What Connor Bazelak Said After Indiana's 45-24 Loss to Cincinnati

Saturday, the Hoosiers got their first loss of the season falling to Cincinnati 45-24 on the road. Read the full transcript of what Indiana quarterback Connor Bazelak said following the defeat. The press conference video is attached.

CINCINNATI, Ohio — Indiana quarterback Connor Bazelak completed 31 of 66 passes for 280 yards in the Hoosiers' 45-24 loss to Cincinnati on Saturday. The Missouri transfer was also sacked five times by a strong Bearcats defense.

Read what Bazelak said in the post game press conference word for word, or just watch the attached video.

—On how close the offense is to consistency...

BAZELAK: "I think we're close. We just have to find ways to start drives well. I've said it a bunch, just getting into rhythm, the whole offense just winning first down, getting four, five yards on first down, not putting ourselves in second and long and those turning into throwing situations and those turn into third and longs.

We just got to find a way to win first down more."

—On why the Hoosiers started off slow...

BAZELAK: "First drive we came out, and great first drive I thought. Just got to find a way to — we played so many snaps I don't even remember what happened. First drive, we stalled on the 40 or something. Just got to find a way to get points, to get those rolling and find ways to score touchdowns in the first quarter. Can't put our defense behind and put ourselves behind in the game."

—On what's going wrong on first and second downs...

BAZELAK: "I think it's just doing our job, doing the little things whether it's a throw or a run. Not trying to do too much. Just trying to get four yards. We just need to focus on that.

Sometimes I think we, including myself, try to go for the big play on first down, which is sometimes a time to be aggressive, which is great, but sometimes it puts you in tough positions."

—On what was said at the half...

BAZELAK: "Yeah, we scored 35 points in the second half against Idaho, so we knew we could do it. They're a great team, Cincinnati. Their defense is good, really good, but we had that confidence. Someone said it. If you don't believe we can win this game, just stay in the locker room.

Everyone believed. Everyone has fight in them. Everyone fought. We just didn't execute well enough."

—On if the plan was to throw a lot...

BAZELAK: "We wanted to run the ball. There's some good film from last year, people doing really well on the ground running the ball, but we just got down early. Any time you're down on the scoreboard, you got to throw the ball, push the ball down the field, but I'm all for it."

—On Bazelak's mentality going forward...

BAZELAK: "Long season. Every single game's going to be a dog fight. It's going to be tough. We got to put this one behind us, move on and tough road game next week. We got to clean things up, make corrections, move on. That's all you can do."

—On what is missing...

BAZELAK: "I think this game specifically it was tough to run our outside screens and stuff, get those easy completions, turn into 5-6 yard games, kind of an extension of the run game.

Cincinnati, they covered us down in that aspect, so we knew coming in that we weren't going to be able to do that, so we were going to have to throw the ball over their heads. Credit to them. They did a good job stopping us."

—On how Bazelak handles pass-rush...

BAZELAK: "I think there were a couple, I stood in there well, took a hit, made a throw and then others — any time you get pressure early on in the game, I guess you're more likely to get out of the pocket sooner. I'll watch the film, get it cleaned up.

The offensive line fought their butts off. They always will. I love those guys 

Related stories on Indiana football:

• WHAT TOM ALLEN SAID AFTER HOOSIERS LOSS TO BEARCATS Read what Indiana football coach Tom Allen said in the post game press conference following the Hoosiers' 45-24 loss to the Cincinnati Bearcats. Read the full transcript, or just watch the attached video. CLICK HERE
• INDIANA FALLS TO CINCINNATI Indiana football suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday at Cincinnati. The Bearcats defeated the Hoosiers 45-24 as quarterback Ben Bryant passed for 354 yards and four touchdowns. Next up for Indiana is a road trip to Lincoln, Neb. CLICK HERE
• LIVE BLOG: Indiana football brings a 3-0 record to Cincinnati for a matchup with the Bearcats at 3:30 p.m. ET. Here's our live blog, where you can catch all the action in real time live from the press box at Nippert Stadium. CLICK HERE