you know I think we got a three and out I think we had the ability to to get or no Darren made the interception is what happened and the the game really swung from there and again a game Captain today is Darren Porter right I mean the Ultimate Team player here for the last six years is the guy that makes the play that swings the tide and most selfless most incredible human on our football team and that guy makes the play the swing to tide again uh we all learn Life Lessons if we're humble enough to learn from them you've talked a lot uh about Canard and the faith you have in him and what is walk us through your day with him today after he misses the first and then obviously finishes trun well I didn't even you know I I didn't Flinch much when we missed it just because it was like man the kid didn't get a chance to kick a field goal last week right and so I was just glad that it was still a two-score game I think it was 13 nothing is what it was and you know um so I thought from my end of it you know I I'll be honest with you I didn't think anything of it and I I just have such faith in him because I know I think you guys that cover us we talked about it is that I watched this guy kicked a 64 y in the last fall camp in the in a two-minute drill right at the end of the right at the end of the scrimmage and I think to me it's like any other position when when you have the ability to do those things it's powerful and when you miss do you have the ability in in the kicking world to self-correct you know I like I told you I hate to tell you guys I I don't know any I can't coach kicking right like I I don't know if somebody can I'd love to see him but like I can't but I can I can at least understand mentality and I can understand the ability it's it's you have to have an elite craft and that's what Kyle's shown he showed it Midway through the season last year he put the heat on um last year and and then you just watched him grow so credit to him I know he's from this state what a big moment for him and his family his family went through some tough times this off season and for that kid to step up in a critical moment and you know for his dad and mom just that's what that's what our Sport's about so I'm really proud of him did he earn a scholarship today earn a scholarship today well I'm not you respond but but yes at some point he will be on scholarship as fast as we can go yes Matt how hard is it to find that Poise in a game versus you know before a game or especially a series that maybe you haven't brought out the best I think that's why our Sports crazy and you you covered as good as anybody college football's nuts because you're asking 18 to 22 year olds that that and we've created chaos in college football on top of everything else but you're asking them to be mature in critical moments and have the maturity and the Poise to work through hard things that is what football and again it's it's not like any other sport there's only 12 games you know I always say basketball you can play great on Tuesday or bad on Tuesday you get to play again on Saturday and nobody cares football you get 12 guaranteed opportunities you better be your best every Saturday right man you play baseball you play all these sport like man our sport 12 games that's all you get to to be your best and so it does take the teams that have Elite success in our sport it still takes mental toughness I don't care if it's Georgia or if it's Ohio State or if it's Iowa State like if you want to reach your full potential you want to be the best you better have great mental toughness because you're going to come into games like this that's not always going to go perfect but can you get yourself back on track again the law of progression man can I get right myself right back on progress and you know I think I thought our kids really grew up to that's the best I've seen Iowa State in my in my time here have the ability to respond in a football game in an environment like this I've never seen it so uh hats off to our leadership for sure mat uh when Porter had that pick early in the third quarter your Sidelines seemed to go just absolutely crazy was it was it something that they were looking for expecting no I I I think we you know I think we thought it was going to be a shot play down the field so to be honest with you and you know I think we were all yelling shot play down the field um but you know it wasn't that it was a throwback and you know for for Darion to make the play again I know I was saying it if you heard me say it or not I mean Darion and what he has meant to our program he does all the hard things really really well it's what makes him really special I think daren's going to have a really bright future um playing football for a long time because he's got great athleticism but for him to make that play in that moment I I think it was Monumental and it was totally a credit to him n really stepped up and critical moments can you take us through the play there that set up the field goal yeah you know it's it's one of our kind of if you would deem end the game plays you know and um honestly it was a play we didn't practice all week but it's a play that's in our back pocket of um the ability versus that coverage um that if we you know if we're going to get it it's ability for us to push the ball down the field and you know Jaylen I mean you know what him and Jaden have meant to our team I mean Higgins catch too In The End Zone I mean that I don't know if it's like a great ball but he goes and makes the play like you got to win the moments right I mean not only do you have to have poise but you got to win the moment and man for him to for Jaylen to make that play you're right it's huge and um you I thought coach miles had great boys I mean for got to give him credit coach hok had great boys today um you know I thought those guys did a great job calling the game they just kept plugging away and again we're not we're playing a really good football team in a really hard environment and so for for our kids to be able to hang in there and and make the plays that they needed to make in critical moments I thought it was bab how you guys have success in the Red Zone defensively especially early yeah you know you just got to you to play the next play you know we our theme and you probably heard me say this I'm sure I'll get you'll be all over me at some point but but I I still believe this it's like you got to win one moment at a time you got to win one play at a time and you certainly have to win one situation at a time and if I looked at last week I didn't think we did a great job situationally you know we on on offense we were able to do some good things but on defense you know I think we kind of left there saying man that's not the defense we want to be or we believe we can be and it was something we talked about a lot in terms this week was man we got to be better situationally like let's not worry about the scoreboard let's just worry and play whatever situation comes our way let's play the situation out and that's I think you've you've covered us enough to know man we do a lot of that in Fall camp we play a lot of situational football I try to create as much chaos as I can in practice for the the opportunity that this is kind game and you got to be ready to get to two-minute offense or you got to get ready to go down and play in the goal line and you got to man you got to play um Sudden Change today happened on both sides of the ball and we were able to respond and so you know again our our our credit to our coaches and our kids to hang in there and make those plays but I thought we grew there you know again week one to week two I thought we made good steps defensively today for sure for the most to brocco at half time yeah man just hang in there you know I I I really felt like we were moving the football I think you look at the video like dag gone like even on the one yard line like we got it to Third and two right I mean the first drive of the game and I you can't be in any worse spot to get the ball to start the game right at the one yd line down there with you know everybody's screaming at you which didn't sound like they're saying nice things to anybody but um but the reality of it is like man I thought we were moving the ball we were hurting ourselves on third down in pre-nap operation not even the play not even like the play it was the pre-nap operations so you know I just said man hang in there we we felt like we we got this whole game plan we got all these good plays and we haven't even got to call half of them cuz we you know we're kind of screwing it up so you know it was really just hang in there and again what makes Rocko special nobody's brought his name up but like what makes that guy special um man what you saw today is what makes that guy special to be able to come back man you throw an interception in the first half um you know and to be able to come back and have the Poise and the discipline and some of those throws he made were incredible in the second half so really proud of Rocco first three quarters they had good success running the ball but in the fourth quarter you guys stopped them what adjustments did you guys make defensively to slow that down yeah you know I I just think we we had to be a little bit they they were really doing a great job in the boundary with the Run game and you know we were almost like they were able to get a hat for a hat we were able to plus and get an extra hat there we made some good adjustments late in the third quarter um but credit to them they had a really good scheme they were able to they were able to crease us and and that's a really good tail back you know but I I thought our ability to adjust coach hok our defensive staff they did a great job adjusting second quarter I always got the ball first and goal one first and goal the three comes out with six points out of those two sequences can you take me through those two sequences and how big that is to go half time down just two scores yeah and that's what I was saying you know I I I really felt that was a game that's why I didn't even notice that and to be honest with you that Kyle missed the field goal you know I was just glad we were able to put a great two-minute drive together at the end of the half thought it gave us some confidence um but those when when we were able to make those big stands down there I really felt like man the momentum was going to kick back to us cuz I knew we were going to get the ball in the second half to start the second half so um again great credit to our defense and man we got the ball in the second half we started off with a penalty right I think on the on the kickoff which was that was crap and and crap on our end not anybody else's end and then the ability for you know then we got to punt it again and then you know for Darren to make that play really swung the tie but yes you're 100% right if we don't make those Red Zone stops we don't win the football young linebackers obviously kind of learning ji will what did you make of their plays that kind of found their groove in this game yeah I I think the I think the biggest thing that I would just say is I mean that's hard you ask a true freshman to start his first game here at at Iowa right I mean that's not easy and kale is a very mature football player um but how he played it certainly looked positive we'll we'll get a great understanding of that after we watch the video I mean to watch what you know some of these guys are doing that we're asking to step up and you know those guys that covered us I mean our three starting linebackers are out right like I mean Carson will is out um you know obviously will Molin is out and then Caleb Bacon's out I mean so you got three starting linebackers that are out and the young men that have stepped up Cooper eel um man he's been exceptional I thought he played really good last week I thought he played really good again today um and then obviously what it's looked like the rest of the way it's been really impressive but that's football like nobody cares that we got that those people out like the reality is the next guy's got to step up and play and that's football and that's what makes it special I know I know you believe in your team but how many times today were you a play for maybe being out of the game just because of how they play how good they are defensively yeah I think that's why I was so ticked right like I was so tick that I felt like I was letting this team down because I felt like man we were teetering on the edge of man right on the edge of it and again it's our kids stepping up and making the plays that got us out of the out of the rut and um you know that that is still the fun thing about football is you get to play it and the players make the plays you know the coaches don't we we just try to not screw it up um but man the players got to make the plays and so I I but I felt like we were teetering on the edge the whole time to be quite honest with you yeah your players will take away from this day yeah I think that that we grew forward you know like and again I think this is hard like and I I I'm going to just say this probably respectfully like our goal is not to win one game like that's I I know I've been here for nine years I probably tick our fan base like I'm not trying to win one game I'm trying to win them all and the reality of it is we have a won a championship here we're trying to create a championship mentality and we've been damn close here but we got a lot of work to do if we want to continue to be that team great teams get better every week and we made great growth between week one and week two um but man we got a lot more growth to go and so um I'm proud of our kids I hope they take it as man a great learning environment what we do well it's only the G second game of the season what didn't we do well and then how do we get our butts back to ases and come back tomorrow to work and be get ourselves better like that's what great teams do they they they don't Flinch at a result um they understand the process and hopefully this team's got the abil to do that yeah I want to ask you on Tuesday I asked you kind of what you wanted to get out of this other than the you said show resilience in the face of adversity and then show grow in the scheme you feel like you made progress in those areas especially number one yeah I mean and and it's toughness right like this sport is a tough Sport and it's mental physical toughness and I I still question that even through to our team through fall Camp are we tough Tough Enough like are we physically and mentally tough enough to be the team we want to be I would still say we we got to show that the today answered some questions but it's sure in the heck didn't answer them all like we still got to be better against the Run man there's we got to be damn better on pre- snap you know and not have so many penalties and all these things but man you got to be tough enough to stay in it and you got to be tough enough to just whatever happened on the last play Forget About It flush it play the next play and that is is what this group proved that they can do that and again we're going to be in we're going to be in more of these environments we're going to be in more big games and the next one's going to come cuz the next one will be the biggest and yet man can you grow can are you tough enough to keep getting better do you stay curious do you stay excited to learn and want to continue to get better or man is this is this the some some great achievement it's a win and it's the second game of the season keep moving forward it's a rivalry game that's exciting it's awesome all those things but it's the next game and so I think the the mentality piece you're right it was huge to watch this team do that for 60 minutes and their resolve was awesome to watch [Music] oh