On the team performance against Maryland

Same as it was after the game, I thought it was a very gritty, very determined football team that made the stops, made the plays when we had to against a very good team. Could've gone a different way. We got some breaks that we didn't turn the ball over when we could've, very easily. Things to fix. You always rather do it in a win so we're fortunate to be able to do that. Attacking the things, anywhere we can find spots to improve.

On Blake Corum

He's a tremendous player. Really good to see him get into a rhythm. 30 carries to show his talents, which are many. Great balance, great vision, ability to make the shallow cut, ability to make the defender, the tackler, miss and miss by the most narrow margin. Sometimes he gets right up there, about six inches away from a would-be tackler and makes his cut where lesser backs, lesser runners, will make that cut three yards away, two yards away or a yard away. It's rare that you can get up and make a miss inside the reigns where you can smell their breath.

On the fourth-and-one play

Both the touchdowns that he made on those short-yardage, when they had big people in the game, it was an all-out, no depth to the defense. All-out trying to stop the fourth and one. Once you get past that first level, it was all endzone in front of him. Just a tremendous job with the vision, seeing where the soft spot was around the left side. That's special, those are some of the special things he does. There were some five-yard runs that were special as well. Just a great game. Always happy for the other guys success. Blake sure had a great game, Big Ten offensive player of the week. No surprise there. I thought our line did play well. Anytime there was a mistake made, he just had the ability to cover it all up with his ability.

On J.J. McCarthy

When it's all said and done, he makes the plays. He makes some big plays. Kept the chains moving. He did fumble once and another time, great play by Cornelius Johnson to land on that. Then he fumbled a second time, it was a great play by—who recovered that one? Olu. Living dangerously on those couple of plays. The facts are that he played winning football. He played well enough for us to win the game, which is what you want. As a coach, I'm looking at, hey, where is the improvement? Let's attack it. Let's really hone in on more fundamentals, more technique and things that, as I said at the top of the show, to be able to win and have that many things to make improvements on, really fires you up. J.J. is like a sponge and he's going to collect it all and add it to his game. First time he's ever played a full game as the starter. Being in the pressure situations. When he had to have it, a big third and six there in the fourth quarter, comes up and hits Ronnie Bell for a 50-yard gain and the touchdown pass to Roman was right on the money and Roman made a heckuva good catch. Missed a couple. They look like fundamental things, fixable things so we're attacking those improvements.

On preparing the team for Kinnick's environment

There's no doubt that we have tremendous respect for what Iowa can do. There's no thought in our mind that the game we had last year, the 42-3 victory in the Big Ten Championship Game, was—there's no word I am going to use other than there was 30-some plays where they just completely stoned us. We were able to hit a big run by Blake that got out, the one that J.J. was running down the sideline and blocking for him. Donovan hits a pass and we get ahead and force them into some situations that playing some football that they don't want to play. That's not the normal game and that's not the one we're going to prepare for. It's going to be a knockdown, drag-out kind of affair.

On Iowa's offense

The quarterback has got a big arm. He can make every single throw. The offensive line is really well-coached, as the entire team is. They have a system, they know their system, they get good at their system. It's a national story every year, Iowa's offense is struggling. You read those articles. It's that way every single year and half the time they win the Big Ten West championship and they continue to improve every single week. That's what they do. They've got some players there. They've got a tight end—he's a big, tall player who is really good. They've got a safety that's going to be an NFL player, they've got a corner that's going to be an NFL player. They've got really good players, they're really well-coached. It's going to be a big task for our team.

On the importance of getting after Spencer Petras

That's a point of emphasis. Everything is a point of emphasis from the first Big Ten game to the second Big Ten game. Much like it was last year. I was focused on the Rutgers game, we played in our fourth game last year was a nailbiter. This fourth game. Things that we made improvements on from that game to the fifth game last year, doing the same thing this year from our fourth game to our fifth game.

On how he generates the ability to thrive in a non-friendly environment

Really practicing, knowing what you're going to do. Packing the team. Packing the good defense. Packing the offense and taking them on the road trip. Special teams, it's going to be dialed in and playing with a lot of pride and playing with a lot of motivation. That's what we're going to need. The environment will be great, it will be one that you can enjoy and remember for a long time. You're going to remember a lot more fondly if you prepare and play well.

On the concern of Corum wearing down with a heavy workload and Donovan Edwards' status

It's possible that Donovan will be back this weekend. That's gone through my mind. The truth is, Blake is so well-prepared. He has trained himself seven days a week, year-round that he trains. I truly believe that he could play the noon game, take a break, suit up and play another game. I think he could play two games back-to-back every single Saturday, that's how well-prepared he is.

On the secondary

Again, improvements to make and you're excited to make them. Especially when you've seen improvements already. I think our defense is coming and getting better every week. Back at it and attacking with a great week of preparation and keep getting better and better. We're playing really good teams. One right after the other, road game this week against Iowa. Big challenge. Focus, everything that you do. Right now, if it's important to you, which it is to me and I know it is to many of the players. Every meeting, every practice to make them the best of the year. The nutrition, the sleep, the hydration. It's important to be a champion. If that's your goal, that's gotta be the big focus right now. That's fun, to me, that's fun. Other ways of entertainment need to be on the backburner right now.

On Eyabi Okie

Coming. He came to the team midway through August. He's a very intelligent guy. He's very motivated. Very few packages at this point where he doesn't have the time on task, or the reps, the understanding. Every day that goes by, every practice, those get fewer and fewer. I think you'll see his playtime go up every single game.

On whether that was the fastest touchdowns his team has ever scored to start a game

Yes. You can probably check the history books, I don't know that we've ever had anything faster. I guess I've been on a team where we had the opening kickoff return for a touchdown.