Opening statement
"I didn't expect to see what was happening in Las Vegas. Football definitely takes a back seat to that. So you just have to continue to pray for all of the victims and of course their families out in Las Vegas.
"Football wise and what we're doing here, it seems like a long time since we've played. You do want to get that memory out of your mind a little bit. A lot of things that happened in that game. It's been a similar tone the last couple of weeks. There are some things we need to do better it's as simple as that, in all three phases. With that said, we have some players getting better, but just overall, being able to put it all together to play a complete football game as much as anything. There were moments we had opportunities, offensively, a couple times down in the red zone. We need to be able to get a touchdown when we're down there.
"Defensively, of course, we need to take the ball away but we had a couple more opportunities to take the ball away. We didn't finish the job on an interception that we should have and a fumble that was on the ground. Those things really add up in a game like this. With that said though, a lot of football left to go. We have to get ready for this week and put the best group together to play football this week.
"We're making a change at the quarterback position. I believe in some positions you try to stay the course as much as you possibly can. But, you have to kind of look at what's going on in film. There's a lot of things we're not doing right, but we feel like that in order to take that next step we need to make a change. So, we're going to go through this week. Jeff George has been the relief for us, of course, so we're going to go with him, along with Cam Thomas. As far as quarterback, I know you have a million things to ask but that's what you need to know, there will be a change at the quarterback position.
"From there, we're getting with our players today. They were off yesterday, so we're getting with them today. We haven't talked an awful lot with them but just so you kind of know that. Other changes, when you play that way, really you can kind of look just not at the quarterback position, but everybody should be concerned if you're not doing your job consistently at this point in our football season. James Crawford played his first game. When a players been out, you want him to come back with a bang and that's exactly what he did. I thought he played outstanding football. Throughout, he played hard, he was physical and he made a play. We need more of that. It's not good when you miss a half of a game, which Stanley Green did, but when you come back you want that type of play that we got from Stanley Green also. I thought he played outstanding football. Nate Hobbs, and we had a few other guys, Mike Epstein, who played well, but we need to be talking about a lot more.
"Injury wise, we don't have a lot going on right now. Dele Harding did not play last week. Hopefully he'll be good to go this week."
On getting receivers Mike Dudek and Malik Turner more involved in the offense
"Receiver position we feel like we have a little bit of numbers there. It's a strong position for us, player wise. Malik (Turner) will be the first guy who tells you he needs to catch the ball in the endzone. Mike (Dudek) played well and did some good things. We need to get him the ball more, absolutely. Ricky Smalling, Carmoni Green, Louis Dorsey, we can go through a lot of guys that we need to be able to distribute the ball to better."
On Iowa and what challenges they will present
"First off, they're a good football team and we expect that. You know what type of football they're going to play. Pretty traditional on what they do, how they like to win football games. They have a system. Offensively, we're not going to see a lot of hurry-up, spread, commitment to the run, but they can pass the football. On the defensive side of the football, a similar approach. Not gonna do an awful lot, but just enough in what they believe in, a commitment to what they can do well and what they can do to win. It's going to be that type of a Big Ten game… We're gonna play our best football, play better football than we've played all year and we feel like we can do that."
On Malik Turner's contributions to the program after reaching 1,600 career receiving yards
"Malik's done an awful lot for us. He's a good football player. We talk about getting him the ball more. But, good players are supposed to reach milestones like that. Now, I can't wait to see the next one we can accomplish with him. Normally, when the team is winning, those things come with it."
On the development of special teams
"Blake Hayes is accurate on his placement. We're getting about what we expected and what we needed from our specialists. Even at long snapper we have a couple guys who are moving into the role for the first time. But we've gotten more consistent play from there. Special teams-wise that was an excellent play by Cam Watkins the other night... Coverage units have been very good."
On the quarterback position
"We made a change at the quarterback position. Jeff George is in the number one position right now. He's next in line. I've always talked about a starting rotation. I can't put everything in blood. So with that, next is Cam Thomas. As we talk before practice, before we meet with our players."
