CFTV: Matt Campbell's Cy-Hawk press conference

well I'm sorry to start out with the injury question but yeah clearly have to ask about Caleb and how he's doing and certainly the other guys's offensive linan didn't start that kind of stuff yeah yeah so Caleb situation is you know Caleb had surgery um Sunday um we'll be out for a while I do think he's got the ability to get him back at some point this football season which is honestly the best news that we could have heard on Saturday is what we got and so U lower leg injury I do think he'll be back though here at some point later in the season or have the opportunity to get himself back later in the season based on recovery um but obviously you know that's that's a tough blow for Caleb just cuz he's done such a great job but I think the great news is that you know from what it could have been and what it was I think there's a lot of positivity around it too and and obviously there's light at the end of the tunnel that you know he can make it back this fall um you know other than that you know I think everything else were were kind of like a little bit week to week dayto day on some guys um you know offensive line wise that situation uh you know I think the the one positivity there is you know maybe the possibility to get some guys back on that offensive line this week um you know both guys that didn't play in the game Saturday practice today um that doesn't mean that they're going to play but I think they're at least trending in that direction um and then you know really everywhere else pretty good spot you know we talked about will mcclin last time I think you know will still you a while out right now for for him to get back on our football team and get back into into playing but uh you know we do expect him back here sooner than later as well and when you grade that linebackers group that suddenly becomes far less experienced with Bill most experienced guy and knowing what Caleb can do what how did you rate it uh last against North Dakota and then what positives did you see that you can build a good rotation there still with those guys out yeah you know again I I would say there's still a lot of experience in that room you know I mean you got Jack Sadowski started every game last year um you know Cooper evil played a ton of football for us as a as a young freshman a year ago um you know really from our standpoint there's guys that have played a lot of football um there that we need to continue to play John cman played really good in the football game played a lot for us last year in a lot of different situations so I I I still look at that group and and you know even from the game itself I thought as the game went that group settled in um you know we we tried to be aggressive with that group early on and do some different things but I think as the group went in you know Zack love played a pretty good football game as the game went on and so I think they just settled in and played what their roles were but again Youth and and so but I I'm I'm really optimistic about what that group's got the ability to be and and certainly continue to become but you know you never you never like to lose players but again that's a room that we thought was really talented from top to bottom we thought had a really good fall camp and you know the depth of that that room will be tested a little bit early on but I think we all have great confidence in that room Rocco having experience against Iowa's defense how valuable is that a as you have seen in the past with some of your quarterbacks who've played against them multiple times yeah you know I I I think the biggest thing for you know Rocco in general is is you know having at least a baseline understanding because you're going against going against our defense in all the fall Camp to making a big shift to certainly a different style of defense and you know I I think that that shift is something that you know having that year of experience and seeing not only that defense from you know from Iowa but seeing it from multiple different teams we played last year um you know it certainly allows you to have confidence to know man what are my answers what are the challenges this defense can present how do I do a great job taking care of the football what do all those things look like and feel like so um I definitely see that as a positive again at that position where you're handling the football at all times I think critically important of course protecting the football is really important against every team but especially Iowa um aside from that having so much experience coaching against fence and Parker what is the biggest key to finding success against their defense for your entire offensive unit no I I think you said it first right it's protecting the football I think what they do such an incredible job of is you know they they knew they know who they are defensively they have answers to you know when it gets put in Conflict how to create an answer to you know the conflict that gets created um and that comes with great experience and and honestly great fundamental in detail and I I would say that's the most impressive thing of what they do defensively and you know the thing that can get you caught and and really make you pay the most is the is the ability to turn the ball over and I think when you can take do a great job at least taking care of the football it has to start there Scott he uh these games often serve as a barometer for both programs as you is kind of the curtain riser to the the conference season other than the results I mean what are you looking for to get out of your team on Saturday to help take that next step as a team as you go through the season yeah I think twofold for me number one it's our first road game of the year which I think is you know if we want to be the team that we want to be at the end of the football season you got to win on the road and you know I think we started to learn how to as a young football team last year by the midpoint to the end of the season we really learned what it takes and what are some of the things that you have to do when you play on the road that are different than playing at home um so you know you know you're going into a hostile environment obviously you're going into a game that has a lot of hype around it from the outside and you know the the ability to block that out and the ability to understand that to win on the road it's going to be about those precision and detail moments it's going to be about man playing our style of football and can you do that against a really good opponent and that I think that's the beauty of playing a big game like this early in the football season because you hope you're continuing to play big football games as the season goes on and you know the be be able to teach and learn and grow from that I think it's it's huge and um like I said I think so many of our young guys got that experience a little bit in this game a year ago to understand what that feels like what what this bring G what this game can bring to the table and and how do you navigate it you know what did we do really well last year what didn't we do well and then obviously how do we move ourselves forward my my other question about this is I know it's tough week to think globally pretty narrow right now but globally this game matters a lot not only to both programs but to the conferences we're in a new era for C help play off these games will help you your conference if if you win or or vice versa um what's you know is was that did that ever generate any kind of discussion in the offseason with among the coaches and do you have any thoughts about that from just kind of a global perspective yeah I I probably would be a bad sound bite on that just because I I really don't um this game I think just means so much in in general to the state of Iowa and the university and and all you know both universities both fan bases both salum night groups that it's really hard to think Global on a week like this I think it's um you know and it's the second game of the football season you know you're still really early in the season and you're trying to build and grow your football team on top of all that so you I I think it's hard for me to look like that I think I look at it as more one week at a time one game at a time one opportunity at a time and how do we keep moving ourselves forward because ultimately no matter what happens you need to be your best in October November and December if you want to have the ability to be a playoff football team a championship football team and you know this is a great opportunity to grow forward and we two of the football season hey Matt uh I think you referenced 2022 briefly but I know that was a weird game rain all that junk but what do you remember about specifically being able to navigate that specific environment in can yeah you know I I I and I still don't think we did a great job you know I mean if you go back to that game we turned the ball over three times um you know we turned it twice over inside the 10 yard line um but again that's football and I think the biggest thing that we did a great job navigating in that game and you know you look back to the road games last year is when adversity hit you know we had the ability to kind of persevere through it and if you look at that game man you look at at us on the road last year and I think our ability to play good football on the road was ability to kind of stay laser focused on the situation and the moment at hand and not get lost in the positive or the negative that just occurred so you know when I look back to it I think those were the big things in that game that I would take and again that's what it takes to win on the road you know you can you can get lost in some of the other things I think really really fast and I think you got to resom you got to zoom focus in on what what's important and what matters and being in the moment hey coach what's the status of will mcclaughlin uh yeah just talked about it um you know Wills will be out for a little bit um you know he's a guy that's probably more week to week than he is anything else but we hope to get him back here sooner than later but uh yeah obviously we love will and and hopefully get him back on the football field soon injury yep yep it's B is the one guy you haven't said yeah so I think K is back and so you know that was he was probably a game time decision last week um from our end of it you know we dressed him out he went through warmups but we didn't you know we didn't pull the trigger just didn't feel like he was ready yet so um you know obviously that room gets a little bit of a you know you have a tough blow but to be able to get a good lift in there as well I think that's a huge positive for us how does I mean you've talked about the linebackers but how do they kind of weather you're down to St caliber linebackers B's probably a third that now may need be playing his first game yeah how do they push forward through that yeah and let's remember we get Jacob we had Jacob Ellis back right and we didn't have him and he's a guy that's played a lot of football and Jacob played a really good game for us on on last Saturday so you know I I think again you're you're kind of Teeter tottering of man you you missed a couple guys and yet man you had some guys that really in Fall Camp you thought it was a really heated race across the board and you thought there was great depth getting created and so you know I I think every man everybody's got to step up and do their role you know and and you know where does it stress you in some other areas you you got to find that out but I don't really feel like it you know yes we're going to miss those guys those guys are great players and we think the world of them but man we we feel like we've got guys that are ready to go play and I think those guys are really confident and we're excited for those guys to go in there and and pick it up and like I said a lot of those guys have played a lot of football Zack LoveIt played a lot of football Jack sadowski's played coup's played you know getting Jacob Ellis back was huge John cerman man sack hit sack and a man of deflection for an interception in the game so you know guys stood up on Saturday and made some big plays so I think that's just part of football and kind of part of where you're at especially early in the football season I think you have to navigate those things would Mobberly show you guys in the fall to be the guy behind Rocco yeah and I I'd still say that's a little bit of an open race but I I I'd just say with Connor's situation you know I mean Connor has got he's got great confidence and he's got I think you see what he's done physically if you covered him you know a year ago in high school you know kind I was like man came in here even in the spring is this skinny young man and man he put on 20 pounds from the time spring ball ended till the time we started fall camp and I thought that really helped him um and I think probably helped his confidence too but he's got great arm strength he's really got great Mobility um he's a really competitive kid and you saw with the success he had in high school um you know I think he brought that confidence in here and is certainly uh it's been fun to watch his grow through through fall Camp I am a really talented young guy and and we're excited for him to continue to grow forward hey Matt you touched on this a little bit ago of the advantages of having this match up so early in the season I'm curious though from what are the advantages for you guys as a coaching staff um from an evaluation standpoint as you still try to solidify guys in certain positions and as you kind of gear up for a conference play yeah you know I I don't know if it's an advantage or disadvantage to have this game early in the season but it's it's Unique right and I think that's one of the things that um you know when you look at that what you just said is where the uniqueness comes from you're you're still forming the identity for this year's team and you know I I think one of the great tests of this game is you're forming it against a really good opponent and you're that with a lot on the line and and obviously man a big game atmosphere that that means a lot to a lot of people so I think that's the thing that's unique in its own right but I think it's also um boy I think you learn a lot about yourself post this game who are you where are you at where you at in the growth process and what are those areas you need to continue to pound away with grow forward and you know uniquely in our schedule this year we get a bye-week after this so it's almost a great opportunity for us to man have a great great understanding of where we are and then man what are the how do we continue to make the right decisions to move our team where we need to be as you got into the tape from Saturday and the the rushing game that North Dakota was able to sustain what uh did you kind of take away from that and what can maybe be cleaned up in a kind of a week to week thing where you're going into Iowa yeah I I just say you know I I think we tried to do a lot early on coach hok would probably tell you the same thing you know and and then the reality of you know we just we've got to be better you know we got to be more physical at the point of attack um you know I thought we that happened after you know you know the midpoint of the game and and I thought that we were able to clean some things up especially at halftime and made some really good adjustments but I I I think the reality of it is those two things probably tried to do a little too much early um and needed to be more physical at the point of attack in the in the first half of the football b game obviously coach you now have a couple days of debrief this North Dakota Game what have you I know this co uh new offensive coordinate coach ma now what have you seen kind of take away from his offensive play calling from Saturday that could potentially help for not just Iowa for the rest of the season well I mean I I think the great thing about the game honestly is every and we talk so much here about situational football I mean you got them all right I mean you got two-minute drill at the end of half on both sides of the ball you got a four-minute situation at the end of the game you got red zone offense coming out offense third down um and you know you look at what we did offensively and I I thought there were a lot of really positive things you know I thought we were able to handle situational football uh really well we weren't perfect um there's a lot of great teaching tape that we can we can take from Saturday and and really have tried to dive in the last two days of man what what can we learn about ourselves and how do how do we grade ourselves and how can we move ourselves forward so I think we're really blessed because we got so many great situations that came out of that game on both sides of the ball that you know I thought it was huge but I thought coach Mouse did a great job you know I think uh that whole offensive staff we had a great plan and you know I thought there was there was really solid execution across the board earlier you talked about how important this game is to both universities people across the state with everything changing in college football so much this season how important is it for this game to remain part of the college football calendar every year well I I I would just say I mean our world is so unique in college football and I I still believe at some point as we bring balance back to the world that we are living in rivalries inate rivalries man neighboring rivalries it makes college football really special and I I I still believe that those things are major factors in in in high level College athletics I think people want to watch rival football games and great games and so um you know I think that's that's what this game has certainly stood for over the test of time and I think it's what makes this game really special and you know I I think the more you look at even what you watched this past weekend man everybody's turning into the big games and the games that mean a lot and have a lot on the line and I think that that's what makes it really unique and you know again it's been fortunate to build our our program to the point where we can make this game important and and make it a big football game how unique is it that this is a big rivalry game between two schools in the same state but they're not in the same conference like does that add extra meaning to it for fans for you as a coach and a program leader I just think it's Unique you know like I said I I think most rival games like this are played the last game of the season you know and um this is not that situation you know you're you're you you go on from this and the reality and it kind of goes back to Scott's question of like man the end of the season you know you still got to go and you got to win your conference and that's really what matters at the end of the day but I think having a game like this early having a big game preparing for those things um man what you can learn about yourself and how you you can take in and the momentum you can create for yourself um those are huge those are huge wins and so I think you look at it as as such a great opportunity to really build your team and um continue to build yourself forward so I I think from all those things that's what makes this game really unique and different take one more down here members of this offense have made it known that they want to be aggressive and they want to keep pushing the effort what's sort of the challenge or balance in continuing to do that while also you know keeping an eye on a defense that likes to create a lot of Chaos boy I I think you know that that is a fine line and it's a great balance I I think you you know when you look at a at a game like this and being aggressive is one thing you know being intelligent is the most important thing and you know there there is ways to be aggressive with intelligence along the way and um you know in all honesty both sides of the football you're going to have to do a great job of that that'll be a huge impact on this game in my opinion so I think that's a great question thank you all right guys than thank you guys