IU Football Coach Kevin Wilson was on the Big Ten coaches weekly teleconference on Tuesday afternoon. Here's what he had to say leading up to the IU-Minnesota matchup in Bloomington at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Opening Statement:
"Coming off an open date, thought we had a good week. Looking forward to a great challenge with Minnesota coming here, playing very, very well. Should be a good game."
On Minnesota not always moving the ball a lot on offense but having overall success:
"It appears they have their strengths. They play really good defense, very active so they get the ball back when they do (play good defense). I think their line, tight end, fullback players are very undervalued. Misdirection with the fly sweeps, power game, quarterback run game, and just got to keep on schedule and kind of a slow game, kind of suck you out of the game. Very positive in turnovers. I think they're plus five or six. Several scores without the offense on the field. You kind of put it together and they've got some really good team wins and they're playing really good team football right now."
On Indiana's rush defense:
"It hasn't been what it needs to be for sure and we're looking at ways internally to try to shore some things up. Your personnel is what it is, your injuries that you may have, your schematics, what can we do. That was the best part of having an open date where we did. Not to concentrate just for this game but with five remaining conference games and sitting here 3-4, what can we do to give us a chance to be more competitive, try to get the ball back because when we get some stops and get the ball back...if the offense can feed the defense and vice versa, play off each other, we show a tendency to play pretty good ball if both sides are working together. Open date is at a good time and we'll see if we can find a way to get some stops because we'll need them against these guys."
On Minnesota's coaching staff after Coach Jerry Kill's seizures on the sideline this season and the program's overall confidence:
"I think it shows a lot of credit to the continuity that their staff has had because I think they've got a very veteran group of coaches that have been together a long time. That being said, the head coach kind of implements the plan but it's a core group of guys so your defensive coordinators, offensive coordinators, strength coaches, position coaches, I think they've been with him (Coach Jerry Kill) for three or four stops now. Sometimes when it gets going good, the head coach has one of the minor jobs because those are guys are doing a great job but I think it says a lot about (how) Coach (Tracy) Claeys picked it up. I'm sure he'd say the words 'if it's not broken, why fix it?' They were a bowl team last year, they started out 4-0, they matched up well with some teams and played well. I think it's a credit to their staff because their staff has their players believing. Coach Kill, I'm sure is giving them some motivation and that's a good rallying cry but it really just shows continuity of their program and to the staff"
