On what went wrong on offense

Yeah, I mean I think we just have to watch the film and evaluate where we're at. I thought there were some positive runs in there, and when you get behind you start to throw the ball a little bit more. So we just have to do a better job at getting the fundamental little details in all phases on offense, and we'll get better.

On what concerns him the most coming out of the loss

I mean, for us, it's a loss. You haven't had one of these in a long time, so you definitely feel it. Our kids feel it. They feel it more than anybody, so definitely feel bad for them and how they feel, but we know on all sides of the ball, all three phases we've got a lot to work on. We just have to get better at the fine details and get on penalties and turnovers. Those are the things right now we've got to keep working on.

On whether changes will be made on offense

Yeah, we're going to watch the film and figure that out. I don't want to make a knee-jerk reaction and just say something after we watch the film. Watch it, evaluate it, see what we need to do to put the right people in the right places to make us successful, and that's what we're going to try to do.

On dealing with a loss after a long win streak

Yeah, my message to the team was that it's going to take resolve. We haven't lost here in a while. We don't like losing. We didn't lose at all last year. We lost once, twice the year before. So for us, it's like you don't ever want to lose, so you're never thinking about the loss. But for them and for us, I just think about them. I think about how they feel. What are we going to do to get better? That's all we're worried about right now. We're going to take everything we can on all three phases to get better, and every little piece. My message to them was we've got to do it together. You can't finger-point, and you find out who you are on the team when adversity strikes. To watch our guys at the end fight, the offense fight, go down and score, they easily could have just kicked it in, and our defense do the same thing. The second half, they don't allow another lot of touchdowns, which we don't want, but they at least fought. So that gives you some sign that there's resolve there. But now we've got to put things in peace so the first half doesn't go the way it did. Heather?

On how easily the correctable things are

I mean, I think the turnover is the easiest fix. The first pick was a tip pass. The second one was a communication in the route concept that those things were good. And then the fumble was, you know, Colston just didn't tuck it away fast enough. And those are three things. If you don't have those, then you're in a difficult ballgame. But they happened, and they did a good job capitalizing off of them. And then for us on defense, it's tackling. We've got to make sure we wrap up because they had 135 yards after contact. So for us, those little things, you fix those, you put you in a better position, but you can't do that against a good team.

On better execution on third downs

Yeah, I mean, really just reads. We've got to make plays. Past catchers have got to make plays. You have some third downs, and you drop one. You miss from the route. I can remember specifically off my head, there's two of them that were just dropped. So that's 100% there. So we've got to make plays for the quarterbacks as well. We've got to keep the protection clean. Protection was a big issue all night, but we've had to do a great job executing it the whole offense. It can't just be one person here and there. It's got to be a whole collective effort.

On time of possession hurting the defense

Yeah, I think they were on the field a lot, and that was my message to them. And to watch them in the second half, and as the time of possession crept a little closer to us, you know, they weren't as successful on offense. So they had those long drives, but when you go three down and put a good offense on the field with a great quarterback and good offensive line, that's what's going to happen. So for us, we've got to possess the ball. We've got to do a better job with our style of playing on offense and making sure we don't let that happen. In the back right, Reiner.

On whether he witnessed the game slipping away from the team

No, I mean, at halftime, I asked the team if they thought it was over, and everybody was a resounding no. So no, I never thought that the game was just slipping away. You know, for us, we were going to fight until the end regardless of what the score is, and I felt like our guys fought to the end. And for us, it was just we've got to get better at those little things.

On whether tempo is a challenge for the defense

Well, the tempo wasn't really the issue. I mean, it was more like play action passes. Guys just, you know, the third down is a burden for the big 10 because the tempos weren't creating explosive plays. It was the little things of communication that we did. So we're not worried about trying to change the offense because a team ran tempo. The tempo pieces weren't an issue. Even last week, they weren't an issue. It was us just executing our little details.

On Quinn Ewers

Yeah, I think he just did a good job of executing. He stepped up in the pocket a lot when our rushes went high. He did a good job of maneuvering in the pocket on third downs, and that's what really kept drives alive. The play action pass game was working. He did a good job with the open routes. We just got to be better at communicating and making sure that we're doing that. We mixed man and zone, so it wasn't a we're a man, or we're in zone, or this. So we just got to do a better job of matching all the routes and communicating. Really, it's all you look back and you miss assignments. That's what hurts. And in the second half, those things were corrected, and they have one explosive play, and that's the reverse. So they did a really good job of adjusting, and now we got to do the same thing on offense.

On QB struggles and whether Jadyn Davis would go in

No, I mean, the two picks, like I said, it's a whole team effort. Intercepts are not always just on the quarterback. It's got to be a whole collective effort on things. So he did a good job of putting the ball where it needed to be. The one throw he had on the seam was probably his worst throw, or the guy was open. But besides that, the two picks that happened because one was tipped, and that received his hands, and the other one, we didn't run the right route. So in that case, he did a good job managing it. So we got to do a better job with pass catchers, too.

On whether he expected growing pains this year

Yeah, I never really thought about the growing pains, more so just what we do to get better. We knew we were a new team. We never tried to wrestle our lowers. We won the National Championship last year. So for us, it was what we're going to do to get better and make this team good. So we're at where we're at, and we're going to continue to just grow and get better.

On Texas targeting Jyaire Hill and Will Johnson's status

No, I think Will's fine. I think Will ended up playing, and Jyaire, they made some plays over there, but then he bounced back, especially in the second half. I was really proud of him and his effort. So we just got to do a better job as a whole group.

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