I think the consensus was and continues to be they'd rather be together on Christmas. That was our thought; get down here, it gives us a chance to get our feet on the ground and, most importantly, we're all here together. |
I think the guys that are smart will be in long before then. |
I think the key thing probably was the leaders on our team. After that day was over and we came back in on Sunday, I think the leaders chose to look forward rather than backward, and we really didn't dwell on the circumstances in terms of what our record was or that we were going to walk into two tough situations. We knew we had two tough challenges ahead of us and just got back onto focusing on what we could do to get back into winning ways. |
I think turnovers a lot of time are, first of all, you give credit to your opponent; they also have a hand in it. Then also, a lot of times it's concentration, so we need to do better there. As far as the rhythm, I think we're still developing as a football team. We've got some very experienced players playing for us who are for the most part doing a very good job, but we have a lot of new guys trying to fit their way in too. When you're doing that, you're always trying to establish your identity as a football team. I don't know how it is at other places, but I know if you look back at our teams the past three or four years, it's really been a process for us. We haven't just come out of the gate and been clicking right off the bat; it's been more of a process than anything else. Hopefully we'll bring resolution to some of our problems here in the next week or two or a couple weeks. |
I think we are still very much in the developmental stage as a football team, |
I think we realize at Iowa if we're going to have a chance, we're going to have to play mentally and physically tough. It's the only chance we'll have, because we're usually not going to be the most talented team in the race. I don't think we try to emphasize it. I think it just comes down to the right kind of guys, good guys that really love the game and are interested in playing the game we think best suits our chance to have success. |
I think we're ready to play. You hit that stage where it's time to go. We've been practicing. I'm sure (Florida) feels the same way. We're all looking at each other funny now. It's just time to go. |
I think you're right on target, ... It depends on the teams you're looking at. Nobody in the country runs the ball as well as Minnesota. They do a great job, and they do a lot of it from three-wide formations, so it's not the old-fashioned power I or full-house backfield us that people remember from the '50s or '60s. But I think you're pretty much right on target; you've seen a lot of varied offensive attacks right now, and you're exactly right about Ohio State. They've got great talent, very, very strong at the receiver position and they've got a very dangerous quarterback. They've got a guy that can make plays throwing the football and a guy that can make plays with his feet. But it changes week-to-week, game to game. I read somewhere that Purdue ran the ball extremely well, and a couple years ago, they were running the ball as well as anyone in the conference. Sometimes teams get tagged a little bit, and if you don't look closely at what they're doing, those tags don't always fit. |
I thought they did a great job in the third quarter. We had the wind and we come out with three points. |
I thought we were better (offensively this week). I'd preface that, or maybe (put an) asterisk (by it and say) it would be hard not to be better. We at least looked a little more like a cohesive offensive football team. |
I thought we were better, though I might put an asterisk in there that it would be hard not to be better. We at least looked a little more like a cohesive offensive team. |
I thought we were onside, but I'm a little biased. |
I told our players [that] this one to me is a lot more like the challenge we faced with a year ago. |
I was fortunate to be around a couple of coaches who took me under their wing and taught me how to train, how to work and how to prepare myself for a game. They gave me so much, and I saw the passion they had for the game and for teaching it. What I learned from them led me to want to become a teacher and coach. |
I was surprised for the obvious reasons. I thought that Bob would retire here. |