn’t respect the process of winning. So, we’ve already learned that hard lesson that we can’t grow complacent and that we can’t you know, not respect what winning requires each and every single day, right? And that’s the process, that’s the hard work, that’s the focus. That’s the toughness that the team showed as well, right? Like, so and we sat here two weeks ago on a Monday talking about, hey, there’s going to need to be a really big response because there was a really big let down. Well, as bad as that event was when we didn’t respect all those things and we had that moment up in Wazzu. Well, now we’re on the other end of the spectrum, right? That was a really cool event, but they both require huge responses to get back to neutral and do what it takes, right? There’s there’s no way to navigate around that, right? So, you know, we got to learn how to handle success. And again, we didn’t do that great week one to week two. And so, now we have a new opportunity from week three to week four to do it the right way and go win on the road. And that’s what good teams do. So, we got to go fill that box. Not just check it, but fill it completely through the opportunities and the days that we have to prepare to win and then go put it together again, you know, the way that we did to be consistently good and not just have this occasionally great moment, right?
What is your sense of how the guys are today?
I mean, focused, right? Like that they’re they’re proud of what they did, but they’re not satisfied because they know that again like the climb and the journey that we’re on. We’re still building new rungs of the ladder. We’re still taking the next step the right way. But I was really proud of the way that, you know, we kind of got to a point we talked about, hey, like at some point in time, we got to take a a step of faith and you’re not going to be able to see that next run that you’ve created, but you got to believe and that you got to know that it’s there and that your teammates and your brothers have your back. And that was a step that we took on Saturday. And that’s a big piece of, you know, creating our culture and our identity and the winning trait that this team possesses. But again, now we got to go do that again. Like it’s it’s the best thing that we get to do is that we get to do this every single day. But it’s also the hardest thing that we do is that we do it every single day and the expectations do not change regardless of the outcomes.
On handling a big win and celebrating it:
Hey, you got 24 hours. Like we’re way past 24 hours, right? And if you don’t respect that 24-hour rule and you listen to all the nice things that have been said, all the comments, it’s like all that stuff, all the pats on the back today while they’re on campus, like you know, all of that starts swarming around and swimming around you like a bunch of barracudas in the water, right? Like, and you don’t want to be in that situation, right? You want to be able to insulate yourself. You want to be able to again know that the opinions in the building matter. That’s what needs to be most valuable. and the support that we receive from the student section, the way that they showed up, the support that we received from the community, the way that they showed up, and again, the the sense of pride, right, that everyone feels right now in the city because our football team did a really, really good thing, right? Like that’s all well and good, and that’s what our expectations are and everyone else can feel really, really good about it until we all get back together and have another party on Friday night when Colorado State comes to town. But there’s work that we get to do. And in this, you know, family business that we’re in, you’re only as good as your last latest performance, right? So, that one was good, but we got another one coming. And as good as that last one was, we don’t handle this one the right way. I’m going to forget about the last one pretty quickly. And all they’re going to know is the one that we just put down.
Defense made it a street fight right from the get-go. That was pretty impressive for four quarters.
Yeah. I mean, we we wanted to establish our toughness, right? We’ve talked a lot about that as you know we we’ve shown up and being focused, being accountable, being smart, being tough. And so, you know, we spent a lot of time over those 14 days of being emotionally tough and responding to all the things that have transpired, being mentally tough, and winning the pre- snap, no matter how many snaps that was going to take. And then showing real physical toughness that when we turned on the tape or those who were there, you know, you you felt our pads, right? and and it showed that those guys were playing together and willing to lay it on the line for one another and I thought that showed up um in the physicality of our play.
I got a question about Chris Johnson, the growth from the middle of last season through where he is now and just the collective positivity in the secondary and amazed at how that collective groups come together?
I wouldn’t say amazed. I’m, you know, I’m impressed by their maturity, especially since they, as I started to play together and as you alluded to, you know, the middle of last year as they, you know, really kind of get got comfortable with one another, the the maturity that they’ve shown, the competitive maturity to respond from week two at Wazzu where I felt like for as many talented guys as we have back there, the number of single-digit guys that play in our secondary, right? Like those guys need to play well and collectively I think they put down their best game that we’ve had together. Right. Obviously Chris with the pick six and a lot of other ways that he impacted and influenced the game. I thought Dalesean Staley had one of his most complete games since he’s been with us and the refinement of his technique and the discipline of his eyes got better as the game went along. Eric Butler did a tremendous job and was as intently focused as I’ve ever seen him on the boundary to giving and receiving communication and, you know, makes a play there early on on the punt return that, you know, that’s just a player making a play, you know, and and doing things in a big time way. And then obviously, you know, Bryce and you guys talked to Dwayne after the game, like the impact that all those guys had collectively together and how unselfish they were to play their role and be tied into the plan was really, really impressive.
Being able to get pressure with four, not having to blitz as much. Was that a big part of that game plan and why you guys were so successful on the back end?
Yeah, the big piece of it was to to win first and second down so that we could get into an advantageous situation on third down to get those four defensive ends on the field collectively together. We feel like, you know, we knew going into that one, CAL had tremendous success on early downs and had really put themselves in a favorable position to be third and short and third and manageable to where, you know, it’s kind of a mixed bag. And then depending on where you are on the the the field, it’s like, well, is this really third down or is it two down territory? And a lot of again, the the competitive advantage swings to them, right? So, we knew that we had to do some things on early downs to to get them off schedule to allow those four guys to go on. And again, a lot gets made about obviously who Trey is and the attention that he warrants and the motor that he plays with, but he’s so disruptive that allows some of those other guys to go hunt as well. And those own guys, the other guys in their own right, you know, August and Jared and Hendo, like again, they they they are continuing to grow. They’re continuing to refine their craft. And I think coach Alrich and coach Manning and coach Los have done a great job week in and week out, you know, really figuring out how can we not just, you know, scheme some things up for the sake of scheming it up, but how can we really get after these protections and apply the most pressure while not compromising the the numbers obviously that we get to distribute and how we’re going to distribute them.
You have a new addition to the roster, Tatuo Martinson. What did you guys like about him to put him and get him on the roster and and how’s his progression? Can we see him on the field sooner than later?
Yeah, loved his size, love his game experience. Obviously knew of him from him being in in conference play and, you know, became available and administration and the university did a heck of a job supporting us to be able to get him enrolled in class and onboarded onto our roster. And so he was kind of in limbo for uh the majority of the summer and obviously training camp until all this kind of sorted out. So he’s trending the right way. He’s tracking. He’s really showing some some heavy hands. We got to get his conditioning up a little bit, you know, and get him caught up to speed with obviously the verbiage and the language of things. But, you know, hopefully here we can get him in the mix sooner rather than later. But to have another big body, right, like to again win the line of scrimmage, especially as we get deeper into the season, I think is going to be a real advantage to the depth of our roster to have him.
After you guys have a game like you did in all three phases where you guys are really sound, what areas do you look to improve at going forward into Saturday?
Yeah, I mean all of it, right? Like you you nit-pick it and the big thing about it always for us is you got to detach from the results and you know really hone in okay how how are we establishing and how are we getting to the end results right. So I was pleased in a lot of ways with our physicality with our fundamentals there was still some things that you know we need to clean up from a communication standpoint you know it starts with the staff like we had to you know waste two timeouts one early after the explosive play because of a sub package change and everything and then one late defensively with a sub package change that that needs to get tightened up so the kids can be in a better position to be successful. And then the on the field communication can continue to get better. And for as physical as we were, there’s still moments that across the board in all three phases don’t show up and reflect the resume of what we want to put on tape, right? And so you you highlight that and say, “Hey, like that that’s not us.” And as fast as possible, we got to get that off a tape, right? and the things that are good, you know, you want to really promote that within the program and um reward guys for for doing right.
What do you think about Jaden’s progression over these three games and where do you see him growing and what he wanted to get to?
Yeah, I mean, I thought he was really really efficient with the football. Again, his decision-m process was really good and I think as he continues to take strides, you know, that the the down the field shots will continue to grow. We didn’t ask him to do a ton of that, but obviously we hit the one that we did, which was huge because then they went from a whole lot of one high to two high, which opened up the run game. And then he did a really good job with, you know, the RPO reads that we asked him to do. I thought the development of, you know, his ability to run the ball was good to see. So there’s tremendous room and growth for him. I mean, that was day three as a full-time starter, you know, on the job and thought he handled it well against a really, really good defense.
You guys had over 31,000 there on Saturday since last year why you was here. Just talk about that, how it impacted the team and how do you keep more people coming?
Yeah, I mean it again tremendous effort by the whole community, you know, showing up and showing out, you know, and by again ticketing, marketing, staff, I mean, everyone that are the behind-the-scenes heroes to to make that happen, right? And I think everyone who was there like walked away with a tremendous experience, right? That they’re going to tell everyone about and come back to and we get to do it again, not this Friday, but next Friday. So, I know there’s a ton of stuff going on, but that needs to be where the party’s at. That’s the spot to be. We’ll continue to get out in the community. We’ll continue to engage. But, you know, when you have a crowd like that that creates energy, creates a buzz that directly impacts the game. I mean, they had three or four um pre- snap penalties that were a direct correlation to the crowd noise and the environment. I mean, a good number of those back-to-back occurred down near our student section. So, it’s like, man, come have fun, right? Like, everyone else in the society right now, like, hey, you’re told to be quiet and, you know, don’t get too loud, don’t be too rowdy. Well, come to the football game and make some noise and have a lot of fun with your with your friends and, you know, enjoy some kids that are competing their tails off and, you know, be proud to represent the city and our university.
You cross paths with NIU Coach Hammock multiple times?
Yeah, he was actually a GA when I was a player at Wisconsin. Yeah. So, our pass run deep with one another. Yeah. And then we’ve, you know, battled, shoot, the last time he kicked my tail in the MAC championship game.
What’ you think when his team beat Notre Dame and South Bend last year?
Not shocking at all. It’s what that program’s done for a very, very long time, right? Like they’re they are a hard-nosed, well coached, high disciplined physical outfit, right? So, they play the game the right way. I think he does a tremendous job valuing the right things having recruited against him for, you know, all those years to where he values high character. He knows what fits his scheme and they do a tremendous job developing their talent. So throw the records out, right? Like they win when they’re at home. Like they have great pride in their program and, you know, it’s going to be a tough place to go play and I know they’re going to give us their best effort and we better bring ours.
He’s breaking in a really young quarterback. They have a history of pounding the ball. Would you expect NIU just to test your defensive front standard?
I mean, it’s, you know, Coach Hammock’s a former running back coach, right? Like he he he likes to pound the rock. I mean, that’s the identity of of who they are. So, I think they’re going to, you know, test it early, test it often, and see if they can run it. For sure.
Is there anything about the game Saturday that you were not happy with or you didn’t like the performance?
Yeah, I mean, yeah, there’s some some mental stuff for where we are. You know, like we had the one uh flare screen to the screen to the back that, you know, like is a mistake that that can’t happen, right? Like in that situation where we’re in a dominant position to where there’s enough guys that are on the field that have great knowledge that like we’re not doing that, right? And so there’s there’s some one-offs in that regard, but yeah, it’s the life of a coach. You’re never, you know, you’re never happy. And there’s something to to point at and say, Stop doing that.
Coach, you guys primarily play night games. This is a 12:30 kickoff and you know the morning body clock for your guys. Are you doing anything different to prep them for that part of it?
I mean we practice every single morning. You know we’re out on the field at 8:35 for walk through right and we’re rolling and going. I mean so we get a good amount of work to where you know shoot we’re whether it’s the morning it’s the afternoon it’s the evening but again like we’re talking about hey it’s football players getting opportunity to go football. So what what time is it? You want to play at midnight? You want to go play on Mars? You want to play at noon in Antarctica? Like, put the ball down. Like, who’s lining up? Uh, the abominable snowman. Cool. Like, anyone, anytime, anywhere. Like, this is what we train to do, you know? So, we’ll we’ll adjust, you know, like what we got to get done with the time that we’re traveling out and when we kind of order our normal events on on Friday in terms of meetings and walkthroughs and everything. But, you know, our guys love to play ball and so be it, right? It’s a 2:30 local time kick and all right, put the ball down like let’s play. What direction are we kicking? Where are we going?
On the offensive side of the football, Jordan Napier received 10 targets last week. Do you look to continue the trend of beating him?
Yeah, he’s one of our best receivers if I’m not mistaken. I think PFF recognized him for the best wide receiver um performance of the past weekend. He graded somewhere in the the 90s, right? like so he’s a kid that you give him targets, you give him opportunities, you you give him the ball, generally good things are going to happen. He’s shown that, you know, over his time being here. I was also, you know, more pleased with, again, the contributions that he had on special teams and the things that he does when he doesn’t have the ball in his hands, right? I thought he did a tremendous job and all the wide receivers in particular of blocking on the edge. Which again like that was a major point of emphasis from coming out of Washington State where I thought as a team we we were not tough on the edge on both sides of the ball with block destruction and with our perimeter blocking ourselves and guys really took that to heart and they changed their behavior, they changed their actions. So yeah, Jordan’s a good player again like you know he he’s a guy that um we need to get touches so he can impact the game in a positive way.
Coach NIU is giving up an average of 25 points a game. what do you see on film from them defensively as a unit and then what what players stand out specifically?
Yeah, I mean they’re bringing in a new defensive coordinator, right? So you can tell that they’re settling into their scheme, settling into their system and again they continue to get better and better and better. They’ve played really good people, right? That they’ve limited what they’ve been able to do. They’re they’re physical. They’re they’re playing fast and you can tell the level of comfort each week, their speed of communication, how they’re relaying information, how they’re making formation adjustments, they’re getting settled in, and then when they show up to the ball or whoever’s carrying it, right? Like they they arrive with bad intentions and they get multiple hats swarming to the ball. So, you know, they got some front players that are really active. They got some DBs with with some length and their mic linebacker does a really nice job with his speed of communication. like you can tell like how animated and and verbally and non-verbally he is and his command of what’s going on um and then his ability to make plays both within the box and in space. So yeah, I mean they’re they’re they’re growing. They’re getting better and it’s going to be a real challenge.
Chris Johnson what makes him so good and specifically on the interception, what do you do?
He prepares like crazy. He he works really hard and then particularly on the interception. He did a great job communicating what he was seeing and trusting that preparation, right? And so he kind of got him spot himself in a spot where he felt like he could kind of bait the queue a little bit there and probably gave him enough window and then you know his genetic traits give him the ability to have a heck of a lot of range and then when he gets his hands on it like no one’s catching them like that kid’s going to be playing on Sundays for a very very long time because of his makeup both mentally and physically but most importantly his character and his approach.
Coach the use of analytics has exploded last four or five years in college sports but especially in college football. fourth down attempts, conversions are soaring. Considering your default aggressive approach, you guys were top 25 in in both metrics last year. Can you walk us through your process you know decision process? How much of is analytical? How much of it is got you know your intuition?
Yeah, I mean we use analytics quite a bit. was one of the things that again through the support of the administration we use uh championship analytics incorporated which is not unique right like there’s a lot of teams that are using that um depending upon the opponent depending upon how we feel the game is going to be played you know we work part of our weekly preparation with building out the game book and so we make those decisions you know going into each game knowing how aggressive that we’re going to be and where we’re going to be in those spots and everything so I was a little less aggressive this past week when the book said, Hey, on a couple times we should have gone for two. But I didn’t want to give any sort of momentum back to the other sideline with the way that our defense was playing as little as that could be one point the other way. Like I’ve been enough wonky deals, right? To like, hey, like we’re going to be loyal to winning in that regard and you go for one versus hey, make it a 20 point 28 point game and it’s four possessions like at that point in time as you look up in the clock, and I get it. Like the data says that, but my guys were telling me this, right? But we lean on that and you know again by personality we’re you cross a 50 like we’re going to be a little bit more aggressive in those in those ranges in those areas as we as we go with it
As opposed to now to when you were a player at Wisconsin or even the beginning of your coaching career, how has it evolved, how’s your thought process involved—how was it different?
Quite a bit different. I mean especially when I was a player right like none of this was a thing it was more gut it was more feel and you know playing for coach Alvarez it just run the darn ball and end every end every you know possession with a kick and play to the defense as a former defensive coordinator, right? And that worked quite a bit actually, right? So it’s evolved a lot, right? Like it’s a new tool that we all have and I think like any new tool whether it’s analytics in the game book for us or it’s artificial intelligence for us as a society it’s like all right how familiar can you get with it? What’s your level of comfort and what’s the proper application where you’re still trying staying true to yourself and what puts you and your team in the best position to to win. So it’s been a big part of my individual journey of adapting, evolving, and you know seeing how we can use that tool to to help our team win.
What was the binder on the sidelines? Who do you have to go to?
Yeah we got a couple guys I mean that that man it and help us with it right on either side of the ball so you know there’s we we divvy up that work cuz that binder as you guys have all seen I’m like, are you seen the kid who like gets ran over who’s holding it? He’s trying to get all his papers back in order with it all right. Like it’s uh that’s a that’s a job to say the least.
What’s the deepest you go on 4th down?
I mean yeah so much of that is situationally driven, right? What are we talking like distance to gain or where we are on the field like in your own area? Oh, I mean you know we got enough body to work here. I’ve done some some things now, right? I mean like whether you know we faked some punts last year when we were shooting our own 30s if not 20s if I remember properly, right? So again, each game’s unique and you know what’s going to put us in the best spot to win.
Is that also week to week? What you maybe spot on the defense where you can try to go for it?
Yeah, I mean right that’s part of the the preparation like we saw that I mean you know Syracuse to get advantage of something that they saw on tape early on with the surprise on side right like you’re always looking for you know where are there potential chinks in the armor that we can exploit and create an advantage you know like Oklahoma did a great job right to where they snuck that kid on the boundary and got him down the sideline. It’s all gamesmanship ship, right? Like h how how can we find a competitive advantage for our guys to, you know, have some success and steal some points and change the scoreboard.
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