Monday's Press Conference Notes

Injury Updates:
Shaw is ready to go
Fitz Toussaint is day to day. 
Brandon Herron is ok
Greg Banks has a calf issue and needs rest.

Lots of coach talk early on.  Denard is good and they don't worry about scoring or comebacks late.

On the Taylor Lewan penalty:  "From what I see... his left foot got tangled up as he was stepping over a pile... I didn't see it on film, maybe they saw something I didn't see." The scrum afterward was no big deal, the officials broke it up.

Special Teams:

"We were close to it in the last game. We were gonna center the ball for a game-winning field goal." RR would rather score TDs, and fortunately the offense has been good at doing so. "There's gonna come a point in time where we've gotta make field goals" to win the game. They have guys who will be able to do it.

Hagerup has played a bit better. "He had a couple good punts, and he seemed composed, so hopefully the little nervousness is out of the way."

Stonum returns: "It's been a little bit frustrating." Haven't come close to breaking one. The blocking isn't quite there at times, but Darryl has the ability to do that. "Boy would it be a good time to do that."


"We have not had an opportunity to return a lot of punts."

Defense:
 
"I don't think you have to blitz all the time to have an aggressive mentality defensively." You get on your heels a bit when you've been giving up a lot of first downs. "We didn't make some key stops. Some of it was mental, and some of it was physical." The D is a little limited because they don't want to confuse younger guys.
 
"There's some moments on defense where we've gotten a little better, but there's also some things we've not gotten better yet, and it's going to take some time." In a tough situation with a lack of experienced depth. Need to force more 3-and-outs and turnovers.
 
Our defense was playing too much and our offense wasn't on the field at all." Doesn't alter the offensive approach, but wants the defense to play as fast as they can. "We've just got to try to play better, and get a few stops."
 
"Our numbers defensively were way down." That's trending toward the positive, but they need to help the young guys out with their schemes.
 
MSU -  here are the highlights:  It's a rivalry game, they are good, well coached, good QB, well balanced on offense and play good defense.  It will be a challenge.
 
Denard Q&A:
"I'm feeling good. Feeling alright. Just got done lifting." He felt pretty good yesterday after the Indiana game. Staying healthy - "I guess every Big Ten game's going to be a big game. I've been working out, I've gotten treatment, doing everything I can to take care of my body."
 

Doesn't get any bigger than M-MSU, it's going to be a hard-fought game. "They're a great team, they're a physical team, and they come to play. It's going to be a hard game." Everybody gets pumped up for this game, especially in-state guys.

He also gives props to his offense line, Roy Rountree and says Greg Jones on State is a pretty good linebacker.