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COACH FERENTZ: First of all, just give Iowa State credit. They outplayed us today and deserved to win the football game, it was hard fought, both sides. We are certainly disappointed to come out on the short end, but the credit goes to them and we’ll go back to work tomorrow.
Q. Were there issues on offense
COACH FERENTZ: Yeah, we had several drives where we moved it, and you know, when we are making some plays, that gives you a chance to move it and advance it. The little things affected us, a lot of little errors during the course of the game, soft drives certainly did. Our protection was better today, just in general terms; that was an improvement. But obviously we didn’t finish drives again, the ones that we did have. Got to throw it a couple of times but couldn’t sustain it. And then obviously the biggest situation, it was ball down inside the five and we couldn’t punch it in.
Q. How big of a momentum shift was it to tie the game to go three and out and have to settle for a field goal?
COACH FERENTZ: Obviously you’re hopeful that you have the touchdown go your way. But I’m sure he did step out, so they put the ball back out there and just have to adjust to that situation and go from there. That’s a makeable situation that we didn’t get it done.
Q. Did you think the passing game was more in sync today?
COACH FERENTZ: Not really. At times, when we were driving the ball, we hit some plays and made some plays, and that’s part of the passing game. But we are not there yet. I think that’s fairly obvious right now.
Q. How concerned are you, you got the sacks under control but the lack of offense?
COACH FERENTZ: Well, it would have been great to have more points today, more yards; points more importantly than yards. But it’s just what it is right now, and we are going to keep working for it. We ran the ball better last week, not as well today. So you know, it’s a collective thing, and we’ll just have to keep working hard. But I’m not discouraged. I think our guys, they are playing hard, they are working hard. They never quit today. They kept fighting in all areas. So we are just going to have to keep pushing forward to get some improvement.
Q. Did the wide receivers do a good job of getting separation?
COACH FERENTZ: It’s hard to say. For whatever reason, we didn’t throw the ball well enough to win. We didn’t throw it well enough to win. Protection was better, I think I can say that but outside of that, I’m not sure, have to keep watching.
Q. It’s a team sport but your defense showed up again today.
COACH FERENTZ: The first half wasn’t great, first drive in particular, but I thought for sure in the second half they really grew up a little bit. You just feel that on the sidelines. We were more decisive, more confident and it certainly didn’t hurt that a couple of guys made some plays there, too. It’s the same thing on defense; you get a guy like James Morris come up and that was huge. The guys are fighting in there, and that’s encouraging, certainly and we’ll try to build on that as well.
Q. Do you worry about Vandenberg’s confidence after two games like this?
COACH FERENTZ: Oh, you don’t about anybody’s confidence but it is what it is, and we just have to keep working and playing. He’s doing a good job. All you can do is go back and practice. Learn from tomorrow when we look at the film certainly and see what we can’t do to improve what we did do and see if there’s some other things we can do to improve the situation.
Q. The last interception by Iowa State, was that a defensive great play?
COACH FERENTZ: Yeah, you know, maybe the throw wasn’t perfect, I don’t know, but it was a great effort by Knott. He is an outstanding football player. Looked like he went up there and got it. You have James Morris making a pretty good play, and kind it’s like a tit for tat deal, one of those shots. We’ll see it on tape. But the big thing is we moved ball around there and had a chance. Just came up short again.
Q. What are the things that you have to do to make sure that this loss isn’t something that carries over into next week?
COACH FERENTZ: Well, the bottom line is we are 1 1 now and I’ll explain that to the team again tomorrow, we are 1 1. We have got 10 games to go. I think we knew coming into the season that this was going to be a big, big month for us. We can’t waste a day in terms of, you know, what we need to be doing to get better moving forward. Losses hurt; they are supposed to hurt, and they do hurt. It won’t feel great tomorrow. Won’t be a lot of fun watching the tape. We are going to see some good things on that tape and we are also going to see some things that I think are correctible. And the challenge is how much better can we get this coming week and how much can we improve and start to put things together. There’s not a lot of time to sit around and just mope or anything like that. You know, we’ll have to get back to work here tomorrow.
Q. What about the big play, you guys lost a big play guy last year, Marvin, and something you haven’t really seen, a deep threat at that stretch of the defense?
COACH FERENTZ: Marvin set a lot of records here and he was an excellent football player. That’s college football. You’re going to lose guys to graduation and somebody is going to have to fill that void. It will come. It will come. We are just not there yet certainly.
Q. Your offense, did you ever feel that, hey, this is how we got it?
COACH FERENTZ: That last drive, I felt pretty confident with how we were moving the ball and that wasn’t easy, came out of that tackle and got the ball up there and made a couple nice throws to Damon, nice throws and catches. You know, I don’t think we are that far away but you know, things really have to be clean and crisp right now for us to execute. You know, we just have to keep pushing. There were a couple series during the course of the game where we ran through there pretty well and did a nice job and then other series where it was just three and out. Those are not much fun certainly.
Q. Your defense had Iowa State three and out.
COACH FERENTZ: The second half I thought we really played with confidence. Just looked like a different group out there. So hopefully that’s not a temporary thing but hopefully that will give our guys a little confidence, and that’s what we have to get offensively, too.