Q: It seemed like you guys had a lot of use of a three-man rush on defense, and it wasn't effective. Why did you think that gave you the best chance against an offense like that?
A: I think we tried to have some multiplicity in terms of what we were doing, especially for the quarterback. I think from our end, how many different ways could we disguise coverage, especially post-snap and when it got under 15 seconds on the shot clock. I think there was some thought process for us to be able to do that. There were moments where it put us in some advantageous situations. I thought the biggest killers were some of the third down opportunities that we weren't able to finish on. I think you’re talking about the third and 10, third and 12, third and 13 opportunities. Getting to those points and not finishing, those were the killers. I think we'll have to go back to the tape and look at it because I feel like when we think about the Wisconsin game, this game, those third and long situations, they bust your tail. To get to that point and not be able to finish, those are the things we have to keep taking a look at.
Q: Do you have the personnel needed to run the ball effectively against the schedule that you're playing because it seems like it’s been a bugaboo in several games now?
A: Tonight, I think we made the right move. I thought we played in a much different rhythm tonight in the football game. I think when you talk about the ability to use the run game to set up the passing, play action passing and movement passing, I think all those things were realities tonight. I thought Carson (Hansen) had some really great runs in some critical moments for us. Thought James (Peoples) had a couple of good runs. I think that group will only continue to grow and develop. This offensive line continues to grow forward. You got five new guys working together. That group's got to continue to grow forward. But I did think there were some moments tonight where we grew a lot closer to the team that we want to be that we weren’t, especially last week.
Q: 3-3 at halfway point of the season, what can you reasonably change at this point in the year and, at the point, sort of who you are on the field?
A: I don't know if we’re going to change schematically who we are. What we have to do is continue to demand to get better. We have to continue to improve what we are, what we're doing, what are we going to be on defense, what are we going to continue to be on offense, and we've got to continue to find a pathway forward. We’ve had some growth tonight in some areas of that for sure. We’re going to have to continue to pound away at it. There's no wavering, there's no flinching in terms of what we want to do. We have to continue to get better at what we want to do. And again, pathway forward, yes, but a lot of work to continue.
Q: You guys seemed to really struggle to make Jayden Maiava uncomfortable. What do you think this defense can do moving forward to try to generate some pressure?
A: I think those situations, especially against who those guys are offensively, they‘ll spread you out. They're going to try to get their athletes in space. I think from our end of it, how multiple could we be in a football game to try to play man, but not sit man the whole football game, while trying to help our DBs out. I think that was really our thought process going into it. When you talk about the pressure piece of it, we're going to have to continue to find ways to get creative. I think that's an area for us, especially those third down situations. They had time to be able to make the plays and extend the play, and I think that’s what you’re talking about on the three-man rush and we have to find a different way to be able to get off the field on the third down.
Q: Can you explain some of the timeouts you guys had to burn? I know there were different circumstances, substitution and then when USC was punting.
A: During the USC punt piece of it, we had our punt safe group out. They kept the offense out there, and I just didn't want to screw around with it, to be honest with you. I wanted to make sure we secured the football if we had the opportunity to do it at the end of the football game. There were a couple goofy moments in the game. I think the first one in the first half with the timeout situation, we didn't get great clarity. The official went down, we got to the point where the ball was in the red zone, and they started the 25 second clock, but they didn't announce it. We took the timeout, or we would have had a five-yard penalty there. I think lack of clarity. I forget exactly what the other one was in the second half where we ended up taking the timeout. I think it was a substitution situation, where that was the coaching piece of it. That was a substitution error.
Q: Matt, I wanted to ask you about Marcus Neal. He was a very productive player for you at Iowa State. I don’t think he played on defense at all tonight. Where is he in his development, and what does that say about his role moving forward?
A: I think today was such a unique football game, and I think as we went into it, coverage was at a premium in terms of what was going to go on. I think, collectively, as we’re continuing to put this defense together, Marcus is a critical piece to our success, and obviously tonight as the game got into a spread game and playing in space, it was a situation where we went with probably more covers than we did from a tackle standpoint at the safety position.
Q: Tell us about Rocco’s play tonight. It seems like he was able to hit on some of the downfield passes, and then, in the second half, though, he missed on a couple. Overall, what did you take away?
A: I don’t know if Rocco missed downfield in the second half, but I think he missed maybe in some of the short spaces in the second half. I think the growth we made offensively was we played in a better rhythm tonight that allowed him to play the style of quarterback that Rocco, when he’s playing great football, is playing. I thought he moved in the pocket at times. I thought he was really comfortable in the drop back passing game. And again, he used his speed a couple times to get himself out of damage, so I thought Rocco certainly gave us every opportunity in the football game to be successful in the game, and again I thought we found a rhythm that we want to play in and that we need to continue to move forward in for sure.
Q: Coach, this is your first White Out experience. I wanted to ask you about just general impressions.
A: I think first of all, I would just say this again: I think the most disappointing part for me is that we can’t give this incredible fan base that has showed out – it was an unbelievable atmosphere and it was one of the most impressive environments that I’ve been able to coach in or be a part of – and I think my disappointment is, right now, we can’t give them the result that they deserve. But the reality is, we will, and we will find a pathway forward. And the great thing is, I know I've said this this week, and I’m going to continue to say, we do have great humans in that locker room that stand for what’s right and always grow forward. We’re not where we need to be yet, but we are growing forward, and we’ll demand a pathway forward because we’ve got such a great fanbase, and they deserve that.