Head coach Nick Hill press conference transcript

Head coach Nick Hill met with the media Monday to discuss last week's loss vs. Missouri State, the upcoming Senior Day game against Youngstown State State (tickets here), the state of the program, and much more. Below is a partial transcript.

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OPENING STATEMENT

We have to find a way to get out there and get a win. We have two games left in the season. Like I talked to our team about, we have to come out and get a couple wins against two really, really good football teams. We have our challenge cut out for us. Youngstown is as good of a team as any in the league when they play at their best. They lose some close games. They had two overtime games, one against Pittsburgh and one against North Dakota State. That's a quality opponent. Still, I stand up here and say we have a good football team. After watching the film against Missouri State, we felt like we got in our own way. We had seven 15-yard penalties. The last two weeks, we're getting beat in the turnover margin 7-0. You're just not going to beat any teams like that. We had a really good day yesterday of diving into the film and taking ownership of what we all have to do to get better. It starts with me. It starts with the coaches. Our attention to detail on every small thing matters. Unfortunately, the last two weeks we haven't performed well in that category. We have to get back on track. It's Senior Day. I can't say enough about what this senior group—there's 14 of them—has done for the program. They get to suit it up one more time in Saluki Stadium. That means a lot to everybody, nobody more than me because I appreciate those guys. They give us all they've got every single day. I can go on and on about those guys. We'll line up and play as hard as we ever have, and look to play our best game.

Are teams cheating up and not respecting the long pass?

No, I don't think so. What we see on film is what we usually get. There might be a thing or two different. Our league is good. They run their defenses, what their scheme is, and they execute it. We see a lot of aggressive defenses, guys that will challenge you with Cover 1. Everybody brings you different phases, but I wouldn't say anybody doesn't respect our long ball. We probably throw it to those outside as much as anybody in the league.

Will you use the two-quarterback system the rest of the season?

We will dive into it and see what gives us the best opportunity to win the game. Both will be ready to go, and both did good things in the game. They're two different types of quarterbacks, so they will both have their packages the next two weeks.

On Matt DeSomer…

Matt did a good job. He had 16 rushes, was our leading rusher. He was 9-for-12 throwing the football. He did a lot of great things. I said it last week; Matt is a good quarterback. He had five days of preparation going into a conference game to dive back in. He hasn't been in the meeting room all season. He's been over playing safety and having a few run plays that he's been running since he's been here, so he doesn't have to practice them. That's the first week he's been in the quarterback room. His package will continue to grow in what he feels comfortable with. We did a good job of meeting with him and talking about what he wasn't comfortable running in the game, as far as the reads and checks, different things like that. We had a good package that he felt comfortable with, and that will continue to grow.

You didn't air it out as much because you were concerned with protection. How do you get your receivers involved?

I don't know if it was the protection. We had 500 yards of offense. We had more first downs than them. That's two weeks in a row we've had more yards, more first downs, more trips to the red zone, but we're not winning football games. I don't think it has anything with what we call. We have to execute when the time comes. We've emphasized it, and we have to do a better job of emphasizing it. Like before the half, you're at the 10-yard line with a minute to go, and it's first down. You have to come away with points right there. It's really a 17-point swing. If we score, and they don't have time to go down and kick a field goal, then we score on the opening drive of the second half, that's a big swing right there. We have the lead with 30 minutes to play. But we didn't do that.

About Youngstown's running game…

They commit to doing it. That's their style. They're always going to play great defense. That's Coach Pelini's style. They're always going to make you work. They know they have a good defense year in and year out. So they commit to running the football and play that type of game. There's only so much you can do in the run game. You're going to run zone. You're going to run power. You're going to run gap scheme or zone scheme. You have outside runs to stretch it out. We've seen it all, now we have to go out. It's like them. There are no tricks about it. When they're running the ball well, they're executing. They're getting a hat for a hat. They have great running backs, which makes them tough to stop.

You're not where you want to be record-wise, but statistically, you're improved. What do you take from that?

I think that we're taking the right steps. We're learning a lot about what it takes to win. I wish the record was different. We're right there to win two more games and have six wins right now instead of four. We could be fighting for a home playoff game right now. The margin for error is small. We're learning a lot about our team. The difference is still those small things. We're young in a lot of areas, and we're going to continue to recruit well. I feel like we've recruited as well as anybody in those 2016 and 2017 kids, and we will continue to do that. I know that with these coaches and the commitment that these guys have, we're on the right path. I wish that it was different wins and losses wise, that we had those two extra wins. There has been improvement, but there are still things that we wanted to improve that haven't improved, or stayed the same, or gotten better but we're still inconsistent. We're still an inconsistent football team. We have to continue daily to get better. We're learning a lot about how we have to get better. It starts with me. I have to figure out how to communicate that, practice that, that we get that through to the guys, we do make those plays, we do convert or not turn it over. It's a work in progress. We're committed to doing it, and I still believe 100 percent that this program has what it takes to win championships in the conference. Every coach believes and sees the same thing. We have two games that mean a lot to that. We can get to 4-4 in the Missouri Valley with four really good wins, and that's what we're going to do. We're going to go out there, and they're important games. There's a lot to play for. These seniors can look back, and we have to win this one before we can win six. If we can beat Youngstown, a team that played in the national championship last year, a team that has played everyone really well except one game, Illinois State. This is a team that is a top-5 team if they don't have two games not go their way. We can prove we're right there, but we have to go out there and do it.

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