Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK
“Good afternoon. Thanks to everybody for being here. I’ll say a couple words about Saturday and then look forward to this week’s game. As I said after the game, disappointed with the outcome, but certainly but not the effort. Our guys gave good effort and competed hard. Coming off the field, I felt that way, and the tape verified that.
“We knew going in that execution was going to be paramount, and then taking advantage of any opportunities or creating opportunities, and you play a team like that, the margin for wiggle room is pretty slim. A quick example, in that first half we were having a hard time getting off the field defensively, and then offensively we had two early possessions where it didn’t make what I thought was a convertible 3rd and 3, and the next possession we missed a pass that would have given us probably 2nd and 2, maybe a 1st down, that type of thing.
“Those are illustrations that we have to be able to do if we’re going to be able to continue to sustain a drive, and then in a game like that, that’s critical because it’s a two-way street as far as that time of possession. Both sides have ownership. And then also, special teams-wise, we didn’t impact the game. We had a great respect for their specialists, but we never really influenced the game or impacted the game any way on special teams. I thought it was better in the second half. Saw some progress there. Our guys fought hard and overcame some tough circumstances, too, and fought until the end.
“Some positives came out of the game. Looked at the tape on Sunday, made the corrections that needed to be made, and we have shifted our focus forward. Heading into this week against Illinois, same four captains. Jack, Sam, Kaevon and Riley.
“Injury-wise, not a lot to report other than it looks like Terry Roberts is doing better. He was pretty limited last week. Didn’t play much in the game. He’s having a…
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