What Tom Allen Said After Indiana's Fall to Rutgers

Indiana head coach Tom Allen addressed the media following the Hoosiers' 24-17 loss to Rutgers. Read his full transcript, or just watch the attached video of the full press conference.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. —Indiana football dropped its fifth consecutive game after falling to Rutgers 24-17 on Saturday. Hoosiers coach Tom Allen addressed the media following the loss.

Read his full transcript below, or watch the attached video of the entire press conference.

On the team’s play after the first quarter…

ALLEN: "The second drive we drove down and then got a penalty and then we're not able to recover from that. I think losing Cam Camper was tough, haven't had a guy when he's been out step up and really play the level he's played at and be able to make the plays he's been able to make for our team, and that's been disappointing without question. 

We've got to get that first first down and get them going and maximize the tempo. Just highly disappointed. The third quarter was just three, three and outs, not able to stay on the field. 

Defense put the punter on too many reps, got them wore down a little bit, but they bowed up. They gave us a chance you know, so just continue to not be able to execute well on offense is very disappointing."

On the opening kick return touchdown from Jaylin Lucas…

ALLEN: "That’s huge. We've talked about how we need to start better and doesn't get much faster than that with the opening play of the game going 91 yards, however long the return was. It was a long one for a touchdown.

 He's (Lucas) is a dynamic player. He's one of our most explosive guys. He's our fastest player on our entire team. He's one of the quickest guys, so just a really special talent without question, so got to continue to find ways to give him the ball. 

I thought that was a huge way to start the game on the road, gets our sideline into it, gets their crowd subdued a bit. That’s how you want to start."

On a possible quarterback change…

ALLEN: "Well whatever we got to do to get more productive on offense and we got to look at every possible option. There's no question, whatever it is. We changed some things up at offensive line today, just trying to continue to change. We changed a lot of things this past week trying to get a different outcome, different way of doing things. We've got to look at every possibility to make this team in position to win games.

On Indiana's defense not getting takeaways…

ALLEN: "Well I think you just go through and some of those things are you want to be able to bring pressure. Pressure creates (inaudible). We did have our hands on one and had a chance to actually — the second opening drive from them on that third down, we had a chance to get an interception, did not come up with it, but to me sometimes they come up in clumps. They come in waves, and right now we're not getting them. 

It's hurting us. We're trying to get those to set up our offense and not make them have to drive the length of the field. They have such a tremendous punter. He does a great job at pinning you down, and that's something we knew going in, and so that's where the takeaways can shorten the field for offense and give us a chance, so yeah we got to — we do takeaway circuits everyday. 

We're going to keep doing it, maybe some more creative, trying to find different ways to do that, to be able to get the ball out, but you also don't want to compromise your tackling either. Bottom line is the takeaways are a big part of our DNA, and we're not getting them right now."

On tackling Rutgers’ running backs…

ALLEN: "There's a weight room piece to that, but also I think our (inaudible) drive. I felt like when we make contact, we got to accelerate it through the tackle, and that happened a few times. 

We hit maybe a yard after they got past the line of scrimmage, and they pushed through three or four or you spin out or whatever, so I still didn't think as a group even though we've talked about it before as a group, tackling wasn't to our standard, but still defensively gave up 17 points, should have been enough to give us a chance to win the game and it was not.

On players stepping up in leadership…

ALLEN: "Today I felt like Noah Pierre and Tiawan Mullen were really doing a good job at trying to keep the guys positive. You know we had the lead most of the game until there at the end, so it felt like they were doing a good job of that, and we need more of that. Obviously Cam's (Jones) on the trip. He does a phenomenal job — it's just different when you're not playing. I get that. Those guys stuck out to me as being leaders today."

On finding a wide receiver to fill Cam Camper's role...

ALLEN: "To me, you can't lose one guy and everything else falls apart. To me we got to find a guy in that same position that does the same things he can do and be able to run similar routes and be able to make similar plays. 

The coverages are really designed for the position, and things are going to tack to that position, so he's obviously a very good player. When you lose good players, that makes it tough, but at the same time, somebody's got to step up. 

We had some drops again today from some other guys and the guys need to step up when someone else goes down like a guy like Cam. We got to have somebody else in his place, and right now nobody's really done that. We need that to happen, needs to happen right now."

Related stories on Indiana football:

• GAME STORY After two quick touchdowns, Indiana punted seven times, and a Connor Bazelak pick-six doomed the Hoosiers in their fifth-straight loss. CLICK HERE
• INDIANA-RUTGERS LIVE BLOG: Indiana football (3-4) takes on Rutgers (4-2) at Noon ET on Saturday in Piscataway, N.J. Here's our live blog, where you can follow along with live updates from today's game. CLICK HERE
• GAME DAY PREDICTION: After a 3-0 start, Indiana football has lost four games in a row heading into a road matchup with Rutgers on Saturday at Noon ET. CLICK HERE