On when he’ll start evaluating film of the game:
Knowing me, it'll probably happen here in about three hours. But, you know, I think, from my standpoint, you are in a unique time as the season comes to an end. You know, we've got great seniors that have got great opportunities. And so, No. 1, I want to make sure we do everything in their power to make sure they're set for life after Iowa State. No. 2, obviously, the excitement of coming back here and, you know, we've got about two and a half good weeks to prepare ourselves for this football team to come back and figure out what are those things that we’ve really got to focus on. And, you know, January, as you guys have heard me say millions of times, January, February, March, April, and May are critical times for the development of a football team.
But I do think the thing that I'm excited about is you've got so many ‑‑ like Deshaunte said, you've got some leadership and some leaders that may be the greatest room that we've had since I've been here in terms of guys that it, that understand it, and that have the ability to demand it from everybody in the program. And so I think that's one of these great things that this senior class has done, is help that next group come and be ready to go and be ready to lead.
On why he thinks things are so close with this team and program:
Well, I think when you can really step back and watch these games and you can really see that, you know, when we got here ‑‑ I think four years ago, there wasn't even a thought that we could compete with teams like this. There was no thought that we could compete with the best teams in our conference. And, you know, to be quite honest with you, I don't know if there was a lot of people that thought we could compete with our rival in our own state. And now, you fast‑forward to a season like this, and I knew this was going to be a really unique and challenging year because this was a team where there was great expectations put on a football team, and yet there was so much youth and so many young players that had to step into critical roles in this team.
And so I think going through these experiences and being really close and understanding that there are six, seven, eight plays in a game that are dictating what happens in the end result, I think our kids feel ‑‑ and I think why you're so disappointed, because you feel how close you really are to where you want to be. But, again, those six, seven, eight plays, you know, saying that and doing that are two different things. And I'm the first guy to know that and understand that.
So getting over that hump, taking that next step -- boy, that's a great challenge. It's a great challenge for Iowa State football, but no greater challenge, to be honest with you, that I'd rather tackle than that challenge right there, and I know our coaching staff feels the same way.
On if he thinks the foundation is laid for a team to win more than seven or eight games:
I would say this and probably you'd say it's coach‑speak a little bit. And maybe it is and maybe it isn't. I think, again, every team, you don't know what you are or what you're not until you get through some of these critical months: January, February, March, April, May, because, to me, it's not just talent. It's not just who's playing what. It's where are some of your gaps? What does this team's gaps look like? Last year's gaps, I could have told you, you're losing the Brian Peavy and you're losing David Montgomery and Hakeem Butler and these guys who have been pillars of excellence in your program. And now you lose the Ray Limas and the Deshauntes and you lose some of these guys, and Marcel Spears, that have been pillars of success.
But, you know, one of the things that I think we're a lot closer to today than we were even a year ago is, we played a lot of guys. A lot of guys got unbelievable opportunity to be able to point in critical situations, maybe better than we've ever been in our program. And so I think it is fair to say, man, those levels of expectations need to continue to be high. We want them to be high, and we're not going to shy away from them being high.
On when they knew that Julian Good-Jones was unavailable:
The evaluation piece kind of probably came way more yesterday. We practice on Friday. And, you know, that's kind of when we made the final decision that probably wasn't the best interest for him and certainly for us to be at full strength.
I'll be honest with you, I thought Josh Knipfel moving over to left tackle did an outstanding job in the game. I don't know what the statistics looked like, but I thought we protected pretty well. I thought we did some really good things at times in the running game. And, again, you're talking about playing an elite defensive front. So I think from our end of it, I'll have to go back and give a, you know, how did I think we played on the O‑line, but I certainly thought those guys stepped in. And obviously, Colin Newell is a young man that started a lot of football games here and, you know, it's exciting for him to be a great experience and be an anchor to this offensive front coming back with Trevor Downing.
Knowing me, it'll probably happen here in about three hours. But, you know, I think, from my standpoint, you are in a unique time as the season comes to an end. You know, we've got great seniors that have got great opportunities. And so, No. 1, I want to make sure we do everything in their power to make sure they're set for life after Iowa State. No. 2, obviously, the excitement of coming back here and, you know, we've got about two and a half good weeks to prepare ourselves for this football team to come back and figure out what are those things that we’ve really got to focus on. And, you know, January, as you guys have heard me say millions of times, January, February, March, April, and May are critical times for the development of a football team.
But I do think the thing that I'm excited about is you've got so many ‑‑ like Deshaunte said, you've got some leadership and some leaders that may be the greatest room that we've had since I've been here in terms of guys that it, that understand it, and that have the ability to demand it from everybody in the program. And so I think that's one of these great things that this senior class has done, is help that next group come and be ready to go and be ready to lead.
On why he thinks things are so close with this team and program:
Well, I think when you can really step back and watch these games and you can really see that, you know, when we got here ‑‑ I think four years ago, there wasn't even a thought that we could compete with teams like this. There was no thought that we could compete with the best teams in our conference. And, you know, to be quite honest with you, I don't know if there was a lot of people that thought we could compete with our rival in our own state. And now, you fast‑forward to a season like this, and I knew this was going to be a really unique and challenging year because this was a team where there was great expectations put on a football team, and yet there was so much youth and so many young players that had to step into critical roles in this team.
And so I think going through these experiences and being really close and understanding that there are six, seven, eight plays in a game that are dictating what happens in the end result, I think our kids feel ‑‑ and I think why you're so disappointed, because you feel how close you really are to where you want to be. But, again, those six, seven, eight plays, you know, saying that and doing that are two different things. And I'm the first guy to know that and understand that.
So getting over that hump, taking that next step -- boy, that's a great challenge. It's a great challenge for Iowa State football, but no greater challenge, to be honest with you, that I'd rather tackle than that challenge right there, and I know our coaching staff feels the same way.
On if he thinks the foundation is laid for a team to win more than seven or eight games:
I would say this and probably you'd say it's coach‑speak a little bit. And maybe it is and maybe it isn't. I think, again, every team, you don't know what you are or what you're not until you get through some of these critical months: January, February, March, April, May, because, to me, it's not just talent. It's not just who's playing what. It's where are some of your gaps? What does this team's gaps look like? Last year's gaps, I could have told you, you're losing the Brian Peavy and you're losing David Montgomery and Hakeem Butler and these guys who have been pillars of excellence in your program. And now you lose the Ray Limas and the Deshauntes and you lose some of these guys, and Marcel Spears, that have been pillars of success.
But, you know, one of the things that I think we're a lot closer to today than we were even a year ago is, we played a lot of guys. A lot of guys got unbelievable opportunity to be able to point in critical situations, maybe better than we've ever been in our program. And so I think it is fair to say, man, those levels of expectations need to continue to be high. We want them to be high, and we're not going to shy away from them being high.
On when they knew that Julian Good-Jones was unavailable:
The evaluation piece kind of probably came way more yesterday. We practice on Friday. And, you know, that's kind of when we made the final decision that probably wasn't the best interest for him and certainly for us to be at full strength.
I'll be honest with you, I thought Josh Knipfel moving over to left tackle did an outstanding job in the game. I don't know what the statistics looked like, but I thought we protected pretty well. I thought we did some really good things at times in the running game. And, again, you're talking about playing an elite defensive front. So I think from our end of it, I'll have to go back and give a, you know, how did I think we played on the O‑line, but I certainly thought those guys stepped in. And obviously, Colin Newell is a young man that started a lot of football games here and, you know, it's exciting for him to be a great experience and be an anchor to this offensive front coming back with Trevor Downing.
